Trail Guide to World Geography is a family-friendly, multi-level curriculum guide for students in grades 3-12 to learn geography. With its trail markers (animal track icon) directed at three different grade levels, this book can be used for more than one academic school year and works well with a number of different student abilities learning together. There is not one exact way to use this unique course. It was designed with flexibility in mind to better meet various objectives when teaching geography. Trail Guide to World Geography provides activities and assignments for a 36-week school year on World Geography. Students spend 5-10 minutes a day with the atlas drills to establish and maintain atlas usage and map reading skills. Some folks use the book strictly for the Geography Trails section alone and say it’s worth every penny at that! Add an outline map with the Mapping list of places to label and students have a smooth beginning to creating a great World Geography Notebook. Additional assignment choices take students deeper to learn about key places around the world. You set your pace and objectives. Spend as much time as your schedule allows. You can always use the book again another year, with all new atlas drills questions. There are three sections of assignments for each week. You can use all three sections or any combination. Geography Trails Weekly: Days 1-4 In the weekly Geography Trails section you will find daily short atlas drills at three different levels. Students follow their assigned trail and, using the required atlas, answer two questions a day. They gain practical experience with map reading and atlas usage in a light-hearted and natural way. Many especially enjoy the challenge of finding the answers in this 5-10 minute activity. Mapping Weekly Weekly mapping lists provide opportunities for students to label an outline map for inclusion in their personal Geography Notebook. Most students will complete the mapping assignment in one sitting. (Outline maps are not included.) Trail Blazing – Personal Research and Discovery The Trail Blazing section fleshes out the remainder of the school week. Here you will find a number of various type of assignments to choose from. So, in addition to the five-minute atlas drills and the mapping activity students (or teachers) select two to four of these Trail Blazing assignments each week to complete. Assignments span all learning styles and cover many topics of interest. Students will use outside resources, such as library or Internet for most of the Trail Blazing assignments. Some example of the kinds of assignments include: creating a chart or graph, research and study, art or craft, meal planning and preparation, designing a travel brochure, making flash cards or a crossword puzzle to aid in memorization, creating an illustrated geography dictionary, and so much more. Literature Unit Component The final weeks of the school year we change it up with a Literature Review Unit. Using family read-aloud time and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, students map the trail of Phileas Fogg and Passepartout, and complete other activities. Some families do this nine-week unit during the summer months as an introduction to the upcoming world geography studies. Using the Trail Guide to World Geography as your core, students will: Gain experience with map reading using an atlasCreate their own personal geography notebook, or portfolioDevelop critical thinking skillsStudy cultures and peoplesLearn countries and capitalsMuch more Resources used with Trail Guide to World Geography Trail Guide to World Geography is not a stand-alone textbook. Frankly, that’s what makes it interesting for students. So it’s important that you provide the level appropriate atlas and some outline maps to complete the course. We’ve made that simple for you by creating a discounted set of materials we call GeoPacks. You might also want to add any of the other recommended resources to have handy as regular resources for many of the Trail Blazing assignments. Most can be used again when students have moved up a level: 3 level Trail Guide to World Geography printable pdf files (or a good set of outline maps) form the core of the geography notebook. Of course, we recommend the Uncle Josh’s Maps book or collection on CD-ROM if you don’t choose to use the Student Notebook files.World Atlas — required resource for atlas drills and mapping assignments. The specific atlases below were used to form the questions making it a basic 5-minute drill. You know the answers are there. A separate atlas is needed for each level. Elementary level (3rd-4th grades) — Junior Classroom Atlas Middle School Level (5th-8th grades) — Classroom Atlas High School Level (high school) — Atlas of World Geography Around the World in 80 Days— read-aloud novel for the 9-week literature review unit Geography Through Art— You can cover art while teaching geography if you select any of the Geography Through Art projects listed in many of the weekly Trail Blazing section. This book introduces world cultures in a medium children enjoy and relate to – Art! They learn what children in countries around the world do for art and create their own from the instructions provided. Many projects come with fascinating information of historical significance. Step by step drawing examples help students draw a number of different animals and more, and all project include great simple to follow instructions. The Ultimate Geography and Timeline— For added depth at the middle school level, course credit at the high school level, and basic geography instruction for parents who have little to no understanding of geography. Covering kindergarten through high school this book can be used every year. Includes CD-ROM with over 150 printable pages and lots of fun activities and ideas for incorporating geography while learning other subjects. It is referred to by page number throughout Trail Guide to World Geography when it can be used as a Trail Blazing resource. Save money with GeoPacks— specially assembled bundles to include everything you need to embark upon an exciting adventure in geography. Selecting the Level Appropriate for Your Child Grade levels associated with this curriculum guide are provided as a general guideline. If your student has had little or no introduction or experience with studying geography or with reading an atlas you may want to consider using the lower level in the range given. Also consider reading ability when choosing between Primary and Intermediate levels for a fourth grader. If your student is a solid reader the Intermediate atlas may be more suitable. If using the Intermediate atlas, then also use the Intermediate “trail.” With all levels select Trail Blazing assignments with your student’s abilities and interests in mind. Elementary, 3rd-4th grades Elementary level is suitable for most third and fourth graders and for second graders who are reading to learn, not still learning to read. Students in grades three and under who are struggling readers may enjoy Galloping the Globe for their world geography studies instead. It uses a different approach, and can be a better choice to use while the student spends more time focusing on developing reading skills. This book is arranged by continent and flows easily with younger students while using Trail Guide to World Geography with the older students who have more solid reading skills. Everyone should study the same continent together, each in a method most suitable to their current learning abilities. Be flexible with how your student may report what he has learned. You may allow him to give you an oral report if writing is difficult. Or you may want to combine geography with writing by selecting an assignment once a month or so that requires writing a summary. Middle School, 5th-8th grades If your student particularly enjoys mapping assignments and going deeper, watch for Intermediate level trail markings in the mapping section. The mapping assignments for that trail marker are found in The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide. Students doing these more complex mapping assignments will greatly benefit from using the larger, desk-sized continent maps. High School, 9th-12th grades If you wish your student to earn a semester credit for high school, we highly recommend using The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide along with Trail Guide to World Geography. Follow the secondary markings for all mapping and any Trail Blazing options. There is a printable guide for high school credit in the «Samples» tab. Do you have younger students, too? Teach your younger students world geography with the unit study approach using real books with Galloping the Globe. Follow the schedule of Trail Guide to World Geography and everybody learns geography together at their own levels!