Where in the World Cups

Year after year I am always so surprised by the number of students who cross my path without knowing exactly where they live in the world. “What is the name of your continent?” “Ummmm, the U.S.A.?” “In which country do you live?” “I know! I know! Pennsylvania!”

Sigh.

Really, knowing all the layers of this place we call home is a very abstract concept. It can be challenging for many children to visualize how our place in the world is inside another place, which is inside another place, which is inside another place, and so on.

One year, I searched high and low for a set of seven nesting boxes that would fit one inside the other. I was determined to make a visual that would help my students remember something that I consider to be an essential concept. The nesting boxes were really hard to find. I thought and thought about other objects that nest inside each other and then it hit me. Cups! That would be an easy {and inexpensive} solution!

Now, my students know exactly where they live in the world. We zoom all the way out to the Milky Way Galaxy and then work our way back in to our planet, continent, country, state, and town. Finally, students are required to memorize their home address.

I would like to share a set of editable cup labels with you so that we can all rest easy knowing that our students will be able find their way home from outer space. 🙂 Be sure to download the file and then open it in Powerpoint for easy editing. Just click to edit each label as needed. Then print and make copies for your students to cut and paste onto some cups. I bought my cups at the dollar store.

If you teach a whole unit on geography like I do, here is another tool you might like to check out. I ditched my old geography worksheets a few years ago and replaced them with this lapbook. You seriously couldn’t pay me enough to go back to those boring old worksheets. Now my students actually enjoy learning about geography!