News at St. Catherine's
Sixth Graders Exploring the World from Home
The Mapping the World Project is continuing for sixth graders during Distance Learning.
Sixth graders are discovering they don’t need to leave their homes in order to explore the world. The Class of 2026 is continuing with the traditional Mapping the World project from the comfort of their homes. Mapping is a rite of passage for St. Catherine’s sixth graders, a project that has taken place for decades. The students eventually map the world by memory.
“I thought it would be a critical move to keep this project on the books this year as it’s a defining part of our sixth grade journey,” Geography teacher Amy Blake said. “Drawing with fun music on is a balm for the soul, and you know just how much they'll get out of doing this. The world will stay inside them for years, even decades, to come. And the bonus is a lovely art piece to hang in their room or den afterward.”
Each day the students gather through Zoom to learn a new part of the world, nearing completion of all seven continents. Their homework is go practice with Educreations videos provided by Blake, which walks them through step-by-step of what they learned in the live class earlier that day. Blake guides them through the mapping with the “map cam.”
By the end of the project each student will map the world by heart — creating a world map populated by 100+ countries and a select collection of water bodies, land features and capital cities. The girls move at their own pace, focusing on areas that capture their curiosity, adding small clusters of nations with each passing day.
Located in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, St. Catherine’s School is a private, all-girls pre-K, kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. We provide a well-rounded educational experience for girls from communities across Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico and all of central Virginia. St.Catherine’s all-girls educational experience is rooted in more than a century of history and tradition. From our revolutionary past to our dynamic present, St. Catherine’s has always focused on preparing students for a boundless future.
