Learninghaven.com

Author: admin

  • Social Studies Articles

    All the articles have moved to a new sub-domain of this site. You can reach it by clicking on any of the links in the index. This index will be updated as new articles are added. For the latest topic, please use this link:

    http://www.funsocialstudies.com


    Geography

    General Physical
    • Five Themes of Geography
    • Location or Place
    • How to Read a Compass
    • Degrees on a Compass

    Continental Drift

    • Continental Drift – Fact or Fiction?
    • Continental Drift – Closer to an answer
    • Recycling
    • Plate Tectonics
    Miscellaneous Places
    • Time Zones
      What Are They and Why Do We Need Them?
    • Surprising Geographical Facts

    Describing the World

    • World Hemispheres
    • World Continents
    • Antarctica Facts
    • Animals in Antarctica
    • Early Explorers in Antarctica
    • Antarctic Climate and Weather

    History

    General US
    • How Money Began
      From Bartering to Money
    • How Writing Began
      From Hieroglyphics to the Internet
    • Colonies – An Overview
    • Colonies – Reasons for Colonization
    • Community Helpers
    • Flags at Half Mast
      Learn why flags are hung at half mast

    Native Americans

    • An Overview
    • The Major Groups
    • The Effects of Colonization
    • Pilgrims and Technology
    Black History Women in History
    • The Big Dipper
      Road to freedom
    • Harriet Tubman
    • Patricia S Cowings
    • Sidney Poitier
    • Joan of Arc
    • Elizabeth Blackwell
    • Valentina Tereshkova
    • Harriet Tubman
    • Patricia S Cowings
    Ancient Egypt Ancient Egyptians

    The Great Pyramid at Giza

    • The Outside
    • The Inside
    • The Sphinx – Guardian of the Tombs
    • Mummification – Why did the Egyptians make mummies?
    • How Mummies Were Made
    • Papyrus – How it was made
    • Hieroglyphics – How Writing Began

    Three Kingdoms

    • Hatshepsut ~ The queen who became a king
    • Akhnaton ~ Rebel or visionary?
    • Tutankhamun ~ why was he important?
    Places of Interest September 11

    The Great Pyramid at Giza

    • The Outside
    • The Inside
    • The Sphinx – Guardian of the Tombs
    • Stonehenge
    • The Leaning Tower of Pisa

    Please read first: Note to Parents

    • World Coming Together

    Cultures

    Holidays General
    • Cultures
    • Guy Fawkes Day
    • St Martins Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Some Christmas Traditions
    • Hannukah
    • Kwanzaa
    • Eid Al Fitr
    • Origami
    • Paper lanterns
    • When is a Pancake not a Pancake?


  • Animals in Antarctica

    There is very little plant life on
    Antarctica. It consists of small amounts of lichen and moss, and some floating
    plants in the inland seas. Apart from a few insects, all of the animal life
    feeds from the ocean. The largest animal living entirely on the land of
    Antarctica is a mite. It is just big enough to be seen without a microscope. It
    manages to stay alive by producing chemicals very similar to the anti-freeze
    that we put in our cars in winter! The ocean is full of nutrients. Warm water
    rising brings the nutrients up to the surface. Those nutrients along with krill,
    a small shrimp-like animal are the keys to the food chain in Antarctica.

    Fish

    Although there are many types of fish
    in Antarctica, there are not that many and they are small. However, there are
    plenty of cephalopods (octopus and squid). These play an important role in the
    diet of some whales, seals, fish, penguins and other sea birds.

    Birds

    More than 80% of birds in the
    Antarctic region are penguins. Some live on ice floes, while others live on
    land. The Emperor penguin never steps foot on land. It spends almost its entire
    life in the ocean. The female lays her egg on an ice floe, and the male
    incubates the egg on his feet. The male has a special flap of skin to protect
    the egg, and an indentation in his lower body. He lowers the indentation over
    the egg, so the egg is well protected from the cold. The flying birds are mainly
    petrels and albatrosses. They make their nests on offshore islands and rocky
    areas of coastline. The Arctic Tern flies between the North and South Poles. It
    spends from September to March in the Southern hemisphere, enjoying the summer
    there, and from April to August in the summer of the Northern Hemisphere. Each
    year it flies about 18, 500 miles!

    Mammals

    The marine mammals in the Antarctic
    are mostly whales and seals. There are two main types of whale in Antarctica,
    the baleen and the tooth whales. The baleens feed on plankton, and include
    humpback whales, blue whales and sometimes minke whales. The tooth whales
    include the killer whale and the sperm whale. They feed on other mammals, such
    as seals and on fish and even birds when they can catch them.

    The seals are mainly four types: Ross’s seal, which is
    less than 1% of the population, leopard seals, crabeater seal and Weddell seals.
    There are probably about 20 million crabeater seals in Antarctica. They have
    specially adapted teeth for sieving krill from the water. The leopard seals are
    hunters. They are known to eat penguins, other seals and fish.


    Related articles:
    Penguins
    Antarctica

    The Weather and Climate in Antarctica

    Early Explorers in Antarctica

  • World Geography


    World Geography is essential to the proper understanding of the planet we inhabit. A study of this subject must take off with lessons starting from the origin of the earth, its development, its features and its current geographical details.

    The term Geography is derived from the Greek words Ge or Gaea, both meaning “Earth”, and graphein meaning “to describe” or “to write” or “to map.” Geography is the study of the Earth’s characteristics and distribution of life and habitat on it.

    There are four traditional approaches to the study of World Geography:

    1. Spatial examination of natural and human phenomena or Geography as a study of distribution.
    2. Study based on area (places and regions).
    3. Analysis based on man-land interactions and activities
    4. Earth science, which involves the study of the planet, its water world and the atmosphere.

    Originally, Geography had been equated to the subject of cartography and the study of place names. Though both topography and cartography studies are a vital chapter of Geography, they are not synonymous with the subject itself. 

    The subject must include the study of spatial and terrestrial distribution of planetary occurrences and activities and the correlation between humans and their environment. At the same time, it must also involve the study of economics, health, climate, plants and animals of a particular region. This is what constitutes the interdisciplinary subject of World Geography.

    Another important aspect of World Geography is to divide lessons about the world according to its continents. The seven landmasses of the earth and their neighboring islands are generally referred to as the continents. They are North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and Antarctica. 

    However, there may be some variations as well. For instance, North and South America are often merged into a single continent and Asia is often combined with Europe. Then there are cases where Antarctica is not considered a continent and Australasia or Oceania replace one Australia.

    In order to make World Geography an entertaining subject you can follow these tips:

    1. You can initiate students to make their own dummy passports (with their photographs) just for the fun of it and think of countries they would love to visit while exploring the world map. While they do this, they can check out travel routes, transport details, places of interest etc. of a particular place.
    2. You can use the Internet effectively to impart information about a particular place and encourage students to surf the web for colorful graphics as well.
    3. Students can also have great fun while packing a suitcase with clothes and essentials for the place they plan to visit. While doing this, they can learn about the weather and travel necessities of the countries they are checking out.
    4. Students can design postcards after a study of the tradition, culture, society and history of the place.

    All this and much more can add a lot of fun to the study of World Geography and increase interest in it.

  • World Maps


    World maps are a mere sketch of the entire world cataloged as ‘political’ and ‘physical’. The political map is meant to illustrate territorial borders while the physical map shows the geographical features, which demonstrates the physical surface of the earth. World maps are the ones that give you a clearer picture about continents like Asia, Africa, South America, North America, Antarctica, Europe, and not to mention Australia. Whether it is a globe or an atlas you will know which country lies in which part of the world to say the least.

    World maps are two-dimensional, geometrically exact depiction of a three-dimensional space. You must also know that the technique of map-making is called cartography. The beginning of map-making can be traced back to the Stone Age and seems to predate written language to say the least. You can find maps tinted on a wall of the Catal Huyuk settlement in south-central Anatolia, presently in Turkey.

    World maps are basically conceptual depictions of the world and not nonaligned documents. This is why they should be cautiously construed. Nowadays, road maps are probably the most convenient and shape a division of navigational maps comprising aeronautical and nautical charts, hiking and bicycling maps and railroad network maps. The major number of drawn map sheets are constituted by local surveys, carried out by municipalities, utilities, tax assessors, emergency services providers, and other local agencies.

    As a matter of fact you will find several but not all maps drawn to scale. However a “drawn to scale” report helps the reader invariably to conclude not only the real sizes but also the distances in between the represented things. In fact, a bigger scale is more detailed, hence settling for a bigger map to correspond the area is advisable.

    Maps are so poised for the hiker that they are scaled at the ratio 1:24,000. It just goes to show that 1 of any unit of measurement on the map matches up to 24,000 of the identical unit in actuality. On the other hand, for a motorist, maps are scaled to about 1:250,000. However, commercial navigational maps like road maps and town plans give up o the accuracy in scale by bringing about the a greater visual expediency to its user.

    There are topographical maps also, which represent invariable values like for instance average temperature. These are depicted together with other things depending on the scale of the map in the shape of Isolines.

    World maps are informative and in fact it is a quite a learning material for students as they tend to learn so much about the different countries, the continents, the different physical features, pressure zones and what not.  

  • Viking Recipes – A Viking Feast


    Now we need to round out our Viking unit. It is always fun to end a themed
    study with something special and a good way to do this is have a
    feast!

    The Vikings were farmers and raised cattle and other domestic
    animals. They grew grains and vegetables although they would have had a short
    growing season depending on the weather!

    Serve your meal on wooden plates
    or bowls. You can also use hard crusted bread hollowed out as plates. These were
    used also but they did have wooden dishes. Only use knives and spoons though no
    forks!

    So here are some ideas for your feast and some recipes!

    VIKING FEAST

    • Deer or Beef Roast (cooked in a pit or oven if
      you don’t have a pit)
    • Carrots, cabbage, onions (roasted with the meat)
    • Cottage cheese
    • Peas
    • Parsley Butter (mix soft butter & fresh
      chopped
      parsley)

    Flatbread/Shardbread

    • 7
      Cups of gruttet flour or thick wheat flour.
    • 3 cups of liquid. Use whey or
      butter milk
    • 1 Egg
    • A dash of salt (if desired)
    1. Flour,
      liquid, egg and salt must be kneaded long and thoroughly. If needed add more
      flour or liquid so the dough is just right.
    2. The dough should be shaped
      into small balls and then pressed flat and thin.
    3. The bread is baked over a
      glowing fire on shards of pottery or pans, about 2-3 minutes on each side. The
      bread should be light brown and sound hollow when you knock on it lightly with a
      fingernail. For the pottery you can use the shards from an average red burned
      herbal pot…

    * Sweeter bread/cakes can be obtained by sweetening the
    dough with honey.* Toasted stinging nettles give a good spicy taste.

    *
    Chopped nuts and cooked acorns in the dough are also good.
     

  • Online Learning Fun


    Internet-based teaching is becoming more and more popular for all those who are seeking online learning fun. With the net becoming an effective teaching medium, it has also turned into the main communication means in distance education.

    There are two main categories of on-line learners:

    1. Students: They are avidly seeking this avenue to undertake lessons from home. The learning process may involve either taking computer print outs or downloading modules.

    2. Executives: The corporate sector has also benefited hugely from web curriculums. The competitive necessity for knowledge-based organizations has been a major factor in corporates stressing on such programs. Since the web is the fastest way of knowing about latest technologies and information updates, it is a smart way of enhancing employee proficiency. Moreover, more and more executives are looking for a quick and easy way to adding to their skill sets, in the highly competitive scenario.

    Online learning packages are of three main types:

    1. Non-formal: This process is as simple as collecting resources for self-study and specialized research, such as for school projects, homework, classroom or corporate boardroom presentations.
    2. Formal: This involves registering for an on-line course with an educational institution. At the end of the course, students add to their qualifications with a diploma or degree.
    3. Online Corporate Programs: Corporate houses generally sponsor such training modules for enhancing the expertise of staff and providing them with latest industry information.

    Some popular on-line courses are:

    1. Preschool games: Cartoon builders and rhyming are some games nursery students enjoy. Kindergarten packages are very popular.
    2. Subject-based games for elementary students: They are great ways of introducing your kids to online learning fun. For instance, math games and history quizzes help elementary school students learn faster and getting over their subject hitches. Various websites allow you to download such games free. It even has ways to teach chemistry equations faster and with complete online learning fun.
    3. Interactive games and activities: This type of online learning fun involves brainteasers, puzzles, general knowledge quizzes, flash cards, word games. Halloween games are another fun activity that is available on the Web.
    4. IQ Tests and Logical Thinking: They help hone students’ learning and reasoning skills. These may include reading, writing, manners, social norms, techniques of friendship and many more topics. 
    5. On-line storybooks: They can help safe guard children’s reading habits.
    6. Stress-buster games: These Internet games give updates on stress factors and ways it can affect you. They have additional features like fun games that help relieve stress. These games are tailor made for executives. 
    7. Card games: This is a favorite among all, from homemakers to corporate honchos. It is the ultimate in online learning fun and there is one great thing it teaches everyone and that is patience.

    Learning online is not only fun but time saving and cost effective too. It’s a perfect solution for busy professionals and students seeking knowledge outside their text books.

  • Viking Dress


    Vikings dressed according to their wealth. The
    richer ones often wearing clothes that showed the styles in the countries they
    had visited.

    The children wore simple smocks and tunics.

    The women wore a simple undershift with long
    sleeves and an “apron” that was made of two rectangular pieces of
    cloth. The back piece had strings that attached to the front with brooches.
    Often the brooches were connected with beads. The women also carried a chain or
    belt with important things attached to it, like their eating knife, an ear
    scoop, keys, etc.

    The men wore long tunic type shirts with leggings of wool and boots sometimes
    made from seal hides or shoes of leather. They wrapped they leggings around
    their legs with cloth or leather. They wore cloaks pinned with huge brooches
    always thrown back away from the sword arm.

    Viking men loved jewelry as well as the women. Both men and women would have
    worn brooches, armbands, etc .

  • US Geography


    US geography is an interesting study in contrasts. The vast landmass of the United States houses a varied topography, with a surplus of physical features ranging from snow-capped mountains to the azure sea, from the rolling plains to the arid desert. The astounding variation in the geography of America translates into wide-ranging differences in its climate and environment too.

    Geographical Location of US

    The third largest country in the world, US is surrounded by Mexico in the south and Canada in the north. In the west is the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean is in the east and the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast.

    US is an join up of forty-nine states, and all except Hawaii and Alaska, form the continental block of the country. It is worth mentioning here that Alaska lies at the northwestern flank of America, separated from the US continental landmass by Canada, while Hawaii is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

    The landmass of US geography encompasses a wide area and a wider variety of land characteristics. United states is broadly divided into eight distinctive physiographic divisions with other insignificant physiographic subdivisions, like:

    • Interior plains
    • Intermontane plateaus
    • Laurentian Highlands
    • Rocky Mountain System
    • Appalachian Highlands
    • Pacific Mountain System
    • Atlantic Plain
    • Interior Highlands

    Death Valley, Inyo County, and California 282 feet belowq the sea level are some of the lowest points of United States of America. On the other hand, the highest points of America include Mount McKinley, Denali Borough and Alaska 20,320 feet above the sea level.

    Cultural America 

    When talking about continental U.S geography, you can easily subdivide the region into six major cultural specifications. These may include:

    • New England – It lies in the upper northeast region of United States of America
    • Mid Atlantic – The home of the populous city of New York
    • South of America – It ranges from the coastal marshes to the highest peaks of the Appalachian Mountains and is drained by several large rivers
    • Midwest Region of United States of America – It includes the land which lie between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes
    • Southwest America – It is a dry climactic region and the area is noted for Grand Canyon
    • West of America – It is the largest among the six cultural regions in America. The region is the homeland of several mountain ranges, large valleys and broad plateaus.

    Climate of United States

    US geography is the land of every global climate. Its temperate climate in most areas, semiarid in the Great Plains, arid in the Great Basin, tropical in Hawaii and Southern Florida, polar in Alaska and Mediterranean in coastal California.

    Natural resources – a major context of US geography  

    Delve deep into the earth and you would be amazed to find an affluence of significant mineral contents including uranium, gold, mercury, copper, potash, tungsten, lead, petroleum, timber, silver, coal, phosphates, bauxite, natural gas, nickel, zinc, molybdenum and iron in US.

    Environment in US geography

    Environment in America has deteriorated abruptly causing acid rains in both US and Canada. US geography witnesses an all round pollution of land, air and water which if not controlled in time can prove extremely disastrous. 

  • Social Study Lesson Plan


    If you are looking for a social study lesson plan, here is an effective and popular method: Medaline Hunter Lesson Design Model. However, before we get into the details, let us briefly know what social study is all about. The study of subjects like history, geography, civics, sociology, economics and a few other social science subjects is collectively known as social study at the primary and secondary school level. At some post-secondary and tertiary schools, it is identified with the study of certain facets of human society.

    There could be a difference in subject matter but generally it includes both pure (sociology, psychology and linguistics) and applied social sciences (business, economics, criminology, and mass media). Some North American social study courses also include earth sciences and climatology. In New South Wales, Australia, the public school system defines social study as the education of “Human Society and its Environment.”

    Whatever its subject matter, planning is very important. The Madeline Hunter Lesson Design Model is one of the most popular for direct teaching methods. Named after Madeline Hunter, noted educational theorist, it is an 8-point lesson plan.

    Preparation: This is a warm-up activity that introduces the student to the lesson and attracts attention before class begins. It can be in the form of a leaflet, an example problem, or a question-answer session.

    Aim: Plan the purpose of that day’s lesson. As a teacher, you must give tips on how students will benefit from the class and what they will learn.

    Input: This includes the vocabulary, skills and other concepts a teacher refers to in the classroom. Briefly, it is the instructions necessary to learn the lesson.
     
    Display (show): Show and prepare your students how to learn their lessons easily and proficiently.

    Effective guidance: This involves the trimodal approach, or see/hear/do method of instructions. Here, you show your students how to move step-by-step in order to master the skills emphasized in this method. Say for instance, you show the students how to work out a problem, as they try to solve it on their own.

    Check progress: This tip is a great way to find out whether your students have really grasped the lesson. Always ask for their feedback and pace your instructions according to their progress.

    Self-help: Let your students complete some lessons on their own, helping whenever they are stuck. This is to ensure that each student knows what to do.

    Conclude: At the end of it all, ask your students to recall the lessons of the day.

    If you apply these tips from elementary school level, you can turn social study into one of the most interesting subjects. On the other hand, students who follow this method carefully are sure to do well. Proper social study lesson plan can boost your overall performance as well.

  • Subtraction Worksheets


    If you were weak in math as a student and do not want your child to be weak in it too, then you can take the help of math worksheets like subtraction worksheets. The free and printable worksheets come with solutions to the mathematical problems, giving the kids good practice on sums for excellent memory function.

    The subtraction worksheets have sums from ‘0-0′ to ’20-10’. Therefore, in total, there are 11 pages of sums and each page has 22 sums. Now, isn’t that a lot of sums for the small child? Hence, it is important not to overburden your child by expecting to get the whole stack of sums completed in a single day. It will be rational to get the child workout a single page of sums each day.

    Subtraction Worksheets & Their Use

    Like the three addition worksheets, there are three subtraction worksheets in Math Worksheets. There are some worksheets that have addition and subtraction exercises all placed together, under one head; this last category of worksheets is a special one that has the sums organized into the groups of four. For instance, a child learns to add the numbers 3 with 8 and 8 with 3, and gets the same result. Similarly, the child works out subtractions like 11-3 and 11-8 to find out the relation.

    After the child has sound knowledge of the normal subtraction process, take your child a step further and practice the binary subtraction or may be, subtraction of any other bases. It is always best to opt for the finger method. When your child starts to learn subtractions, it is advisable to begin by teaching subtraction on the fingers. Small subtractions like 10-7 can be easily counted on the fingers. Only after the child has mastered this form of counting, must you shift to larger numbers like subtracting 9 from 36. With this, the child will learn the borrowing method.

    You can really depend on the subtraction worksheets for practice. Beside the worksheets, you can also take the help of subtraction games and subtraction lesson plans. They make practical sense and make subtraction sums fun.

    If you have still not introduced your child to subtraction worksheets, do so now and see the difference it makes.