Earth's Structures~ Earth's Layers

WOW! So I taught this lesson in three parts in two sessions. The first part involved posing 5 questions to my students that I want them to learn over the next four weeks. The questions were:

1) How do the different layers of the earth cause  changes to the Earth's surface?

2) What happens to the pressure and the temperature the deeper you get into the earth?

3) which layer do you think has the greatest impact on humans living on the earth's surface?

4) Last year we had an earthquake near Culpeper, and volcanoes around the world were erupting.. what causes these geologic processes to occur?

5) what is the earth made of? how many layers?

 

Before being taught the introductory materials, the students were broken into teams of 5-6 and were asked to answer these questions. I am attaching the pictures of their posters. The students were then asked to utilize trade books in the classroom to locate the correct answers. This was to allow me to discover the misconceptons that my students had regarding the Earth's layers.

 

For the second portion of the lesson today, We utilized our interactive notebook to learn about the Earth and its layers and then the students began to create their models of the Earth and its layers in an ornament fashion.

 

The project was more difficult for my students than expected. I began by giving them cardstock that contained 2-12cm circles pre-drawn, a compass, ruler, and a piece of ribbon. The students were asked to measure the circles diameter in centimeters with a ruler. Once they confirmed the diameter to be 12 cm (which was difficult for them), we measured lengths at 3.5cm, 5cm. 6cm, 7cm, and 8.5cm.

 

The students used compasses for the first time in their school career. They learned how to use them to draw circles. Timing only allowed the students the ability to measure, draw, and color one of the four circles and label the layers of the Earth. We will continue with the lesson on Monday. I have also included student samples and a final product of my own that was used as a model.

 

What would I do differently? Well, I would have the layers pre-drawn. They struggled to do this part of the activity and especially with measurement, since this topic in math has not been covered as of yet. I had one other adult in the room assisting students, but that still created a 14-1 ratio for this activity. I believe it would have gone more as planned had it been done in small groups or in an 8-1 ratio.

 

The students are really enjoying the activity and now that the most difficult part is done, the students should be able to complete the activity in (3) 15 minute sessions.

 

 

Natural Disasters ~ Tsunamis

Tsunami's are a devastating fact of nature. In recent years, Japan and Indonesia have suffered great losses of land, life, and home. The critical component of tsunami's is that they are not preventable, but they are predictable. Seismic waves that are released from underwater plate boundaries give enough warning with updated changes to create Tsunami warnings. These warnings may result in a Tsunami or they may just be overly cautious. With the damage that was caused and the near nuclear meltdown in Japan, they are planning and learning to use vertical evacuations instead of the escapes that led to many deaths.

Tsunami's are caused by sudden shifts in plates in an up or down shift. This sudden movement sends a force of energy through the water that causes waves, previously known as tidal waves.