Monday, December 1, 2014

Tell me a geographical story!

Image above: 'Window on a changing World' storybook: great to 'tease' out the geographical concepts with students


Related links to Spatialworlds
GeogSplace (a teaching blog for Year 12 geography)
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
manning@chariot.net.au

Where am I??

Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'



The power of story telling

In previous postings I have alluded to the need to tell stories in geography and coined the term Geogstory. My interest in this aspect of geography teaching and resourcing has been stimulated by a frequently asked question by primary teachers in workshops. They ask; what picture story books are available for the teaching of geography? - hence this posting.

In her excellent article on storybooks in geography called Reading the world, Anne Dolan says:

"While the value of picture story books in language and literacy is widely accepted, picture story books also provide a powerful medium in the teaching of geography. They demonstrate meaningful concepts and represent the world a child is coming to know."

In this posting I have listed and linked to a range of such books and resources that may provide teaching materials for primary school teachers wanting to 'do geography' a little differently with a literacy bent. Whilst on about using literature for teaching geography I must again refer to the excellent Global Words resource from the Primary English Teachers Association Australia (PETAA) - developed in collaboration with World Vision.


The 'Geography through Storybooks' resource 

The following sites are useful to start searching for a picture story book/s to teach geography, whether about place, space, change, sustainability, interconnection, environment or scale.

* Our Geography Through Story resources: Storybook collection

* A bibliography of storybooks for geography

* Books for junior geography

* Popular geography children's book

* Children's books for the geography buff

* Geography storybooks from other cultures

* Storybook son Pinterest


My Place storybook:  a great resource to teach about the importance of place to people.

* Here also is a list of books (with links to purchasing details) suggested for the primary years of the Australian Curriculum: Geography (compiled by Sue Mann from the DECD Torrens Partnership)

Foundation
Stella's star liner
Clementine's walk
Henry's map
Looking down
My place in space

Year 1
The great expedition
ABC book of seasons
Ernie dances to the Dideridoo

Year 2
Lately Lily- Adventures of a traveling girl
Ruffy and me
Remembering Lionsville

Year 3
Memorial Gary crew

Year 4
Here is the African Savannah
Up and down the Andes
We're roaming in the rainforest
Where the forest meets the sea

Year 5
Fire - Jackie French
Belonging

Year 6
If the world were a village
Where children sleep

Year 7
Window on a changing World
One well (Citizen Kid Series)
A cool drink of water
Paddock
My Place
Dr Seuss - where will you go?

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