Here's a fun, challenging way to teach global awareness and one of the five themes of geography: place. The "A-to-Z Countries" and "A-to-Z World Cities" assignments require students to find a country or world city for each letter of the alphabet.

These are great, flexible assignments that you can leave with a substitute teacher or to be used on a regular learning day. I have used them both ways.

You simply need a world political map (with well-labeled countries) or Internet access for quick reference to sites like Google.com or KidRex.org.

I have included the student assignment sheets and two lists of possible answers. Your students will really enjoy this assignment. Mine certainly have over the years!

A quick note about the "cities" assignment's level of difficulty:

You can teach these assignments with varying levels of difficulty. The version of the "cities" assignment does not permit students to use American cities (assuming you are teaching a classroom of American students). This makes it more challenging for my middle schoolers. You may certainly modify this to include American cities, if you wish.

You might also consider allowing students to work collaboratively or independently. Both methods work well.

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