Belt News: Where in the World?

Geography is one of the most important things when navi-gating through life. It plays a huge role in day-to-day life and in certain topics in school. Understanding where an event happened in history class can really sculpt children's grasp on the topic. Even subjects like literature and politics are shaped by the geography in which they occur.

Learning about countries, capitals, states, and oceans is a great way for students to learn about the Earth. It has been proven that more students understand top-ics when they know the geography of them. Having students learn of a map is one of the best ways to un-derstand and a few Belt teacher re-cently took steps to improve the part of their students curriculum.

Mrs. Noland, Mrs. Gaylord, and Mrs. Jones recognized a need in their classrooms for better visual aids in instruction. There were no large pull-down maps in the class-rooms. This limited learning ability in classes causes many teachers and students to have difficulties under-standing how to teach and learn curriculums.

The three all worked togeth-er through the Daughters of the American Revolution and wrote a grant proposal for World and Unit-ed States wall maps. It was a long process. During this process these three teachers had to write down

reasons for why student perfor-mance would be enhanced by these maps.

Most of the grant terms started with learner based outcomes like "Students Will" and were fol-lowed by reasons for why the ele-mentary students deserved these maps.

In the end the elementary school was rewarded with a $500 map grant and the school was able to purchase 3' x 4' maps. There were placed in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms.

The positive impact was im-mediate. Mrs. Jones proclaimed how these maps have increased un-derstanding of geography in all the classrooms. She added "I don't know how I ever taught without a map!" Every day starts with a map exercise and the teachers and stu-dents alike appreciate the upgrade.