In Mrs. DelToro's 7th and 8th grade Geography class, students have been exploring the 7 continents and the countries. This semester, they began with Europe, then journeyed to Australia and Oceania. This week, they started their unit on Asia.
As part of their Interactive Geography Notebook, students selected a topic related to East Asia, such as the Great Wall, Yangtze River, Mt. Fuji, the Gobi Desert & wild horses, Samurai discipline, K-Pop culture, calligraphy, giant pandas, cherry blossoms, Chinese New Year, Asian cuisine, or any other Asia-related topic of their choice. They then reported on their topic through the lens of the Five Themes of Geography: Location, Place, Region, Movement, and Human-Environment Interaction.
After completing their assignments, students watched a chopstick tutorial to learn how to hold and use chopsticks—a traditional utensil in many parts of Asia. Chopsticks have been used for over 7,000 years, initially for food preparation, and became a common eating tool in East Asia around 400 CE.
For the hands-on portion of the lesson, students paired up and practiced picking up objects with chopsticks, putting their new skills to the test while gaining a fun, interactive cultural experience.
