Kindergarten Lesson: Types of Landforms

Grading Period/Unit (CRM): 4th 9 weeks/CRM 4

Estimated timeframe: 5 days

Lesson Components
Lesson Objectives:
The Student Will Know…
  • The location of landforms can be described using relative location.
  • Texas has a variety of landforms such as rivers, mountains, plains, lakes, and deserts.
  • The weather in Texas varies, from areas that stay hot and dry all year, to cities along the coast that are wet and humid, to areas in the Panhandle that receive snow and ice each year.
  • The way people in Texas live, depends on their environment.
The Student will be able to…
  • Describe the location of landforms in Texas to a partner using the terms listed in TEKS K.4A.
  • Look at landforms of Texas and the U.S. on a map and complete sentence stems such as, “The Rio Grande is ____ the Gulf of Mexico,” using terms listed in K.4A.
  • Create a Texas Landform Dictionary.
  • Look at images of landforms and bodies of water found in Texas. Write three sentences about how this landform affects the jobs people have, their home, clothes, food, and activities.
Language Objectives: Students will listen to stories, and videos, speak in small groups and whole groups about types of landforms. Students will write and illustrate sentences and build models about types of landforms during whole group and independent/small group activities. Students will sing songs and or create a collage about landforms.
Standards(Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills):
K.4 Geography. The student understands the concept of location. The student is expected to:
4A use terms, including over, under, near, far, left, and right to describe relative location
K.5 Geography. The student understands physical and human characteristics of place. The student is expected to:
5A identify the physical characteristics of places such as landforms, bodies of water, natural resources and weather
K.14 Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of valid sources, including electronic technology.
(B)obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid visual sources such as pictures, symbols, electronic media, print material, and artifacts;
Essential Questions:
  • When and why are maps or globes used to find a location?
  • Why is it important to know directions for locations of places on a map?
  • What are the major landforms and bodies of water that some locations have and are near?
Enduring Understandings:
  • Maps and globes are created to aid in locating places in the community and beyond.
  • The environment influences where and how people live.

Vocabulary
Essential: geography, landforms, hill, mountain, valley, plain, Earth, map, globe, bodies of water, natural resources, weather, river, lake, stream, ocean, sun, wind, temperature,geografía, accidentegeográfico, colina, montaña, valle, plano, la Tierra, mapa, globo, cuerpos de agua, recursosnaturales, el tiempo, río, lago, arroyo, océano, sol, viento, temperatura
Supporting:continent, coastline, environment, globe, continente, costa, ambiente, globo
Lesson Preparation
Materials:
Chart paper
Modeling clay
Physical maps
Large sheet of drawing paper
Songs about landforms
Magazines for landform collage
Pictures and label sheets
Technology:
Discovery Education Streaming:
  • Geographical Features: Landforms (12 min)

Brain Pop Jr.: Landforms

Anchors of Support
Engage
Creative Learning Strategy: Frozen Statues
Teacher names a landform, and students use their bodies to form it.
For example: “mountains” and students stand on tiptoe, with arms stretched up, hands clasped to a point.
Lesson Stages
Books:
  • Mountains by Cassie May
  • Hills by Emma Bernay
  • Valleys by Cassie May or Emma Bernay
  • Plains by Emma Bernay
  • Islands by Emma Bernay
  • Earth's Land and Water by: Bonnie Beers
  • ¿Qué son las estructuras naturales? by: Bobbie Kalman
  • Living in a Valley by: Ellen Labrecque
  • Exploring Glaciers by: Melody S. Mis
  • Exploring Islands by: Melody S. Mis
  • Exploring Caves by: Melody S. Mis
  • Exploring Canyons by: Melody S. Mis
  • Living on a Mountain by: Ellen Labrecque


*Each day, the teacher will present a different kind of landform, using books, pictures, videos, etc.
Students will write and draw about each landform in the “Landforms” booklet, provided in the student resources.
Day 1: Mountains
  • Engage:Watch and discuss Discovery Education: Geographical Features: Landformsand/or read a book about mountains from the resources above or from your own library.
  • Whole Group:Add “mountains” to the class chart, and illustrate. Write 2 facts from the book onto the class chart (i.e. Mountains are tall. Mountains are pointy.)
  • Student Task: Students use Landforms student booklet, go to “mountains” page and students color picture and write down 2 facts about mountains.
Day 2: Hills
  • Engage:Read a book from the resources listed above or one from your own library.
  • Whole Group:Add “hills” to the class chart, and illustrate. Write 2 facts from the book onto the class chart (i.e. Hills are smaller than mountains. Hills are rounded.)
  • Student Task:Students use Landforms student booklet, go to “hills” page and students color picture and write down 2 facts about hills.
Day 3: Valleys
  • Engage:Read a book from the resources listed above or one from your own library.
  • Whole Group:Add “valleys” to the class chart, and illustrate. Write 2 facts from the book onto the class chart (i.e. Valleys are flat land. Valleys are between 2 mountains.)
  • Student Task:Students use Landforms student booklet, go to “valleys” page and students color picture and write down 2 facts about valleys.
Day 4: Plains
  • Engage:Read a book from the resources listed above or one from your own library.
  • Whole Group:Write 2 facts from the book onto the class chart (i.e. Plains are flat land. Plains are often used for farming.)
  • Student Task:Students use Landforms student booklet, go to “plains” page and students color picture and write down 2 facts about plains.
Day 5: Islands
  • Engage:Read a book from the resources listed above or one from your own library.
  • Whole Group:Add “islands” to the class chart, and illustrate. Write 2 facts from the book onto the class chart (i.e. Islands are surrounded by water. Islands can have mountains and jungles.)
  • Student Task:Students use Landforms student booklet, go to “islands” page and students color picture and write down 2 facts about islands.

Differentiation Strategies
Special Education:
Students will use precut pictures of various landforms to create their landform collage. The student can also use pre-made words of landform vocabulary to glue on top of pre-cut pictures of various landforms to help with vocabulary mastery. Students can point to real pictures of various jobs in areas associated to landforms. Students can say the name of the landform and discuss what is happening in the picture and why that job would be specific to a landform with a partner. When making the clay model of a landform the student can work with another student to complete this lesson and use real pictures of a landform to help them create and understand characteristics of their model landform. Students can use sentence stems to help with comprehension such as ”This is a ______landform.” or “This landform is a ______, people work at ______near this landform. “ or “This is a ______landform and people living here work at ______.”
English Language Learners:
Students can use flashcards with names of landforms to help with comprehension. Students can also work with partners building the clay models of landforms and refer to the landform flashcards to help with specific characteristics. Use real pictures of jobs and landforms as often as possible to help student with understanding of concept of specific areas of lessons. Students can use sentence stems such as; “This landform is a ______, people work at ______near this landform.” or “This is a ______landform and people living here work at ______.”
Extension for Learning: Students can discuss how the landforms influences the economic activities that people might do to earn a living, then present to the class. Products could include poster, report, collage, clay models, etc. Possible sentence starter could be, “If I lived by the ______, I would make a living by____ because…”
Closure Activity
Students will look through magazines to find and cut out pictures of various landforms. Students will create individual landform collage with these various pictures of landforms. Instruct students to try and find the various landforms listed on the class chart to include in their individual collages. Students will label the landforms, using the class chart as a guide. Students can do a museum walk to see the various landform collages.
Check for Understanding (Evaluation)
Formative: Observation: student landforms booklet and clay models of landforms
Summative: Landform collage
College and Career Readiness
A. Spatial analysis of physical and cultural processes that shape the human experience
1. Use the tools and concepts of geography appropriately and accurately.
21st Century Skills
  • Global Awareness
Understanding other nations and cultures, including the use of non-English languages
English Language Proficiency Standards
Students will listen, speak and write about types of landforms during whole group and group activities.
(1) Cross-curricular second language acquisition/learning strategies. The ELL uses language learning strategies to develop an awareness of his or her own learning processes in all content areas.
(C) use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing, comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level vocabulary
(F) use accessible language and learn new and essential language in the process
(3) Cross-curricular second language acquisition/speaking. The ELL speaks in a variety of modes for a variety of purposes with an awareness of different language registers (formal/informal) using vocabulary with increasing fluency and accuracy in language arts and all content areas.
(C) speak using a variety of grammatical structures, sentence lengths, sentence types, and connecting words with increasing accuracy and ease as more English is acquired
(D) speak using grade-level content area vocabulary in context to internalize new English words and build academic language proficiency
(J) respond orally to information presented in a wide variety of print, electronic, audio, and visual media to build and reinforce concept and language attainment
(5) Cross-curricular second language acquisition/writing. The ELL writes in a variety of forms with increasing accuracy to effectively address a specific purpose and audience in all content areas.
(B) write using newly acquired basic vocabulary and content-based grade-level vocabulary.

© Austin ISD K Department, 2015/2016

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