PHYSICAL PRODUCT
Geography: Series 2
Combines well with
Geography: Series 2
Our Geography: Series 2 cards are Montessori geography folders with 70 real photographs, 10 from each of the seven continents. Every continent has the same ten themes, including a wedding, a volcano, and small farming, so students can compare how life and land look around the world.
Students might notice the clothing, transportation, or landscape in each photo and discuss what is the same and what is different. Antarctica can't always match the other continents because it has no permanent residents. That leads to great questions, like why there are no farms in Antarctica. That is exactly what we want students to ask!
What's included
- 10 cards per continent packet, one for each theme (70 cards in the Set/7)
- Packets for North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica, available individually or as a set
- Ten themes: playing ball, small farming, a wedding, taking a walk, police officers, firefighters, a bus, a desert, a volcano, and a street cleaner
- Front of each card: one real photograph
- Back of each card: an image of the continent, color-coded to match the Montessori continent map; where the photo was taken; and other information when needed
- Cards are approx. 8½" x 5½"
- Eco-laminated with a food-grade laminate and rounded corners
- Lesson plan
Add x-large cloth pouches or our blue geography folders to display the cards.
Created by a Montessori teacher with guidance from AMI teacher trainers. Eco-printed in our rural New England office.
Made in the USA. CPSIA compliant.
Note: Photos may change from those pictured.
Hear teacher praise for these geography cards
Why do geography folders matter for reading?
Interest drives learning, and students are naturally curious about how other people live. When they return to these photos again and again, they practice naming what they see and discussing how it compares to their own lives. That builds vocabulary and background knowledge, two of the language comprehension strands of Scarborough's (2001) reading rope. A student who has discussed a volcano in Asia or a desert in Africa will understand more when they later read about those places.
How do you use geography folders?
Invite one or a few students to choose a folder, starting with your home continent. Look at each photo together and discuss what everyone sees, using the back of the card to guide the conversation.
Later, pull one theme from each continent, such as every wedding, and lay the photos side by side. Students can also sort the cards by continent (continent pieces not included).
When students are writing, invite them to write about a favorite photo with the movable alphabet or pencil and paper. To play detective, one student writes about a photo, and another reads the writing and finds that photo.
You can find more ideas in How to Use Geography Cards and How Can We Use Themes to Teach Cultural Geography?
Which series should I start with?
Series 1 or Series 2 works as a starting point, since each covers all seven continents. Choose the themes most likely to interest your students, then rotate in a new series when interest fades. Series 3 adds six more packets but does not include Antarctica.
What ages is this for?
Typically ages 3 and up. Younger students enjoy looking at and discussing the photos. Older students can compare themes across continents, research further, and write about what they learn.
What does the Australia packet include?
Geographers debate what defines a continent. Some consider Australia part of the larger continent of Oceania, while others consider Australia the primary continent that includes the oceanic islands. We use the term Australia to include Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, the entire island of New Guinea, and the thousands of islands in the Central and South Pacific that make up Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
What comes next?
Use all three of our Geography Card series as a foundation, but don't stop there. Encourage students to use magazines, calendars, and the internet to create more scenes from around the world based on their interests.
What is an album badge?
Trained Montessorians select every product in The Shared Environment. If the product fulfills the description in a presentation, it gets an album badge.
Album badges represent the analysis of trained Montessorians and do not indicate endorsement by an accrediting body. The album badging process and symbols are proprietary intellectual property of The Shared Environment.