Have you been looking for an exciting voyage across the world! Come along as we walk on the Great Wall of China, wander through the Amazon Rainforest, and climb the Egyptian Pyramids! Within this curriculum you’ll discover the sights and sounds of 31 countries across the globe. You’ll get hands-on with fun activities, crafts, recipes and more! So grab your passports, and get ready to go! It’s time for Expedition Earth Thursday!
Shalom! And welcome to our Geography Curriculum week on Israel!
Here are some of the highlights of the week:
- Where Israel is on the map, the Mediterranean Sea, the Dead Sea, and the capital
- A song in Hebrew
- How to say “Hello” in Hebrew
- How to pray for the Jewish people
- About children in Israel
- Completed a lapbook activity
- Completed and classified animals of Israel
- Learned new Geography terms
- Made a stone inlay craft
- Learned about the Dome of the Rock
- Learned about the 7th Wonder of the World: Petra in Jordan
We located Israel on the map. This is the smallest country we’ve done so far, so the kids really had to look to find it.
We played the Israeli version of tic tac toe. instead of marking your spot with an X or an O they use colored rocks. And instead of putting them in the blanks the rocks are placed on the intersections of the lines. 3 in a row wins!
We learned about the Dome of the Rock, and made a painting with foil on top.
We worked on our Israel Lapbook Component:
We learned about animals found in Israel, the Teeny Tot was particularly tickled with this activity.
We finished our animal lapbooks then classified them on our wall, here are our favorites:
We made these cool stone inlays that we’ll use as coasters. I do have to point out that this didn’t go quite as smoothly as I’d expected because I only had one mold, so each person had to wait about an hour for it to dry before the next one could do theirs! oh well, lesson learned. They still turned out pretty cool.
Of course we finished our week by visiting an Middle Eastern restaurant that served us yummy Falafel. (Okay, so the kids didn’t like it, but it’s all about experiencing the culture right?)
Of course we stamped our passports and greeted each other, Shalom!
Click here if you’d like to follow along with our Expedition Earth Geography Curriculum Journey!
Shalom!!
Did you know the word Shalom means SOOOOOOOOOOOO much more than hello?? It means peace, wholeness and completeness. As well, I don’t know if you learned this in your study of Israel so you may not be aware however, the dome of the rock is a despised and hated place in the eyes of the Jewish people (me being one of them). I had to say I was quite taken back (not in a good way) when I saw the dome of the rock art. Something that Christians should be aware of. Thank you for sharing a bit of my peoples culture with your children.
Jews, Muslims, and Christians all live in Israel so why not learn about the Dome of the Rock as one of the many landmarks in Israel?
Not trying to argue or fight. I just thought I would add a little more knowledge and understanding about a building that is considered, by most religious Jews, to be pagan…an eye sore…an abomination. No one had an issue with me sharing more about the word shalom. Sooooooooooo…shalom to you all!
I thank you for sharing that view and definitely not trying to argue or fight either. 🙂
Maybe another example would put it into light. Muslims/Jews/Christians do not follow the old religion of ancient Egyptians (pharaohs who claimed they were gods). On contrary the Prophets such as Moses and Joseph (which all 3 religions believe in) were sent by God to spread the true message in that region and to free the God-following people (i.e. Jews) from hardship. However, when studying Egypt I always see everyone studying/learning/exploring about the pyramids and ancient Egyptian religion/culture even though it may be in contrast with what Muslims/Christians/Jews living there believe in. We study it because we cannot ignore it…its history…but we do not have to “like” it. 🙂 I don’t think Egyptians would be offended if someone included the pyramids in the study of their country.
Peace back to you!
I think that when learning about world cultures there will be some things we prefer and others we do not. But they’re all part of the culture of the area, so I have included them regardless. I did my best to be unbiased when presenting each culture’s landmarks, traditions, cultural styles, etc.
Teaching things in an unbiased manner can be a good thing but my question is this. As a Christian homeschooler do you teach all subjects in an unbiased manner?
I appreciate it, thank you.
It is a pity I didn’t know that you intend learning about Israel as I would’ve sent you some stuff from here. Maybe next time, huh?
My best,
Ramona
I also am in Israel. Are you rimona gilboa by any chance!?
Ramona,
My group is studying Israel in January, anything you have for educational purposes I would greatly appreciate. thanks you.
Very interesting, i love this study for the kids. BTW my daughers name is Shalom :o)
Hi ive been following your page for a few years now and am wondering about all the old reposts?? I love coming to your site to see new ideas and usually every year you do new things. Are you just not doing anything new this year? Most of the posts are from 3 yrs ago and its turning me and alot of my homeschool friends away from yr site since we saw these post when they were fresh. Just trying to figure out why areyou only repoating thigs.
I wanted to take some time this year to re-post some of our Expedition Earth World Geography lessons since we haven’t done it for a couple years and I have a bunch of new readers.
http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2013/08/introduction-to-world-geography.html