Download RP 3E2 Land and Water Features

North Carolina Science Essential Standards
Resource Pack 3.E.2
Land and Water Features
Essential Standard:
3.E.2 Compare the structures of the Earth’s surface using models or three-dimensional diagrams.
Clarifying Objectives:
3.E.2.1 Compare Earth’s saltwater and freshwater features (including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds,
streams, and glaciers).
3.E.2.2 Compare Earth’s land features (including volcanoes, mountains, valleys, canyons, caverns, and islands)
by using models, pictures, diagrams, and maps.
Vertical Strand Maps:
Online Atlas map http://strandmaps.dls.ucar.edu/?id=SMS-MAP-0048
http://strandmaps.dls.ucar.edu/?id=SMS-MAP-0049
North Carolina Unpacking:
http://scnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Race+to+the+Top+Support+Tools
Framework for K-12 Science Education:
ESS2.A: EARTH MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS
How do Earth’s major systems interact?
Earth is a complex system of interacting subsystems: the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. The geosphere
includes a hot and mostly metallic inner core; a mantle of hot, soft, solid rock; and a crust of rock, soil, and sediments.
The atmosphere is the envelope of gas surrounding the planet. The hydrosphere is the ice, water vapor, and liquid water in the
atmosphere, ocean, lakes, streams, soils, and groundwater. The presence of living organisms of any type defines the biosphere;
life can be found in many parts of the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Humans are of course part of the biosphere, and
human activities have important impacts on all of Earth’s systems.
All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among Earth’s systems. This energy
originates from the sun and from Earth’s interior. Transfers of energy and the movements of matter can cause chemical and
physical changes among Earth’s materials and living organisms. Solid rocks, for example, can be formed by the cooling of
molten rock, the accumulation and consolidation of sediments, or the alteration of older rocks by heat, pressure, and fluids.
These processes occur under different circumstances and produce different types of rock. Physical and chemical interactions
among rocks, sediments, water, air, and plants and animals produce soil. In the carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles, materials
cycle between living and nonliving forms and among the atmosphere, soil, rocks, and ocean.
Weather and climate are driven by interactions of the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, with inputs of energy from the
sun. The tectonic and volcanic processes that create and build mountains and plateaus, for example, as well as the weathering
and erosion processes that break down these structures and transport the products, all involve interactions among the geosphere,
hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The resulting landforms and the habitats they provide affect the biosphere, which in turn modifies
these habitats and affects the atmosphere, particularly through imbalances between the carbon capture and oxygen release that
occur in photosynthesis, and the carbon release and oxygen capture that occur in respiration and in the burning of fossil fuels to
support human activities.
Earth exchanges mass and energy with the rest of the solar system. It gains or loses energy through incoming solar radiation,
thermal radiation to space, and gravitational forces exerted by the sun, moon, and planets. Earth gains mass from the impacts of
meteoroids and comets and loses mass from the escape of gases into space.
Earth’s systems are dynamic; they interact over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales and continually react to changing
influences, including human activities. Components of Earth’s systems may appear stable, change slowly over long periods of
time, or change abruptly, with significant consequences for living organisms. Changes in part of one system can cause further
changes to that system or to other systems, often in surprising and complex ways.
Grade Band Endpoints for ESS2.A
By the end of grade 2. Wind and water can change the shape of the land. The resulting landforms, together with the materials
on the land, provide homes for living things.
By the end of grade 5. Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere
(water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple
ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes
landforms, and influences climate.
Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather. Rainfall helps shape the land
and affects the types of living things found in a region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and
sediments into smaller particles and move them around. Human activities affect Earth’s systems and their interactions at its
surface.
ESS2.B: PLATE TECTONICS AND LARGE-SCALE SYSTEM INTERACTIONS
Why the continents move, and what causes earthquakes and volcanoes?
Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains the past and current movements of the rocks at Earth’s surface and provides a
coherent account of its geological history. This theory is supported by multiple evidence streams—for example, the consistent
patterns of earthquake locations, evidence of ocean floor spreading over time given by tracking magnetic patterns in undersea
rocks and coordinating them with changes to Earth’s magnetic axis data, the warping of the land under loads (such as lakes and
ice sheets), which show that the solid mantle’s rocks can bend and even flow.
The lighter and less dense continents are embedded in heavier and denser upper-mantle rocks, and together they make up the
moving tectonic plates of the lithosphere (Earth’s solid outer layer, i.e., the crust and upper mantle). Tectonic plates are the top
parts of giant convection cells that bring matter from the hot inner mantle up to the cool surface. These movements are driven
by the release of energy (from radioactive decay of unstable isotopes within Earth’s interior) and by the cooling and
gravitational downward motion of the dense material of the plates after subduction (one plate being drawn under another). The
plates move across Earth’s surface, carrying the continents, creating and destroying ocean basins, producing earthquakes and
volcanoes, and forming mountain ranges and plateaus.
Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains the past and current movements of the rocks at
Earth’s surface and provides a coherent account of its geological history.
Most continental and ocean floor features are the result of geological activity and earthquakes along plate boundaries. The exact
patterns depend on whether the plates are being pushed together to create mountains or deep ocean trenches, being pulled apart
to form new ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges, or sliding past each other along surface faults. Most distributions of rocks within
Earth’s crust, including minerals, fossil fuels, and energy resources, are a direct result of the history of plate motions and
collisions and the corresponding changes in the configurations of the continents and ocean basins.
This history is still being written. Continents are continually being shaped and reshaped by competing constructive and
destructive geological processes. North America, for example, has gradually grown in size over the past 4 billion years through
a complex set of interactions with other continents, including the addition of many new crustal segments.
Grade Band Endpoints for ESS2.B
By the end of grade 2. Rocks, soils, and sand are present in most areas where plants and animals live. There may also be rivers,
streams, lakes, and ponds. Maps show where things are located. One can map the shapes and kinds of land and water in any
area.
By the end of grade 5. The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and
volcanoes occur in patterns. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries between
continents and oceans. Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges. Maps can help locate the different
land and water features where people live and in other areas of Earth.
Science for All Americans:
THE EARTH
We live on a fairly small planet, the third from the sun in the only system of planets definitely known to exist
(although similar systems are likely to be common in the universe). Like that of all planets and stars, the earth's
shape is approximately spherical, the result of mutual gravitational attraction pulling its material toward a
common center. Unlike the much larger outer planets, which are mostly gas, the earth is mostly rock, with
three-fourths of its surface covered by a relatively thin layer of water and the entire planet enveloped by a thin
blanket of air. Bulges in the water layer are raised on both sides of the planet by the gravitational tugs of the
moon and sun, producing high tides about twice a day along ocean shores. Similar bulges are produced in the
blanket of air as well.
Of all the diverse planets and moons in our solar system, only the earth appears to be capable of supporting life
as we know it. The gravitational pull of the planet's mass is sufficient to hold onto an atmosphere. This thin
envelope of gases evolved as a result of changing physical conditions on the earth's surface and the evolution of
plant life, and it is an integral part of the global ecosystem. Altering the concentration of its natural component
gases of the atmosphere, or adding new ones, can have serious consequences for the earth's life systems.
The distance of the earth from the sun ensures that energy reaches the planet at a rate sufficient to sustain life,
and yet not so fast that water would boil away or that molecules necessary to life would not form. Water exists
on the earth in liquid, solid, and gaseous forms—a rarity among the planets (the others are either closer to the
sun and too hot or farther from the sun and too cold).
The motion of the earth and its position with regard to the sun and the moon have noticeable effects. The earth's
one-year revolution around the sun, because of the tilt of the earth's axis, changes how directly sunlight falls on
one part or another of the earth. This difference in heating different parts of the earth's surface produces
seasonal variations in climate. The rotation of the planet on its axis every 24 hours produces the planet's nightand-day cycle—and (to observers on earth) makes it seem as though the sun, planets, stars, and moon are
orbiting the earth. The combination of the earth's motion and the moon's own orbit around the earth, once in
about 28 days, results in the phases of the moon (on the basis of the changing angle at which we see the sunlit
side of the moon).
The earth has a variety of climatic patterns, which consist of different conditions of temperature, precipitation,
humidity, wind, air pressure, and other atmospheric phenomena. These patterns result from an interplay of
many factors. The basic energy source is the heating of land, ocean, and air by solar radiation. Transfer of heat
energy at the interfaces of the atmosphere with the land and oceans produces layers at different temperatures in
both the air and the oceans. These layers rise or sink or mix, giving rise to winds and ocean currents that carry
heat energy between warm and cool regions. The earth's rotation curves the flow of winds and ocean currents,
which are further deflected by the shape of the land.
The cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere plays an important part in determining climatic patterns—
evaporating from the surface, rising and cooling, condensing into clouds and then into snow or rain, and falling
again to the surface, where it collects in rivers, lakes, and porous layers of rock. There are also large areas on
the earth's surface covered by thick ice (such as Antarctica), which interacts with the atmosphere and oceans in
affecting worldwide variations in climate.
The earth's climates have changed radically and they are expected to continue changing, owing mostly to the
effects of geological shifts such as the advance or retreat of glaciers over centuries of time or a series of huge
volcanic eruptions in a short time. But even some relatively minor changes of atmospheric content or of ocean
temperature, if sustained long enough, can have widespread effects on climate.
The earth has many resources of great importance to human life. Some are readily renewable, some are
renewable only at great cost, and some are not renewable at all. The earth comprises a great variety of minerals,
whose properties depend on the history of how they were formed as well as on the elements of which they are
composed. Their abundance ranges from rare to almost unlimited. But the difficulty of extracting them from the
environment is as important an issue as their abundance. A wide variety of minerals are sources for essential
industrial materials, such as iron, aluminum, magnesium, and copper. Many of the best sources are being
depleted, making it more and more difficult and expensive to obtain those minerals.
Fresh water is an essential resource for daily life and industrial processes. We obtain our water from rivers and
lakes and from water that moves below the earth's surface. This groundwater, which is a major source for many
people, takes a long time to accumulate in the quantities now being used. In some places it is being depleted at a
very rapid rate. Moreover, many sources of fresh water cannot be used because they have been polluted.
Wind, tides, and solar radiation are continually available and can be harnessed to provide sources of
energy. In principle, the oceans, atmosphere, topsoil, sea creatures, and trees are renewable resources.
However, it can be enormously expensive to clean up polluted air and water, restore destroyed forests
and fishing grounds, or restore or preserve eroded soils of poorly managed agricultural areas. Although
the oceans and atmosphere are very large and have a great capacity to absorb and recycle materials
naturally, they do have their limits. They have only a finite capacity to withstand change without
generating major ecological alterations that may also have adverse effects on human activities.
PROCESSES THAT SHAPE THE EARTH
The interior of the earth is hot, under high pressure from the weight of overlying layers, and more dense than its
rocky crust. Forces within the earth cause continual changes on its surface. The solid crust of the earth—
including both the continents and ocean basins—consists of separate sections that overlie a hot, almost molten
layer. The separate crustal plates move on this softer layer—as much as an inch or more per year—colliding in
some places, pulling apart in others. Where the crustal plates collide, they may scrape sideways, or compress
the land into folds that eventually become mountain ranges (such as the Rocky Mountains and the Himalayas);
or one plate may slide under the other and sink deeper into the earth. Along the boundaries between colliding
plates, earthquakes shake and break the surface, and volcanic eruptions release molten rock from below, also
building up mountains.
Where plates separate under continents, the land sinks to form ever-widening valleys. When separation occurs
in the thin regions of plates that underlie ocean basins, molten rock wells up to create ever-wider ocean floors.
Volcanic activity along these mid-ocean separations may build up undersea mountains that are far higher than
those rising from the land surface—sometimes thrusting above the water's surface to create mid-ocean islands.
Waves, wind, water, and ice sculpt the earth's surface to produce distinctive landforms. Rivers and glacial ice
carry off soil and break down rock, eventually depositing the material in sediments or carrying it in solution to
the sea. Some of these effects occur rapidly and others very slowly. For instance, many of the features of the
earth's surface today can be traced to the motion of glaciers back and forth across much of the northern
hemisphere over a period lasting more than a million years. By contrast, the shoreline can change almost
overnight—as waves erode the shores, and wind carries off loose surface material and deposits it elsewhere.
Elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur cycle slowly through the land, oceans, and atmosphere,
changing their locations and chemical combinations. Minerals are made, dissolved, and remade—on the earth's
surface, in the oceans, and in the hot, high-pressure layers beneath the crust. Sediments of sand and shells of
dead organisms are gradually buried, cemented together by dissolved minerals, and eventually turned into solid
rock again. Sedimentary rock buried deep enough may be changed by pressure and heat, perhaps melting and
recrystallizing into different kinds of rock.
Buried rock layers may be forced up again to become land surface and eventually even mountains. Thousands
upon thousands of layers of sedimentary rock testify to the long history of the earth, and to the long history of
changing life forms whose remains are found in successive layers of rock.
Plants and animals reshape the landscape in many ways. The composition and texture of the soil, and
consequently its fertility and resistance to erosion, are greatly influenced by plant roots and debris, bacteria, and
fungi that add organic material to the soil, and by insects, worms, and burrowing animals that break it up. The
presence of life has also altered the earth's atmosphere. Plants remove carbon dioxide from the air, use the
carbon for synthesizing sugars, and release oxygen. This process is responsible for the oxygen in our air today.
The landforms, climate, and resources of the earth's surface affect where and how people live and how
human history has unfolded. At the same time, human activities have changed the earth's land surface,
oceans, and atmosphere. For instance, reducing the amount of forest cover on the earth's surface has led
to a dramatic increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, which in turn may be leading to increased average
temperature of the earth's atmosphere and surface. Smoke and other substances from human activity
interact chemically with the atmosphere and produce undesirable effects such as smog, acid rain, and
perhaps an increase in the damaging ultraviolet radiation that penetrates the atmosphere. Intensive
farming has stripped land of vegetation and topsoil, creating virtual deserts in some parts of the world.
Benchmarks for Science Literacy:
During this period, students can begin to learn some of the surface features of the earth and also the earth's
relation to the sun, moon, and other planets. Films, computer simulations, a planetarium, and telescopic
observations will help, but it is essential that all students, sometimes working together in small groups, make
physical models and explain what the models show. At the same time, students can begin learning about scale
(counting, comparative distances, volumes, times, etc.) in interesting, readily understood activities and


readings. However, scale factors larger than thousands, and even the idea of ratios, may be difficult before
early adolescence.
An important point to be made along the way is that one cannot determine how the solar system is put together
just by looking at it. Diagrams show what the system would look like if people could see it from far away, a feat
that cannot be accomplished. Telescopes and other instruments do provide information, but a model is really
needed to make sense out of the information. (The realization that people are not able to see, from the outside,
how the solar system is constructed will help students understand the basis for the Copernican Revolution
when the topic arises later.)
In making diagrams to show, say, the relative sizes of the planets and the distances of the planets from the
sun, students may try to combine them using a single scale—and quickly become frustrated. Perhaps this can
lead to a discussion of the general limits of graphic methods (including photographs) for showing reality. In any
case, at this stage a rough picture of the organization of the solar system is enough.
Water offers another important set of experiences for students at this level. Students can conduct
investigations that go beyond the observations made in the earlier grades to learn the connection between
liquid and solid forms, but recognizing that water can also be a gas, while much more difficult, is still probably
accessible. Perhaps the main thrust there is to try to figure out where water in an open container goes. This is
neither self-evident nor easy to detect. But the water cycle is of such profound importance to life on earth that
students should certainly have experiences that will in time contribute to their understanding of evaporation,
condensation, and the conservation of matter.
In these years, students should accumulate more information about the physical environment, becoming
familiar with the details of geological features, observing and mapping locations of hills, valleys, rivers, etc., but
without elaborate classification. Students should also become adept at using magnifiers to inspect a variety of
rocks and soils. The point is not to classify rigorously but to notice the variety of components.
Students should now observe elementary processes of the rock cycle—erosion, transport, and deposit. Water
and sand boxes and rock tumblers can provide them with some firsthand examples. Later, they can connect
the features to the processes and follow explanations of how the features came to be and still are changing.
Students can build devices for demonstrating how wind and water shape the land and how forces on materials
can make wrinkles, folds, and faults. Films of volcanic magma and ash ejection dramatize another source of
buildup. By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that:
Waves, wind, water, and ice shape and reshape the earth's land surface by eroding rock and soil in some
areas and depositing them in other areas, sometimes in seasonal layers. 4C/E1
Rock is composed of different combinations of minerals. Smaller rocks come from the breakage and
weathering of bedrock and larger rocks. Soil is made partly from weathered rock, partly from plant remains—
and also contains many living organisms. 4C/E2
Big Ideas:
Cause and Effect
Stability and Change
Essential and Guiding Questions:
Why does the Earth have … landforms? …bodies of water?
How are landforms and water features created?
What are some examples of different landforms?
How are particular landforms alike and different?
What are some examples of bodies of water?
How are particular bodies of water on Earth alike and different?
Do landforms change? If so, how?
Enduring Understandings:
Earth is changing all the time.
The Earth has many different landforms and surface water features.
Landforms and bodies of water are created through natural processes.
Landforms and bodies of water change through natural processes.
Identify Misconceptions:
Use the alignment guide for formative probes:
http://scnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Formative+Assessment+Probe+Alignment
Common Misconceptions
http://k12s.phast.umass.edu/~nasa/misconceptions.html
TEACHING Resources:
Around the World
http://tracyrock.weebly.com/third-grade.html
A land and water unit.
NCES 3rd grade Earth Systems LiveBInder
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=478320
A livebinder dedicated to the 3E2 standard.
Land and Water
http://www.doe.k12.de.us/cms/lib09/DE01922744/Centricity/Domain/195/Unit%20Templates/4%20
Land%20and%20Water%20Unit%20Template.pdf
This unit focuses on water and how it affects landforms.
Landforms in words and pictures
http://www.totally3rdgrade.com/Worksheets/Wor_Landforms.pdf
https://quizlet.com/7508441/mrs-nelson-3rd-grade-landforms-flash-cards/
A collection of cards and riddles to help students to learn to identify landforms.
Landform Poster Project
http://questgarden.com/67/85/1/080630145432/index.htm
A webquest that involves students in researching a selected landform and creating a poster to educate
others about it.
Landforms Riddle song
http://www.totally3rdgrade.com/landforms.html
A song that contains riddles about landforms. Kids can sing along, and learn the song.
Landforms Click and Learn
http://mrnussbaum.com/wlandforms
Students click on a landform to learn about it.
3rd Grade Thoughts: Landforms
http://www.3rdgradethoughts.com/2013/10/wrapping-up-our-landforms-unit-writing.html
Landforms activities, bingo, and writing.
Landforms Ideas
http://www.proteacher.org/c/320_Landforms.html
Ideas for teaching about landforms.
Landforms and Bodies of Water
https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/landforms.html
A variety of activity sheets.
3E2 Edujourney for landforms
http://www.edujourney.net/sciencelandforms.html
A collection of interactive Internet links and original teacher resources.
SBAC Land Formations Activity
http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ELA_G3_Land-Formations_CA.pdf
The Classroom Activity introduces students to the context of a performance task. Contextual elements
include: an understanding of the setting or situation in which the task is placed, potentially unfamiliar
concepts that are associated with the scenario; and key terms or vocabulary students will need to
understand in order to meaningfully engage with and complete the performance task.
The Changing Earth Unit
http://sbsciencematters.com/lesson-units/4th-grade/4earth-the-changing-earth/
Lesson 1 and Lesson 3 may be helpful to teaching about landforms in the NCSCOS.
I4Classrooms Landforms
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/links_grades_kindergarten_12/landforms_lesson_plans_social_geo
graphy.htm
A collection of landform activities and resources such as relief maps, glossaries, and landform labels and
definitions.
JC Schools Earth features
http://classroom.jc-schools.net/sci-units/earth-features.htm
Scroll down on this page to find Earth features activities and resources.
Landform Cards
https://pmm.pps.eosdis.nasa.gov/education/sites/default/files/lesson_plan_files/landformsTR1.pdf
Water Features Information sheet
http://www.anderson5.net/cms/lib02/SC01001931/Centricity/Domain/2223/Water%20Features.pdf
Video Resources:
https://jr.brainpop.com/socialstudies/geography/landforms/preview.weml
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Category.aspx?CategoryID=799
http://www.teachertube.com/video/types-of-landforms-94543?utm_source=videogoogle&utm_medium=video-view&utm_term=video&utm_content=video-page&utm_campaign=videoview-page
https://www.schooltube.com/video/8ded8e55167007ba27c8/Landforms
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=26963&CategoryID=6335
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landforms/landforms.htm
READING Resources
http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/landforms.htm
http://bit.ly/1sDQ6Af
http://bit.ly/1v49lnl
www.williston.k12.sc.us/userfiles/9/Curriculum/Water%20Features.ppt
Terminology:
https://quizlet.com/619909/geography-land-and-water-landform-terms-flash-cards/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geography/landforms/glossary.shtml
examples:
continent
mountain
peninsula
cave
hill
lake
plateau
island
plains
canyon
waterfall
harbor
ocean
valley
bay
river
volcano
gulf
Writing Connections
1) Using words and pictures create a pamphlet describing landforms from a National Park.
2) Write a story about a drop of water entering a salt or freshwater land feature.
3) Write a poem comparing two different landforms or two different water features.
4) Select a favorite landform and write a poem about it.
5) Write an imaginary narrative about climbing a mountain.