We are beginning our Social Studies unit on Landforms this week! To better understand the material, we will be utilizing technology in various ways. There will be three activities which use technology, and the students will publish their work on the class website. Classroom discussions, non-fiction readings, and video segments will be included in this unit as well as the interactive technology pieces.
Below is an outline of the elements of this unit:
1. Gathering Background Information
Students will play a game of Kahoot! in class. This is a fun way to introduce the topic, and gauge where the students’ current knowledge base lies.
Google Earth: Students will take a virtual tour of landforms in our world by going on a scavenger hunt in Google Earth. Students will have a checklist of various landforms to find using Google Earth. Once they find their landform, they record its name on the checklist. The checklist will be turned in for a grade. This activity is designed to spark excitement, encourage discovery, and discover facts about landforms in our world.
Click here to see my Google Earth example. (This would be 1 item on the checklist.)
3. Activity #2
Minecraft: Students will re-create a landform sequence commonly found on Earth in the world of Minecraft! Students will build a mountain, waterfall, and a river and/or lake area to control the flow of water. These will be saved and shared on our class website.
Paint X Lite: Students will create a landform scene which includes at least two land features (mountains, plateaus, etc.), and one water feature (river, lake, etc.). This activity will be published on the class website.