Big Idea 6: Earth Structures

This resource collection includes information about rocks and minerals. Included are glossaries, photos/images, links to other rock/mineral websites, and other information to develop understandings of rocks/minerals and the processes by which they are formed. A table of contents is included to guide navigation.

Type: Image/Photograph

Students will explore how to be safe around water and the purpose of rules at home, school, and in the community in this integrated lesson plan. Students will learn about ways to be safe around different types of water by reading a passage and posted rules for different bodies of water. They will decide between examples and wrong examples of water safety and then write their own rule for water safety. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will look at the different places water comes from and the different ways humans use water. They will label different water bodies and match pictures of human and animal uses of water.

Type: Lesson Plan

One way to learn about tree growth is to look at annual rings. Tree rings show patterns of change in the tree's life as well as changes in the area where it grows. In this activity, students will trace environmental and historical changes using a cross section of a tree, or "tree cookie."

Type: Lesson Plan

This MEA require students to read and identify common water safety practices. Students will then review and analyze a data for a family who wishes to attend a water park with their children. After reading the passage and identifying the needs of the client as per the client letter, students will rank the water parks from best to worst and explain the procedure used.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson uses pictures and a story to illustrate why we need water and the difference between safe and unsafe practices around water.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, teachers show their students pictures of different events happening on Earth and asks if these events happen quickly or slowly, how students generated that judgment, and what happens on Earth after each event occurred. Students can explore a location around the school and record observations in their notebook about what events may be occurring in that location and if they are occurring slowly or quickly.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this project, each class "adopts" a tree and collects data about it over the entire year. Teachers maintain a class tree notebook that includes a picture of the tree and a description of the environmental characteristics on each observation day as students draw a picture of the tree that day in their personal science notebooks. Emphasis should be placed on the importance of water, sunlight, and food as essential to the tree's survival.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will identify ways that people need clean water and apply this knowledge to storing water for emergency preparedness. Students will order numbers from greatest to least, in an application and comparison of storing gallons of water and distributing bottles of water.

Type: Lesson Plan

Through role-playing and teacher presentation, students learn how to be safe around water. Students learn the three most important safety rules, ways to rescue someone from the water, boat safety, and ocean safety considerations.

Type: Lesson Plan

Each of Earth's different environments has its own natural features; this lesson uses multimedia resources to introduce a variety of environments to students. First, students will discuss local environmental features, then take a field trip to explore them. Next, they'll watch videos of different environment types, then compare and contrast their features. Finally, they will discuss the geologic features of interesting places they've visited.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn about various slow changes affecting Earth's landscape including weathering and erosion, drought and mountain formation in this interactive science tutorial.

This tutorial is included in a two-part series. Click  to open Earth: Fast Changes.  

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about various fast changes affecting Earth's landscape including volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, flooding and human impact in this interactive science tutorial. 

This tutorial is included in a two-part series. Click  to open Earth: Slow Changes. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Let's explore the features of Earth surface in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore water and its uses in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

This resource could be used to introduce students to the need and importance of water.

Activities include:

1. "Water has Many Uses Family Questionnaire" - Students and their family list uses for water, examine whether water use varies in summer and winter, rank the family's top seven uses, examine whether people in developing countries use water differently, and determine how the family would get water in a scenario where running water is no longer available.
2. Create a collage or collection of pictures depicting the ways people use water or of things that need water to live.
3. Identify and draw students' favorite uses of water.
4. Complete a simple writing activity about the importance of water.
5. Learn about global water facts.

Type: Teaching Idea

This is a project-based learning unit about what is found on the Earth's surface. This unit can be used as an introduction to learning about what is on the Earth's surface or as a follow up activity to previous introduction. Students will use their five senses to identify and describe things on the Earth's surface. Students will create a group presentation and individual publication.  

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This unit opens with a visit from a local meteorologist/geologist. In this PBL experience, students will explore the ways the world changes around us and describe the conditions of fast and slow land changes. As teams, students will create various models to represent fast and slow land changes. Individually, students will create a flap book with two fast changes and two slow changes.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

In this unit, students learn about metamorphosis and how animals change from birth to the adult stage through observing and collecting data as mealworm larvae progress through their life cycle to the adult stage (beetles).

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This resource is four cartoons for students to learn about using a life jacket as an aspect of water safety.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

The Water Safety page, available from the LaCoast web site, is part of a coloring book to teach children about water safety. The page features water safety such as, buddies, staying in the swimming area, and swimming with adult supervision.

Type: Worksheet