The Seven Continents

2 min Magic Box hook

Before anything else, the welcome back. Hold up the little red envelope, look round the whole circle, and take your time:

Everybody does the goat horns and the noise, once, as loud as they like. Then straight into the ritual — the box comes out, and today it is light and empty.

Shake it: nothing. Open it: nothing. Look genuinely worried. Then let your eyes travel slowly sideways to the lump under the cloth — “...it was too BIG for the box.” Pull the cloth off. Hug the globe with both arms: “World!”

4 min Teach · World

The globe sits in your lap. Everybody hugs a big invisible ball and we say it twice, the second time together:

Now the globe goes right round the circle, one child at a time, held in two hands. Every child gets one turn to hold the whole world and say one word. Littles hug it and say “World!” Bigs take the frame: “This is the world.” “The world is round.”

Then the first real looking. Spin it slowly with one finger and name only two things all day: blue is water (wavy hand), green is land (flat, still hand). Nothing else. Not one country name.

Teacher fails: try to make the globe stand still on your flat palm, like a tray. It rolls off. Try again, more carefully. It rolls off again. “But it's ROUND!” — wait for them to tell you so.

Chinese moment: lay the 世界 card at the foot of the globe. One card a day joins it, and by Friday there are five on the mat. Say 世界 once, and 圆的 with the arms.

3 min Song · Seven Big Continents — chorus + Monday verse

The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning, the whole thing on Friday. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. Sing it standing, and turn all the way round on “spin it slow”.

3 min Game · Spin the globe — land or water?

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The globe on the floor in the middle, everybody's knees around it.

Whatever is under the finger, the whole class calls it: “Water!” with wavy hands, or “Land!” with flat still hands. Go round until every child has stopped the world at least once.

Keep a tally on the board with two columns, drawn as a wavy line and a flat line. At the end, count them and say the true thing out loud: there is far more water than land. That is Tuesday's map and next week's oceans, planted eleven days early.

Spin gently. A globe going fast is a globe on the floor in two pieces, and it is the only one you have.

1 min Close

Everybody standing, arms round their own invisible world. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Me on the Map (Joan Sweeney) — it zooms out from one bedroom to the whole world, one page at a time, and it is exactly the move this week is trying to make.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is heavy and soft, and it rustles. Chant, then squeeze the box in both hands so everyone hears the crumple.

Pull out one corner of the cloth. Then more. Then more — keep pulling, far longer than seems reasonable, until it is obvious the box could never have held it.

Two children help you spread it on the floor. Flat palms: “Map!”

4 min Teach · Map

Everybody kneels round the edge of the cloth, nobody on it yet. Say it twice; the second time they say it with you:

Hold the globe over the map and do it slowly, in silence: point at a green shape on the globe, then find the same green shape on the cloth and lay your whole hand on it. Do it three times. Say nothing at all until the third one, then: “Same world. One is round, one is flat.”

Littles put both palms on the map and say “Map!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “This is a map of the world.” “The map is flat.”

Teacher fails: try very hard to fold the globe in half so it will lie flat on the floor. Push down on it with both hands. Grunt. “Why won't it…?” Let them explain the whole thing to you.

Chinese moment: the 地图 card joins 世界 on the mat. Kneel and trace 中国's outline on the cloth with one finger while the class watches, and say 中国 once. Only once — Thursday is for that.

3 min Song · Seven Big Continents — chorus + Tuesday verse

On the last line, every child points at a different green shape and holds it there. Freeze. Twenty fingers on twenty pieces of land is a photograph worth taking for the parent wall.

3 min Game · Sit on your continent

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody walks around the outside of the map cloth while you sing the chorus.

Once they are down, go round and lay your hand on each group: “You are sitting on a continent.” Say the name once, quietly, and move on — no drilling, no testing. Then up, walk, and stop again somewhere new.

Last round: “Sit on the blue.” They cannot — you cannot sit on water. Big laugh, everybody floats and swims on the spot, and that is the whole land/water lesson done a second time without a single explanation.

Littles will sit wherever their friend sat, and that is fine. The word arrives through their bottom on the green cloth long before it arrives through their ears.

1 min Close

Everybody standing on the map, wherever they are. Whisper → normal → shout:

Leave the cloth down all week. It becomes the road to the door, the place stories are read, and the thing they walk over forty times a day. That is the lesson doing its own work while you make coffee.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box knocks — one hard wooden clonk when you tip it. Chant, then tip it once, deliberately, and let them hear it.

Lift out one coloured puzzle piece and hold it up, turning it slowly. Then put the empty frame down beside it where everyone can see all seven empty holes.

Seven fingers up: “Seven!” And then, quietly: “So six pieces are lost.”

4 min Teach · Seven

Everybody stands with both hands up. We count them onto our fingers, twice — slowly, then fast:

Then the piece in your hand goes into the frame — it only fits one hole, and it fits with a satisfying little drop. Do it once yourself, in silence, and let that noise do the teaching.

Littles hold up seven fingers and say “Seven!” Bigs owe you the sentence: “There are seven continents.” “I can count to seven.”

Teacher fails: count the holes wrong on purpose — “one, two, three, five, six…” — with total confidence. Keep going until somebody stops you. Then look astonished and let them do it properly.

Chinese moment: the 七 card joins 世界 · 地图. Count to seven in Chinese with the fingers: 一 二 三 四 五 六 七. Then in English. Same fingers, two languages, thirty seconds.

3 min Song · Seven Big Continents — chorus + Wednesday verse

Sing the counting line slowly, one number per strum, and let them fall behind and catch up. Racing it turns seven into a noise; slow, it turns into a number.

3 min Game · Puzzle piece hunt

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The six missing pieces are hidden round the room, some in plain sight at knee height for the littlest ones.

As each piece arrives, the finder tries it in the frame themselves. It only goes in one hole, so nobody can be wrong for long — that is the control of error doing the correcting instead of you.

When the last piece drops in, count the whole frame together, touching each one: one…two…three…four…five…six…SEVEN. Littles count with you and hold seven fingers up at the end; Bigs tell you: “There are seven continents.”

Hide exactly six, and count them into your own hand before you hide them. If one goes missing under a shelf, the count comes out at six on the mat and the whole point of the game quietly collapses.

1 min Close

Everybody standing round the finished puzzle, seven fingers ready. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Lay the seven pieces out on the map cloth, on top of their own shapes. They match. Say nothing; just do it, and let whoever notices tell everybody else.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is full of small hard things and it rattles like a treasure chest. Chant, then shake it hard, twice.

Out come the seven little coloured flags, one at a time, planted upright in a line in front of you. Then, from right at the bottom, one animal — the panda — held up in two hands.

Both hands flat on your own chest: “Asia!”

4 min Teach · Asia

Everybody kneels at the edge of the map cloth. Say it twice, the second time all together:

Then the important thirty seconds, done slowly and only once: put one finger on our city, then open your hand over China, then open both arms over the whole of Asia. Small inside bigger inside biggest. Then plant the yellow flag on it and leave it standing there for the rest of the week.

Littles pat their own chest and say “Asia!” Bigs owe you the whole frame: “I live in Asia.” “China is in Asia.”

Teacher fails: put the panda down on Antarctica, brush your hands and say “There. Done.” Watch him shiver. Wait for the shouting, then let a child carry him home.

Chinese moment: the 亚洲 card joins 世界 · 地图 · 七 — and 中国在亚洲, said once, all together, standing on the map. Children in the class from somewhere else get their continent named out loud too, with a flag planted on it, on the same breath.

3 min Song · Seven Big Continents — chorus + Thursday verse

Twenty children standing on one continent, singing, is the single best picture you will take this term. It is also the lesson: we are all here, and here has a name.

3 min Game · Animal goes home

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The seven animals in a heap in the middle of the map cloth, the seven flags standing on their continents.

One child, one animal, one journey. The flags are the control of error — the animal goes where the matching colour is, so a child who has forgotten the name can still get it right by looking. Whole class names the continent out loud as the animal lands.

Last one is always the panda, and the whole class walks him home together: “Asia!”

Littles do the walking with you holding the animal too. The naming is the Bigs' job; the journey across the floor belongs to everybody.

1 min Close

Everybody standing on Asia, hands flat on their chests. Whisper → normal → shout:

Before home time: make the passports for tomorrow — one folded paper booklet each, seven blank pages, the child's name on the front. Cut a potato stamp or find seven different stickers, one per continent. Ten minutes tonight buys you the best Friday of the term.

2 min Magic Box hook

The box comes out bulging and will not quite shut.

Pull each thing out and hold it up in complete silence. They will supply the word before you can.

The globe → “World!”  The corner of the cloth → “Map!”  The seven fingers you hold up → “Seven!”  The panda → “Asia!”

Last of all, one puzzle piece left in the bottom. Lift it out, hold it flat on your palm, and give them the last word of the week: “CONTINENT!”

4 min Teach · Continent, then the whole week

Everybody stands. We tell the whole week with our bodies, twice — slow, then fast:

Then name all seven, once, walking round the map cloth and touching each one: Asia · Africa · Europe · North America · South America · Oceania · Antarctica. Whole class chants each name as your hand lands on it. Nobody is tested on this, ever — it is a chant, not a list.

Littles do the five gestures and shout the five words. Bigs owe you a whole sentence each: “This is the world.” “There are seven continents.” “I live in Asia.”

Teacher fails: hold up eight fingers on “seven big continents” and look very pleased with yourself. Count them yourself, out loud, still getting it wrong. Let them fold your extra finger down for you.

Chinese moment: the 大洲 card joins the row — 世界 · 地图 · 七 · 亚洲 · 大洲, the whole week on the mat — and 七大洲 said together, all seven fingers up. Then tell them: tomorrow is 惊蛰, the day the spring thunder wakes the sleeping insects. Everybody makes one roll of thunder with their feet, then wiggles ten fingers up out of the ground like waking worms.

3 min Song · Seven Big Continents — Friday verse, then the WHOLE song

The finale: chorus → Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday → chorus, sung walking all the way round the outside of the map cloth in one long line. They learned it one verse a morning without ever noticing, and this run-through is the review of the whole week.

3 min Game · Passport stamps

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Every child gets their passport and holds it shut with both hands. Say the rule first: we travel to all seven, in one long line, and nobody stamps their own book.

At each continent: everybody stands on it, the whole class chants its name three times, and you go down the line stamping one page per child. Then on to the next. Seven stops, seven stamps, one lap of the world.

Littles just walk and chant — the stamp is the reward, the word is a bonus. Bigs count their pages at the end and tell you: “I have seven stamps.” “I went round the whole world.”

Last stop is always Asia, so the week ends where the children actually are. Say it as you stamp the last page: “Welcome home.”

1 min Close + awards

Every child gets a “You are a STAR!” award to take home with their passport. Then, standing all round the map cloth, all five gestures:

Got 3 spare minutes? Lie down on the map cloth, everybody on a different continent, lights low, and sing the chorus once, quietly, flat on your backs looking at the ceiling. Then tell them next week we go where the blue is: the five oceans.

The three chords

Tempo: steady and rolling, like something turning — not fast. Slow the counting line right down, one number per strum. Three chords, no Am anywhere, and every verse is just C and G7. Chant it without the uke first; add the chords once they know the actions.

Chorus — sing it every single day

Sing the chorus twice each time. The actions are the whole point — a two-year-old who turns on the spot, waves the water and hugs the round world has understood the week, whether or not a single word comes out.

One verse a day — every verse is just C and G7

The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — and Friday's finale, sung walking round the outside of the map cloth, doubles as the review of the whole week.

If you're brand new to ukulele

Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That is the entire chorus, and the whole song is those three shapes — there is no Am this week at all. C is one finger, F is two, G7 is three; learn them in that order. If your fingers get stuck, put the uke down, spin the globe with one hand and do the finger-play instead: the class will not notice, and the actions carry the meaning either way.