Far+Beyond+the+Garden+Gate+Reinforcing+Activity

__**Summary:**__ Physical environments are equal parts opportunity and challenge to human habitation. Students can use //Far Beyond the Garden Gate// as a jumping off point to explore some of these factors included in the book - landscape, climate, wildlife - and come up with their own - natural disasters, contaminated drinking water, etc. In this activity, students compare the environmental factors of the Central Asian steppe to the characteristics of a natural area in or near their community. What would they need to survive in nearby forests, mountains, deserts, or grasslands?

__**Objective:**__ Students will be able to compare the region of the Central Asian steppe to other natural areas by identifying what they would need to do in order to survive in each of the places.

__**Materials:**__
 * A copy of //Far Beyond the Garden Gate// by Don Brown
 * Whiteboard, chalkboard, or poster paper to record student brainstorming responses
 * Books with information on local plants, geography, and wildlife
 * A research guide for each student (attached below)

__**Procedures:**__
 * 1) Read the book to the students, taking opportunities throughout the text to highlight the natural challenges Alexandra David-Neel encountered, and how she overcame them.
 * 2) Lead a class discussion of what David-Neel needed in order for her quest to be successful. Possible responses: warm clothing; sun-protective clothing; non-perishable food; local guides; safe drinking water; maps; good shoes.
 * 3) In a whole class or group discussion, have students generate a list of items, skills, and people they would need in order to survive in a local park, natural area, or wilderness for an extended period of time. What would they have to learn how to do in order to survive on their own? What would they eat? How would they get clean water to drink?
 * 4) Discuss the students' lists. How to they compare to the list David-Neel had for her journey? What makes the lists similar or different? Would a different environment require a new list? Why?
 * 5) Ask students to research answers to their questions using available resources on local plants, geography, and wildlife. Accounts of how native populations in the area lived would be useful here, if applicable. Adapt the attached research guide as necessary for the local area, or have students develop their own guiding questions for investigation.
 * 6) Have students record their findings, and present their findings to the whole class or in small groups.
 * 7) An follow-up activity could have students creating their own picture books that detail an imaginary tale of survival, using their research to create realistic survival challenges and how they overcome them (or are overcome by them, depending on their moods).

__**Resources:**__

__**Other Ohio standards for this book:**__ Grade 7 Geography, Human Systems 13. Geographic factors promote or impede the movement of people, products, and ideas.