Lesson 2: Paper Landforms/Erosion
 

Home
Curriculum Overview
Lessons
Poster Contest
Project Wet



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ Lesson 1 ] [ Lesson 2 ] [ Lesson 3 ] [ Lesson 4 ] [ Lesson 5 ] [ Lesson 6 ]

Lesson 2: Paper Landforms/Erosion Activity

* Relationship between landforms, industry, water, and erosion

Geared toward 3rd through 6th grade (target 4th grade)

        Materials:

  • Wax paper (one sheet per student)
  • Legal sized copy paper (one sheet per student)
  • Scotch or masking tape
  • Colored markers
  • Black permanent marker
  • 3 misting bottles (like those used to mist indoor plants)

        Activity:

  1. Tape wax paper down on each student's desk
  2. Place sheet of legal sized paper at each student's desk
  3. Put four 2 inch strips of tape at each desk
  4. Review with students what a topographic map looks like and explain that we will be making a sort of 3d Topographic map today
  5. Wad the sheet of paper up into a tennis ball sized wad
  6. Gently unfold the paper so as to retain creases and tape down the four corners of the paper onto the wax paper
  7. Have students use colored markers to put lines along all the "ridges"  and high creases of their paper (these will look like topo-lines)
  8. Use a permanent marker to mark where students would like their home to be within this landscape
  9. Use colored markers to mark various industrial and/or agricultural sites within the landscape (keep these marks to the size of a dime in diameter)
  10. Discuss what happens to altered sites (industrial/agricultural) when there are heavy rains or snow melt
  11. Use the spray bottles to simulate heavy rains on each student's landscape
  12. Observe erosion patterns on the different landscapes as water begins to run-off and carry materials (marker ink) down hill
  13. Discuss house placement and extend to development concerns close to waterways and close to industry

Mat-Su District 4th Grade Science Standards addressed with this activity:

  • A1.1 Asking questions, predicting, observing, describing, making generalizations, inferring
  • A1.1b Differentiating observation from inference and knowing scientist's explanations come partly from what they observe and how they interpret their findings
  • A1.1c Working with an increasing variety of models and tools

Time Required:

  • 10 minutes to set up desktops
  • 30 minutes for activity
  • 5 minutes for clean-up
  • 5 minutes for generalizing to local situations