Down Under PDF

Down Under is the eighth unit in the World Cultures geography course. We begin with learning about the rituals, ceremonies, and holidays from cultures around the world. Then we learn about the countries of Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand.

Each World Cultures unit includes a skills lesson about aspects of human culture followed by a focus on a specific region of the world. By the time you complete the entire four year cycle of Layers of Learning Geography you will have covered the entire world and learned the skills and knowledge needed to analyze and understand maps, cultures, people, governments, and the planet all over the world.

This unit is a guide for the mentor to use in creating lessons and directing discussions and learning. It is not a textbook for the student.

This unit includes sections on:

• Traditions
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea

This is an activity based curriculum. You pick activities to do as you read books and watch videos about the countries of Southern Africa. Here are some of the activities found in this unit:

• Color, cut, fold, and glue definitions of holidays, rituals, historical practices, and ceremonies in your World Explorer Journal
• Invent your own inauguration ceremony to grant power to do something in your family or class
• Craft a model of a didgeridoo from Australia then listen and watch as the real thing is played
• Play a matching game with animal cards from Australia
• Research, color, and write an illustrated fact sheet about the Great Barrier Reef
• Make Lamingtons
• Draw and paint a New Zealand Koru symbol
• Act out the legend of how north island was made
• Craft a collage all about Papua New Guinea
• Make a colorful bird of paradise craft
• Model the mountains and tectonic activity of Papua New Guinea with clay
• And much more!

See Inside

This is double page spread of the inside of the Down Under unit:

Each Layers of Learning Geography unit includes library lists of books, a family read-aloud suggestion, hands-on activities, printables and paper crafts, sidebars for extra learning, and tools to help you assess student’s progress and mastery. Learn more about how Layers of Learning works.

Flexibility

This unit was written to be used for a month but contains plenty of content for many more weeks of learning if you choose. This is a pick-and-choose curriculum, meant to be cycled back to in the future when your child is older. As such, it intentionally includes far more material than you can possibly cover in a month.

Down Under is also part of the overall World Cultures course, the third Year of the four-year Layers of Learning Geography cycle. If you use the program in order, it will take you though the geography of the world from continents and the physical planet in Year One, to mapping skills in Year Two, then to cultures in Year Three, and finally, to government and society in Year Four.  Every year is also a tour of the whole planet, making stops on every continent. However, each unit stands alone and can be used independently of any other unit.

Printable Pack

This unit comes with a downloadable Printable Pack that includes all the student worksheets. The printables can be copied as many times as needed for your family or class.

You can download the Printable Pack from your receipt or from your account at Layers of Learning.

Extra Resources

This unit comes with extra weblinks and a YouTube video playlist on the World Cultures Resources page.