Landforms, Weathering, and Erosion

Recently I accepted a position at a local school to work with kids during their year round intersession program, and I had the pleasure of teaching science to 5th graders for 3 days. I had a wonderful time teaching them about the water cycle and weather, especially since I was able to incorporate a hands-on activity and an exciting demonstration into our lessons. Each team created a mini water cycle using a rotisserie chicken container, and I demonstrated cloud formation in a large pickle jar.

Weathering, erosion, and deposition are difficult concepts for students to grasp because all three processes seem similar at first. This free sorting activity from Laura Candler will help your students learn to distinguish between them.

Free access to and printing of topographic maps for the entire United States and Canada.

A topographic map, or "topo map," is a way to show mountains and valleys on a flat piece of paper. Topo maps are handy and necessary for many uses, including building roads and hiking trails in the mountains. The map shows where the hills and valleys are and how steep they are.

As a part of our landforms unit, we’ve been using Google Earth in the classroom. Nowit’s time for your child to experience the fun of using the program at home! For thisassignment, they will research a landform and teach it to the class using Google Earth.

Making a topo make from clay is a great way for students todevelop an understanding of what the lines on topo mapsrepresent. A co-worker found this activity online at NASASpace Place. She tried it and recommended it to me. I addeda variation at the end and decided to write-up the lesson to share with others.

A rare 5.8-magnitude earthquake rattled several cities on the East Coast of the United States.

Questions for "An Earthquake Shakes Up the East Coast"Scholastic News Articlehttp://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3756406