Students at Latham “Study Abroad” in Virtual Learning

Our Virtual Learning programming has taken the students at Latham “abroad” to all seven continents with teacher Katie! Students have been excited for their online social studies lessons, eagerly anticipating Katie’s arrival in the Virtual Classroom.

Student favorites included:

• “Africa because of all the cool animals and the Pyramids”

• “Australia because of the Sydney Opera House,” and

• “Antarctica because its natural habitat is so different from ours and because there are so few people there.”

In each continent, they learned new facts pertaining to climate and landscape, natural crops, wildlife, economics, government, historical sites, and tourism. (We’re sharing a few of the fun new facts they learned below.) Katie has challenged students to write a paragraph about which continent they’d most like to travel to, and why. We can’t wait to see what they write!

North America

• All our students live in North America!

• North America is the only continent that has every kind of climate – Tropical, Dry, Continental, Moderate, and Polar.

South America 

• South America is home to the largest river by water volume, the Amazon River.

• Also the world’s highest lake, Lake Titicaca, is located in South America. It can be found at a height of over 3800 meters. Lake Titicaca is also the largest lake in South America.

Europe

• The Vatican City, the world’s smallest country, is in Europe. This is the place the Pope calls home.

• There are more than 200 languages spoken throughout Europe!

Asia

• Asia is the largest continent, it covers one-third of earth’s surface. In total, it is over 17.2 million square miles.

• The Great Wall of China can also be found in Asia, it is over 5500 miles long!

Africa

• The equator passes through the middle of Africa, so it receives direct sunlight throughout the year. The World’s hottest place, Ethiopia, is a country in Africa.

• Africa is the second-largest continent.

• The African elephant is the largest living land mammal. It can weigh more than 6 tons!

Australia

• Australia is also the smallest continent in the world, covering only 3 million square miles.

• The Sydney Opera House is in Australia and is a great architectural work of the 20th century highlighting both architectural form and structural design.

Antarctica

• Antarctica is the driest, windiest, emptiest, coldest place on earth.

• At least 235 marine species are found in both Antarctica and the Arctic, ranging in size from whales and birds to small marine snails, sea cucumbers, and mud-dwelling worms.