A globe is an invaluable tool when teaching studets about continents.
Teach second-grade students about the world around them through a study of its continents. The world is divided into seven continents: North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. Teaching children about the continents builds a foundation for more advanced studies of geography, geology, anthropology, environmental biology and other disciplines.
Craft Lessons
Use crafts to teach second-graders about the continents. Give each child a beach ball and some paints. Help the students paint their beach balls to resemble Earth. Paint the oceans blue and the continents green. For a more complex lesson, paint each continent a different color.
Another way to teach second-graders about the continents is to give them an inflated, round balloon and papier mache mixture. Have the students dip strips of newspaper into the mixture and apply them to the balloons until they are covered. When they dry, pop the balloons and have the children paint the oceans and continents onto the globes.
Imaginative Play Lessons
Let children explore the topic of continents through imaginative play. Cut large continent shapes out of butcher paper and write the name of the continents on them. Move the classroom furniture and tape the paper continents to the floor. Have the children pretend to be airplanes and "fly" continent to continent as the teacher tells the students about each continent they land on.
Alternatively, have each student choose a continent and create a paper-bag puppet that resembles a person or animal that lives on that continent. Have the children play with their puppets and talk about the continent they chose.
Games
Play games to help children learn about the continents. Engage children in a guessing game with a continent theme: Have one player stand at the front of the class and gives hints as to which continent he is thinking of while the other students try to guess.
Another game to help second-grade students learn the continents is a scavenger hunt. Draw and cut out the continent shapes. Hide the shapes in various places. Divide the class into seven teams. One at a time, let the students search for a continent. Once a team member finds a continent shape, that team sits down and another team takes a turn until all the continents are found.
Songs & Presentations
Another effective way to teach second-graders about the subject is to have the students learn a song to help them memorize the continents. You can also have each child choose a continent to learn about and then make a presentation about the climate, topography, and countries and cultures of their continent. The students can use visual aids or even dress in a costume similar to the native dress of the continent.
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