Welcome to Middle School Geography of the World - Have Fun With That!*Semester 1

Come by weekly to learn Middle School Geography of the World.  This class will open minds to the way various people live and how they solve problems, as well as where they live around the world. Beginning in the Fall, this class will cover a semester, meeting goals for middle school geography.  Semester 2 will be available for enrollment on Outschool at the end of Semester 1, in a separate class listing. The topic for each weekly class is listed below.  Students can join at any time and fully participate in class, as long as there is an open spot.  The curriculum follows a spiraling study plan, where key skill and vocabulary concepts are reviewed periodically.

NOTE: For class reviews, see this class in the 'ongoing' or Enrichment/Club OS format, titled: " Welcome to Middle School Geography of the World - Have Fun With That! "  Or, find the listing for this class, semester 2. " Welcome to Middle School Geography of the World-Have Fun With That!**Semester 2 "

Students at this level don't just master specific locations, they dig deeper to figure out the significance of what they are learning.  This is the fun part of learning. It helps us reflect on why we are learning and how we can use this learning to enrich our own life experience. In addition to building skills to determine  meaning, students have fun  mastering 'geography trivia' which we definitely will dive into.  The way people live is interesting to our middle schoolers.  Actually, that is probably interesting to most of us!  So, we will look into social systems people use, including political, economic and cultural features.  Often our Outschool students come to us from all around North American and as far away as Australia, bringing first hand knowledge of  World Geography to share. 

Our class is organized to introduce ideas, discuss and share reactions. We will have some fun with geography jokes and games designed to apply new ideas in a comfortable, non-stress space.  Our brain researchers tell us that students are better able to process information if they are comfortable. Humor can help open that higher level thinking that we find most rewarding.  Each unit wraps up with a rousing Kahoot game quiz.  A handout is provided for this review game.

The agenda for our upcoming classes is shown below. The agenda will include the entire sequence in our Middle School Geography class series (see classes on Outshool offered by Miss Mollie for more details), divided in two semesters, 20 weeks each. Our focus topics for each week are listed below.  We begin with maps, then look at the continents and regions throughout the year, as follows:  Europe, Russia and its neighbors, Middle East, South Asia, East and SE Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, North America.  For more detail on each topic, search Outschool for enrichment/club category -  Outschool Classes titled:  Middle School Geography of the World Part 1 through 10.  

Semester 1
Week 1 Mapping Skills 1
Week 2 Mapping Skills 2
Week 3  Mapping Skills 3
Week 4 Mapping Skills 4 & Kahoot 
Week 5 Europe 1
Week of 6 Euroope - focus UK - 2
Week of 7 Europe - focus Germany - 3
Week  8 Europe - focus student choice      
     & Kahoot - 4
Week 9 Russia & Neighbors 1
Week 10 Russia & Neighbors 2
Week 11 Russia & Neighbors 3
Week 12 Russia & Neighbors 4 -Current Event Student Choice & Kahoot
Week 13 Middle East 1
Week 14 Middle East 2
Week 15 Middle East  3
Week 16 Middle East 4
Week 17 South Asia 1
Week 18 South Asia 2
Week 19 South Asia 3
Week 20 South Asia 4

Semester 2 (Offered in a separate class listing)
" Middle School Geography of the World - Have Fun With That*Semester 2"

Week 21 East SE Asia 1
Week 22 East SE Asia 2
Week 23East SE Asia 3
Week 24 East SE Asia 4
Week 25 Australia-Oceana-Oceans 1
Week 26 Australia-Oceana-Oceans 2
Week 27 Australia-Oceana-Oceans 3
Week 28 Australia-Oceana-Oceans 4
Week 29 Sub Saharan Africa 1
Week 30 Sub Saharan Africa 2
Week 31 Sub Saharan Africa 3
Week 32 Sub Saharan Africa 4 
Week 33 South America 1
Week 34 South America 2
Week 35 South America 3
Week 36 North America 1
Week 37 North America 2
Week 38 North America 3