CultureGrams is proud to announce the release of a new product this month: Provinces Edition, with reports on all 13 of Canada’s provinces and territories!

Provinces Edition is ideal for upper elementary and middle school students studying Canada. Each province’s report contains fascinating information on categories such as Geography; Wildlife; Environmental Issues; History; Population; Cultural Notes; and First Nations, Métis, and Aboriginal Peoples.

Each report includes maps, charts, a history timeline, and useful images, such as photos of the province’s official emblems. Plus, statistical tables allow students to compare basic information on all of the provinces.

Be sure to access this exciting new addition to your CultureGrams Online Edition.

                                       


Earlier this week, our editors launched all-new additions and updates to World Conflicts Today. All texts were revised and brought up to date, and there were substantial additions to Iraq, Northern Ireland, and the Palestinian Territories.

With heated debate now raging over what to do in Iraq -- whether a troop “surge” is a good idea, or whether a phased withdrawal makes more sense -- teachers and librarians are more interested than ever in understanding how we got to this point.

In essence, having a subscription to World Conflicts Today is more critical than ever to put this war into the proper content.

This month's free video podcast presents one of the most popular conflict report features: slide shows. No iPod is needed to watch -- just a free copy of the Apple iTunes software. A new 1-3 minute podcast is posted every month. Sign up today.

Sign up for a free 30-day trial to World Conflicts Today.

[ TOP ]

How much do you know about the region of South Asia? Test your knowledge with these tidbits from CultureGrams:


1. What island was called Serendip by ancient Arabs and Ceylon by the British, who established it as a colony?
   
   
2. What is a major, though illegal, crop grown in Afghanistan?
   
   
3. What country has the world’s second largest population, behind China, with 1.08 billion residents?
   
   
4. What Hindu and Sikh holiday, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and is celebrated by decorating homes and stores with thousands of lights?
   
   
5. What country was known as East Pakistan until it gained independence in the 1970s?
   
   
6. A long-running conflict in Sri Lanka has pitted the government against what rebel group?
   
   
7. What country’s motion picture industry, popularly known as “Bollywood,” is one of the world’s
   largest?
   
   
8. To what religion does around 83 percent of Bangladesh’s population adhere?
   
   
9. What is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka?
   
   
10. What is Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group?

Answers: 1) Sri Lanka. 2) Opium. 3) India. 4) Diwali, or Deepawali. 5) Bangladesh. 6) The Tamil Tigers, or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 7) India. 8) Islam. 9) Cricket. 10) Pashtun.

1. Afghanistan’s traditional national sport is buzkashi, a precursor to polo, in which teams of horsemen compete to see who can carry the headless carcass of a calf from a circle to a spot a few hundred feet away and return it to the circle. Any player in possession of the calf will suffer all manner of abuse to make him drop it, sometimes even from his own teammates who may want the game prolonged. Only truly superb horsemen are able to master the game.
   
   
2. Bangladesh’s most popular boys’ game, hadudu or ka-baddi, is played on a square court. While continually saying “hadud-du-du,” one team’s player enters the other side’s area and tries to touch as many of the other players as possible. If he returns to his side while still repeating the words without having taken a breath, the other team loses the players he touched and his team gains an equal number of its own players back (from previous rounds). However, if he is trapped by the opposite team and is forced to take another breath, he is out and the opposing team gains one of its members back. The first team to eliminate all players on the other side wins.

[ TOP ]

[ TOP ]

• Did you know that Nova Scotia is Latin for “New Scotland?” It was named by King James I of England in 1621.
• Since the 1700s, Nova Scotians have been known as Bluenosers. Some say the nickname came from the sailors’ blue mittens which turned their noses blue when they rubbed them.
• In 1782, the women of Chester saved the town from an American attack by turning their scarlet lined grey capes inside out and carrying brooms. From a distance they appeared to be marching British soldiers. The attackers returned to their ships and left town.
• Sable Island off the southeast coast of Nova Scotia is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Violent hurricanes and nor’easters (storms with northeast winds) have caused more than three hundred recorded shipwrecks on the island.
• Halifax’s Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows is known as the “church built in a day.” On 31 August 1843, two thousand Haligonians (residents of Halifax) showed up to help build this church, and they completed construction in 24 hours.

[ TOP ]

World Holidays Featured This Month

Estonia – Vastlapäev – February 15
People go sledding and eat special foods; a long sledding ride indicates good luck with the fall harvest.

Barbados – Holetown Festival – Mid-February
A three-day event that celebrates the arrival of the first settlers to the island in 1627.

Guinea-Bissau – Carnaval – February (before Ash Wednesday)
As in other countries where Carnaval is celebrated, traditional dancing, parades, and papier-mâché masks are combined in several days of frenzied activity.

Guyana – Republic Day – February 23
Marks the date Guyana became the Cooperative Republic of Guyana in 1970. The holiday is also known as Mashramani, a word used by indigenous people for the celebration at the end of a cooperative project.

[ TOP ]

Grade level: K–5

Objective: Students will learn about the geographic similarities and differences among the western states of the United States and draw a physical map of the region.

National curriculum standard(s):

National Geography Standards

The World in Spatial Terms

Standard 1: The geographically informed person knows and understands how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information.

Places and Regions

Standard 4: The geographically informed person knows and understands the physical and human characteristics of places.

Environment and Society

Standard 15: The geographically informed person knows and understands how physical systems affect human systems.

Developed by the National Council for Geographic Education

Time requirements
Preparation: 1 hour and 30 minutes
In-class: Up to 1 hour and 30 minutes, depending on the number of passages read and clips shown.

Materials

CultureGrams States Edition: Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana,
New Mexico, United States (outline map).

Instructions

1. Assign students to read the CultureGrams reports for the western states listed above.
   
   
2. In class, read passages from novels and/or show clips from films that portray the West in stereotypical ways -- such as depictions of cowboys, Native Americans, gunfights, mountain men, cattle drives, saloons, etc. There are several books and movies you could use (many are both), including Shane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Lonesome Dove, O Pioneers, The Shootist!, High Noon, The Virginian, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, etc.
   
   
3. Lead a discussion prompting the students to compare and contrast the West as it is commonly portrayed in literature and film with the West as it is portrayed in history and the present-day reality, which they read about in the CultureGrams reports. What similarities do the Western states share? How are they different?
   
   
4. Talk with the students about the importance of Western geography -- the rugged frontier, wide open spaces, the climate, natural resources, limited water, etc. Using the outline map of the United States, accessible from the States Edition have the students create their own physical maps of the West.

Questions for further discussion

1. When Europeans first arrived in the United States, they considered anything west of the Mississippi to be part of the frontier that was the “West.” As settlers spread out across the United States, the boundary of that frontier changed. What does this history tell the class about the way the West has been classified? Is it more than a geographic location?
   
   
2. Since the majority of the western United States is composed of desert, water is scarce in most western states. Do the students think that fewer people should live in these states or that water should be shipped in from other regions of the country? Should the amount of water the inhabitants of these states use be limited?

Extension activity

• Hawaii and Alaska aren’t typically thought of as being part of the West, even though they are both west of California. Have a class debate in which one half argues that Alaska should be classified as part of the West and the other half argues that Hawaii should be. Students may justify their reasons by drawing upon the stereotypes discussed or the historical and current-day information they read about in the CultureGrams reports.

[ TOP ]