Where in the world...?

Every year in third grade, the children study immigration. In the culminating activity, they dress as immigrants, pack their bags, and arrive in our version of Ellis Island. There they navigate the entry requirements of their adopted country, surrounded by strange tongues and harried by health officials. Before they enter the Great Hall (a.k.a. Perrine Commons), however, they have spent months learning about geography, different cultures, and their own backgrounds. Last week I stopped in Ms. Webster’s class and saw where the immigrant’s journey begins.

Hung on the walls and scattered at tables were drawings that represented each child’s developing sense of the location and scale of places. A small sketch of “my room” was clipped to subsequent pictures that grew larger and larger as they expanded to depict my house, town, state, country, and the world. At each table, students were busy labeling and coloring maps of the continents and adding a compass rose. On the floor, others were working together to piece together a world map puzzle. All of these activities had been inspired by reading Me on the Map by Joan Sweeny, which introduced the children to concepts of geography.

Adults understand that the world can be represented in two dimensions and Europe is smaller than Asia and north of Africa. But to third graders, these are abstract concepts that must be discussed, seen, drawn, memorized, and worked with until they make sense. Understanding emigration from famine-ridden Ireland or the captive journey into slavery from West Africa is difficult if children are unclear about how familiar local geography relates to unseen oceans, countries, and continents. Where in the world did our ancestors come from? Why did they leave? How far was it to America’s shores? How did they get here? What direction did they travel? In order to fully appreciate being citizens of this remarkable nation, third graders need to know from where they came, as well as where they are going. ~ TRB