How to Teach Geography Through Literacy: Beautiful Feet

Beautiful Feet is a wonderful tool for teaching geography through literacy. Beautiful Feet provides beautiful picture books, detailed maps, and thought-provoking questions that engage children.

We were sitting on the floor in my bedroom. It was time for a new book and my oldest eagerly took it from my hand. Before I could say anything he started flipping through it, looking at the bright and colorful pictures. All of a sudden a loud gasp escaped from his mouth.

“Mom, look!!!” he exclaimed. “It is the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.”

I looked down to see him staring in amazement at the vibrant map. Yes, starring us right in the face was a map that was focusing on some of the places we were studying. I knew this book and curriculum was right up our ally.

I was compensated for my time reviewing this product and writing this review. All opinions are honest, and I was not required to post a positive review

Teaching Geography Through Literacy

There are so many subjects and concepts we can teach our kids. The lists are endless, but the time isn’t. But if we can find ways to combine our learning, we have more time and our kiddos get exposed to so much more.

Beautiful Feet Books does just this! They take engaging books and combine it with geography, science, vocabulary and so much more.

They have many different bundles that focus on content like character, science and the modern world…..but I loved the chance to explore geography through literacy.

Map Skills

Each book in the Literacy Through Geography series comes with a beautiful map. We have just finished “Paddle to the Sea” and it a wonderful story of a wooden Indian that travel from Canada all the way to France. As he makes his way through the Great Lakes, Nigra Falls, and the St. Lawerence River children record his journey on the map.

The teacher’s guide gives lists of places to label, and fun things to add to the map. The best part is that since it is based on the story, children are deepening their comprehension as well as their map skills.

Engaging Questions:

Yes, I love that my boy was making connections with what he was reading to what we were learning in geography. But this is only one part of comprehension. Being able to answer questions and discuss the book is another important part of comprehension. And Beautiful Feet Books makes this a little easier for us parents.

Each section has a wonderful question about the book that can be thoroughly discussed. For example, this section asks students to think about why ice is dangerous to ships.

Adding in Vocabulary and Science:

We all know that reading grows your vocabulary, and once again Beautiful Feet Books does a wonderful job of highlighting this. Many of the questions have the children going off and exploring concepts they read about in the book.

Here we researched portaging and whirlpools. Then we wrote a little about what we had learned and drew pictures.

Once again so much learning is taking place. Durig our reading time, we worked on learning science vocabulary words, reading a nonfiction piece online, writing what we had learned in our own words, and we also discussed connections we could make between what we read online and in our Paddle to the Sea book.

So much learning all in one-time frame!!!!

Beautiful Feet Books:

We have loved the time we spent reading and mapping our way through Paddle to the Sea, and as soon as we start back in August we will pull out a new map and the book “Men of the Mississippi” to learn about new places in America. Both my son and I are excited about the places we will explore and the concepts we will learn. And of course, I’m thrilled that we can be studying geography through literacy.

You’ve Got This

Rachel