Our November meeting is fast approaching. At this month's meeting, we will be exploring Seven Wonders of the World. There is more than one set of "Seven Wonders". There are the Seven Natural Wonders, the Seven Ancient Wonders, the Seven Modern Wonders, and the list goes on.
I actually found Goldfish Crackers that are Seven Wonders that we will have for snack that day along with apple juice.
This will be the last meeting until January.
Children should remember to bring their school boxes with sharpened pencils, crayons or colored pencils, glue, and scissors.
Although homework has been light this fall, I will not give homework to be due at the last meeting. It's a long time to January and the homework will probably get lost or hinder December celebrations.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
October's Meetings (Oct 13 or Oct 15)
Our next meeting is going to be a field trip to Codorus State Park for Letterboxing. We will meet at the parking lot on Sinsheim Road near Sinsheim Cove. Let me know if you need further directions.
We will be following clues to find the letterbox at this location. Comfortable walking shoes are a must. The hike will be 1 mile one way.
Each child should bring a small notebook, something to write with, a compass (if possible), ink pad (if possible) and the rubber stamp they carved.
I will provide a snack of Nature Valley Granola Bars and bottled water.
All of this is weather permitting. If there is inclement weather, we will meet for a regular meeting at my house.
One last note: There is one family I know of for sure that will not be able to come on Friday, Oct 15. So we will be meeting for the field trip on Wednesday, Oct 13 at the same time, same place. Anyone else who would like to join us that day is more than welcome to.
Please RSVP for October's meeting with which day you are planning to come so I am sure to have enough snack and photocopies on hand.
I didn't give out homework last month, but plan to this month.
Any questions, comments, concerns? Feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Patti
We will be following clues to find the letterbox at this location. Comfortable walking shoes are a must. The hike will be 1 mile one way.
Each child should bring a small notebook, something to write with, a compass (if possible), ink pad (if possible) and the rubber stamp they carved.
I will provide a snack of Nature Valley Granola Bars and bottled water.
All of this is weather permitting. If there is inclement weather, we will meet for a regular meeting at my house.
One last note: There is one family I know of for sure that will not be able to come on Friday, Oct 15. So we will be meeting for the field trip on Wednesday, Oct 13 at the same time, same place. Anyone else who would like to join us that day is more than welcome to.
Please RSVP for October's meeting with which day you are planning to come so I am sure to have enough snack and photocopies on hand.
I didn't give out homework last month, but plan to this month.
Any questions, comments, concerns? Feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Patti
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
September's Meeting
September's meeting went very well. All of the kids have completed their rubber stamps and we will be able to meet at the local state park for letterboxing for our next meeting.
At that meeting, we will not do state identification exercise (I know some kids are breathing a sigh of relief over that one). We will focus on locating letterboxes in the state park. It is my hope that we will be able to break into smaller groups to find the boxes.
If it rains, we will meet at my house and have a regular meeting with the state identification exercises.
At that meeting, we will not do state identification exercise (I know some kids are breathing a sigh of relief over that one). We will focus on locating letterboxes in the state park. It is my hope that we will be able to break into smaller groups to find the boxes.
If it rains, we will meet at my house and have a regular meeting with the state identification exercises.
Monday, August 2, 2010
August Meeting (Rescheduled to Sept 3)
Our next Geography Club meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 3; 1-4pm.
We will be looking at world and state flags. If you have a book on flags, your child is encouraged to bring it along.
We will also begin making rubber stamps for letterboxing. Each child will need to bring a carving block to make their stamp.
The advice from a letterboxing website says "...use Speedy Carve (a.k.a. "the pink stuff") in this tutorial, but PZ Kut and MasterCarve are also popular choices. Do NOT use Speedy-Cut! Speedy-Cut is easy to find in craft stores, it's cheaper, sounds a lot like Speedy-Carve, and you'll be tempted. Don't do it. It crumbles far too easily for our purposes."
You can find this material at AC Moore, but their quantities are limited.
I will have carving tools on hand, but you are welcome to bring your own.
I'm getting all the information about Letterboxing from Atlasquest.com . Letterboxing or geocaching can be complicated. Some sites use GPS coordinates, but we will use the clues given on AtlasQuest.com to find out letterboxes. I find this website to be very kid friendly and a great beginning place. You are welcome to check out the website for yourself.
Friday, July 23, 2010
July 2010 Meeting Summary
Today's Geography Club meeting went smoothly. Some of the kids found it challenging, but I don't think there is anything that is too challenging.
We started the meeting with each child identifying as many of the 50 states as possible. They were given a map of the United States with each of the states numbered. On a separate sheet of paper, they were to write the name of the state by number. Abbreviations could be used and spelling doesn't count. We will do this at the beginning of each meeting and we are looking for improvement each time.
After that, we talked briefly why God would want us to study geography. When I asked the kids, their answers included
"If we learn about animals in our area, we could also learn about animals in other areas."
"God wants us to know about His creation."
I read through a list of 10 reasons why God wants us to study geography from the Encyclopedia of Bible Truths on School Subjects (Personal note: This is a book I highly recommend to parents for those times when kids say "why do we have to learn this anyway." There is scripture to back up all of the points made in the book.)
We went on to learn about the state quarter program. Most of the materials we used were from the US Mint. We played a game where each child was given a state quarter and a card with a state capital on it. A child would read the card that might say "Who has Harrisburg". The child with the correct quarter would raise his hand and say, "I have Pennsylvania!"
We took extra time to look at Pennsylvania's quarter and really look at all the details on it.
We then talked about Letterboxing and plans for our group to do Letterboxing projects for this year.
We concluded the meeting with some questions from the National Geographic Bee. I explained that even if you don't know the answer directly, you can take what you do know and apply it to come up with the right answer. I really like this bee because it requires thinking skills. We did a few practice questions, going slowly discussing how we could get to the correct answer.
Homework was handed out and the meeting was adjourned.
In the next week, I will attempt to post resources that we used. If I am unable to post them to this blog, I will email participants directly.
We started the meeting with each child identifying as many of the 50 states as possible. They were given a map of the United States with each of the states numbered. On a separate sheet of paper, they were to write the name of the state by number. Abbreviations could be used and spelling doesn't count. We will do this at the beginning of each meeting and we are looking for improvement each time.
After that, we talked briefly why God would want us to study geography. When I asked the kids, their answers included
"If we learn about animals in our area, we could also learn about animals in other areas."
"God wants us to know about His creation."
I read through a list of 10 reasons why God wants us to study geography from the Encyclopedia of Bible Truths on School Subjects (Personal note: This is a book I highly recommend to parents for those times when kids say "why do we have to learn this anyway." There is scripture to back up all of the points made in the book.)
We went on to learn about the state quarter program. Most of the materials we used were from the US Mint. We played a game where each child was given a state quarter and a card with a state capital on it. A child would read the card that might say "Who has Harrisburg". The child with the correct quarter would raise his hand and say, "I have Pennsylvania!"
We took extra time to look at Pennsylvania's quarter and really look at all the details on it.
We then talked about Letterboxing and plans for our group to do Letterboxing projects for this year.
We concluded the meeting with some questions from the National Geographic Bee. I explained that even if you don't know the answer directly, you can take what you do know and apply it to come up with the right answer. I really like this bee because it requires thinking skills. We did a few practice questions, going slowly discussing how we could get to the correct answer.
Homework was handed out and the meeting was adjourned.
In the next week, I will attempt to post resources that we used. If I am unable to post them to this blog, I will email participants directly.
Monday, July 19, 2010
July 2010 Meeting
Hello fellow geographers!
We have 21 members for our Geography Club this year and we are full. I am so excited about the list of children who will be coming and participating.
Our first meeting will be this Friday, July 23 from 1-4pm at my home. We will be focusing on state quarters and license plates. About half way through our meeting, we will take a 5 to 10 minute break and have a snack. I will provide pretzels and apple juice. If your child would rather have something else, then have your child bring it in a bag. They will be asked to save their snack for snack time if they do bring a snack.
I live at 375 Green Ridge Road, New Oxford (about 2 miles north of Cross Keys). If you need directions, let me know.
Parents are not required to stay for the meeting.
Items to bring:
A school box with the following ~
Sharpened pencils
Something to color with (crayons, colored pencils, or markers)
Scissors
Glue (white Elmer's glue or a glue stick is fine)
A folder or 3-ring binder to keep Geo Club papers in.
Snack (Optional - see note above)
I know some of you told me that your child would not be attending, however
it would be very helpful to me if you could email me back to let me know if your child(ren) will be attending or not. That way, I am sure to have enough supplies on hand.
One more note, it seems that I have a schedule conflict for the August meeting. I would like to reschedule August's meeting to September 3. I realize that is the Friday before Labor Day. If too many cannot make it, we may just cancel that meeting all together. I need to hear from you. If Sept 3 will or will not work for you, please let me know.
Thanks!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday!
Patti
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Atlas
For those who are participating in Geography Club this year, it is recommended that each student have an atlas. The best atlas I have found is the National Geographic Concise Atlas of the World. I will have a couple of copies of this atlas available for meetings, but students need a good atlas for homework (looking for homework answers on the internet is discouraged). Over the last two years, we have found this atlas to be a fantastic resource.
Here is a link where you can get the atlas through Amazon.com:
Here is a link where you can get the atlas through Amazon.com:
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Welcome!
Welcome!
CHESS is preparing for our 3rd year of Geography Club. We have an exciting year planned and hope you are able to join us. Space is very limited, but if you are interested, please contact Patti Hunt. There may be room.
Come and explore your world in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. The Geography Club will meet once a month and explore the 5 themes of geography through various activities. Meetings will be at Patti Hunt's house and is for students ages 8 and up.
Meeting time is 1-4pm and dates for 2010-11 are as follows:
July 23 ~ US State License Plates and Quarters; Learn about Letterboxing
August 27 This date is being changed to September 3 due to a scheduling conflict ~ Flags
September 17 ~ Inca Odyssey / South America; Field trip to Codorus for Letterboxing (weather permitting)
October 15 ~ Microstates (countries with less than 200 square miles)
November 19 ~ Seven Wonders
January 21 ~ The Olympics
February 18 ~ Historical Maps
March 18 ~ Technology activity
April 22 ~ Exploring Activity / Washington DC
May 20 ~ Geography Fair or field trip
To participate in the Geography Club, contact Patti Hunt at
homeschoolmarm@yahoo.comor (717)465-9838
Fee per child per meeting:
CHESS Member $3 per meeting or $20 for the year.
A $3 nonrefundable deposit is requested to hold your spot for Geography Club.
Notes:
If your child will turn 8 sometime during the school year and you would like them to participate, please talk to Patti.
All topics are subject to change, but will not change one month before the meeting.
Children must be CHESS members in order to participate in this group.
Some meetings may take place at local parks like Gettysburg Rec. Park or Codorus. Most meetings will be at Patti's house near Cross Keys.
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