The first graders made guesses about the relative land area of the countries they are reaching, and then we used an electronic resource called Culturegrams to see a graph of the actual sizes. We did the same thing with the populations of the countries, and many were surprised that more land does not necessarily mean more people. When I showed them population density they were even more amazed!
Using the augmented reality app called Quiver, the students were able to see how their flags might look as they wave over the country. They also liked looking back at their original continent sheets to see their maps become 3-dimensional globes.
