People in today's world are very mobile. With relative ease and with great speed people can move from place to place. People travel in cars, vans, trains, ships, and airplanes. Not only is it easy to travel from one town to another, it is also easy to travel form one country to another. Movement of people, products, and ides from one country to another is very much a part of our daily lives.

Shared Book Literature Source

With Love from Gran, Dick Gackenback

The little boy's Gran is great. He loves to site on her lab while they shell peas together. Then one day Gran decided to see the world. Gran send the little boy a present from each place she visits. From London comes a model castle and a crown; from Budapest a gypsy wagon; from Hong Kong a giant dragon; from Lima a llama. But Gran's last present is the best of all.

Other Materials Needed

• World Discovery Map
• Map Markers
• Post it Notes
• Discovery Globe

Suggested Lesson

As part of a pre-reading activity, open the book to the map shown on the title page. Discuss with the students the purpose of a map. List the student responses on the chalkboard or chart paper. Ask the students to list the types of things shown on a map. Help the student develop the list and include such items as the names of continent, countries, and cities. Also ask the students to predict the purpose of the dots and lines shown on the map on the title page.

In a shared book experience, read the story with the children. Discuss the places where Gran traveled. List the name of each city and country visited on the chalkboard or chart paper.

After finishing the book, review the prediction make earlier about the line and dots appearing on the title page map.

Review the places where Gran traveled. Ask the students to explain the difference between a city and a country. Cluster the names by cities and by countries.

Use the World Discovery Map and the Discovery Globe. Working in cooperative groups, find and circle the countries from which Gran sent gifts. Ask for volunteers to place "Post-it" notes with the name of each city and country on the map. Locate each country on the globe. Compare and contrast the differences between the work map and the globe.

Ask the students to refer to the world physical map at the top edge of the World Discovery Map. Ask a student to describe a continent. Have students name the continent where each country is located.

Discuss the different methods of travel Gran took to visit the other places in the world. Ask the students to think about how the mail is sent around the world. * Plan a trip to the library to find out. (You may want to have the librarian pre-select "easy-reader" books on mail and how it travels) Back in the classroom, have the children find pictures of the different vehicles that move the mail: trucks, airplanes, ships, etc. and cut out and glue on sentence strips. In a pocket chart, build these sentences:

Mail moves by ___________________________________________________(picture of a truck).

Mail moves by _______________________________________________ (picture of an airplane).

Mail moves by ___________________________________________________ (picture of a ship).

* Bring out the fact that postal workers perform a great service to all communities.

Review the pictures in the book of the gifts the little boy received from each country. Ask the students to use the pictures to try to determine what the people may be like in other countries. Do they like toys, dogs, costumes, masks, and stuffed animals? Bring out the point that we have many things in common with people of other nationalities and cultures.