[Arona Posts: 449 Status: Offline The house didn't fall on me. It fell on my sister.]

In my day, geography came under Social Studies. I've read that's still true, so I assume grade/elementary students know the word "geography."

Please comment if they do or don't. Even if they do, would they also know it by another term?

  from (I finally get to use a different emoji! It's "almost" appropriate to the story.)

 

[Vijaya Posts: 7,330 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

Yes. My kids began serious study in second grade and loved the passport program.

[JennaWren Posts: 1,779 Status: Offline WWW]

My kids know both geography and social studies -- in elementary school, geography is taught in conjunction with/in the context of the social studies program.

[Arona Posts: 449 Status: Offline The house didn't fall on me. It fell on my sister.]

Okay, got it. Thanks. Geography as a term is still understood by elementary students.

But what's the "passport program." I could assume based on the terminology, but want to be sure...and is that program widely known?

[Vijaya Posts: 7,330 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

Arona, I don't know how many schools use the Passport program but the child gets their *passport* stamped when they finish studying a country. Like a sticker program. Extra motivation for kids?

[Arona Posts: 449 Status: Offline The house didn't fall on me. It fell on my sister.]

That's what I thought, V. Thanks for confirming. 

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,855 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Geography is one of the social studies, but I don't know that kids know the term until middle school. (At least not where I live-- Long Island) They study regions of the US in fifth grade. They may study parts of the state in fourth, but I don't think the teachers separate the geography from the history. It's lumped together.

[Ree Posts: 335 Status: Offline No Boxes WWW]

In our schools (PA), they also have geography bees in Elementary School. So, yes, they know the term and learn their states/capitals.

Ree

[Dionna]

Hi Arona! You could look up the common core standards of learning for the state where your story takes place, and check out the social studies benchmarks for your main character's grade. I think you can find these online through the state's board of education.

[Arona Posts: 449 Status: Offline The house didn't fall on me. It fell on my sister.]

Thanks, all. 

There's no state in the story, Dionna, but it's still useful information for the future. Thanks.

It seems some will be familiar with the term, some not. I'm comfortable throwing in a word here or there a kid might not know, especially when its context would make it easy to figure out...it's part of how they learn. (Well, hopefully.)

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,855 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

For future reference, here's a link to the national social studies standards I use for the teachers' guides for the social studies mags put out by Carus Publishing. http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/c3/C3-Framework-for-Social-Studies.pdf

[Arona Posts: 449 Status: Offline The house didn't fall on me. It fell on my sister.]

Awesome. Thanks, Debbie.