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PlayOwl

Geography · Grade 1

Communities Near and Far

Learners discover the needs every community shares (food, water, shelter, ways to get around and work), then visit three real cities far away: Venice in Italy, built on islands with canals; Cairo in Egypt, beside the Nile with desert all around; and Tokyo in Japan, an enormous city of trains. They find each country on a world map and compare these cities respectfully with a U.S. town.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 55 minutes
  • Communities near and far check: 8 questions
  • Ways to answer: fill in the blanks, choose an answer, count, highlight a text, pick map regions and match pairs
See plans Included with Family, Teacher and School plans. Open in PlayOwl

What learners will discover

  • Name the needs every community shares: food, water, shelter, ways to get around and work.
  • Describe Venice, Cairo and Tokyo and how land and water shape life in each city.
  • Find Italy, Egypt and Japan on a world map and name the continent each is in.
  • Compare a faraway city with a U.S. town respectfully: tell what is the same and what is different, and why.

Lessons

  1. What every community needs 7 steps4 practiceabout 12 min
  2. Three cities far away 7 steps4 practiceabout 15 min
  3. Find them on the world map 7 steps4 practiceabout 13 min
  4. Near and far: same and different 7 steps4 practiceabout 13 min
  5. Communities near and far check 8 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Globe ExplorerSpin a real 3D globe, flip to the flat map, and find continents, oceans and countries.
  • Mapmaker QuestFollow directions to make a map, then read its legend, compass rose and scale.
  • Landform ExplorerMountains, valleys, peninsulas and deltas — learn the shapes of the land and find them on Earth.

More 1st grade geography

Guide for grown-ups