Writing, Journaling, Social Studies, Geography

Grade 1- 3

Objective

Students learn about the lives of children in different countries around the world.

Directions

Do a K-W-L (What we Know-What we Want to learn-What we have Learned) activity with the class to assess students' prior knowledge of children around the world. Have your students identify ways that children around the world may be compared. You may want to identify the characteristics yourself with categories such as country, food, clothing, shelter, language, holidays, and climate. Organize and record the information your students learn on a chart that lists the name of each country and the categories you plan to compare and contrast.
Help students use research materials , classroom books, and the Internet to learn more about children in different countries.
Use a globe to locate the countries where the children you read about live. You could also post a world map and label each country with its name. Discuss with the students how the location of each country affects its climate.
Have students complete an activity page for each country that they learn about. Have them color and personalize their cover pages. They can then staple all their pages together and display them in the classroom.
Extension Ideas

• Have students write a nonfiction piece that compares and contrasts how they live with how a child from another country lives.
• Have students write a fiction story about a child who lives in a make-believe country. They can give the country a name and tell where it is located. Have them describe the life of the fictional child.

Resources

• Journal of Children of the World Cover Sheet
• Journal of Children of the World Activity Page
• pencils
• drawing materials