Earth's Geosphere

Introduction

Hello fourth graders!

We have been learning about the Earth's Geosphere. The earth is a huge sphere of rock covered by water and soil. We have talked about water when we talked about the Hydrosphere. We are now going to be talking about the soil. Earth's crust is made up of various landforms. These landforms make up Earth's landscape.

Task

Imagine you are an alien from the planet Zyganon. You have just landed on Earth and see all these weird shapes. You decide to do some research about the shapes you are seeing. You go to the public library and find out that these shapes are called landforms. You decide to complete your research before you get in your UFO and fly home. You know when you get home, you will have to inform your people about what you have found.

Process

1. http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/0031-what-are-landforms.php

You will need to read about "What a Landform is".

What is a landform? ________________________________________________________________________________

2. http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/books/applications/imaps/maps/g2_u2/

Use this map. Click on the purple square labeled "Mountains".

Name 5 states that have mountains in them. _____________________________________________________________

3. http://www.ducksters.com/science/earth_science/mountain_geology.php

Read the following webpage.

What is a mountain? ________________________________________________________________________________

What are the three types of mountains? _________________________________________________________________

4. http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/valleyfl.htm

Read the following webpage.

What is a valley? ___________________________________________________________________________________

What are two facts you learned about valleys? ____________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. http://www.kidskonnect.com/subjectindex/15-educational/science/69-deserts.html

Read the following website.

Where are the four places that deserts are found?__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. http://o.aolcdn.com/os/mapquest/national-parks/photos/park-pano/death-valley-national-park.jpg

This is a picture of Death Valley in California.

Describe in complete sentences what you see. _____________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0270-great-plains-peoples.php

Read the following webpage.

Where are the great plains located? _____________________________________________________________________

8. http://www.freeworldmaps.net/ocean/world-ocean-maps.jpg

Look at the map.

What are the names of the 4 oceans? ____________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0149-lakes.php

How is a lake formed? ________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. http://stateparks.mt.gov/lake-elmo/

We have a lake in Billings. Have you ever been to Lake Elmo? If you have, describe in complete sentences what you did? If you haven't, use the website to describe in complete sentences what you could do there.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. http://www.neok12.com/video/Rivers/zX627b5463477a5e77776806.htm

Watch the following video.

Describe the rivers you saw. ____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

12. http://www.kidzworld.com/article/7238-polar-ice-caps-here-today-gone-tomorrow

Read through the following webpage.

What are the ice caps? ________________________________________________________________________________

Where are they located? _______________________________________________________________________________

Evaluation

You have finished your research, and you are ready to take your information to your motherland. Write one sentence about each landform you learned about.

  • Mountains _______________________________________________________________________________________
  • Valleys _________________________________________________________________________________________
  • Plains __________________________________________________________________________________________
  • Deserts _________________________________________________________________________________________
  • Oceans _________________________________________________________________________________________
  • Rivers ____________________________________________________________________________________
  • Icecaps ___________________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion

Good job aliens! You have finished your quest of Earth's landforms.

Credits