[teachjam]

We have to teach landforms: mtns. lakes, hills, valleys, etc..
I have had them draw a poster, but are there some creative people out there that can give me some other ideas to get these landform
terms in their heads another way?

[azfarkas]

So far we have read a book about each, made pop up information cards (they were able to choose two landforms to include in thier card) and today we made memory cards to use for review.

I look forward to seeing what others have to say!

[teachjam]

By pop up cards, do you mean the kind that you open and the landform is attached in the center to pop up?

[kmer2]

I just finished doing landforms! I found an AIMS book that had great pictures, plus hands-on games! There is also a great "I have...who has" game on landform descriptions on www.teachersclubhouse.com for 99 cents. (There are lots of great things on other subjects on this site also!)

[linda2671]

I put the kids in groups of 4. I give them blue play dough for water and brown or green for hills, mountains and plains. They build the landforms and make labels to put on each.

[change2R]

I always have my students write the name of each landform on an index card. I then divide them into groups. Each group makes all the landforms in the pea gravel on the playground. After they have made the landforms they have to label them with the index cards. I can check them easily with a rubric. They students love getting outside.

[suzyscq1]

and my kids had a blast. 2 things that really stick out in my mind I did were:
the landform cookies. i know, i know....crazy nutrition things, BUT, if they take them home and dont eat them at school, I got around it. meh.
I bought sugar cookies (plains), snocaps (mountains w/ snow), yellow decorating sugar (desert), green deco sugar crystals (grassy plain), blue squirt icing (rivers/lakes/pond, etc) and for the valley i had them make a thumb print in them. I wish i had pics but they turned out really great and the kids would go around showing what eat part was to other kids.

the other thing I did was to get alot of images of different landforms. I made a powerpoint slide show of these and had a game with those little bells from walmart you ding. 2 teams and whoever rang in first with teh correct identif. of what landform they were looking at won (they won like, extra library time).
If you do someting for deserts, it may be hard to find this time of year in stores, but when i talked about cold (tundra) and hot deserts-i bought some of that fake snow that you add water to, put lamitated prints of things that would live in either desert, had the kids dig thru it and and match which plants/animals would live where....

I hope this helps!

[azfarkas]

We made just generic pop up cards and when you opened it the landform was the part that popped up. Like a mountain would popup and then a lake would be at the bottom of it or an island would pop up and an ocean would be at the bottom of it. Then the kids had to write information about the two landforms those chose to include. They turned out really cool and the kids loved them.

[Schauna]

We have the kids make a Saltmap at home...they have to have like 10 of different landforms labeled. I can attach the assignment and recipe if you want it.

[teachjam]

Thanks. That would be helpful.

[teachjam]

THank you to all you wonderful people with your creative ideas and wonderful sites. You guys are AWESOME .

[Mrs.Hoss]

I also do an edible map made out of "cookie dough". It is mostly peanut butter, so if you have allergies, I used Rice Krispy Treats one year. They use mini chocolate chips for mountains, blue icing for rivers and lakes, etc. We use an outline of the US and trace it on wax paper backwards, then flip it over for them to fill in with the cookie dough.

[Ms. Teacher#1]

Wow, these are some very cute and delicious ideas !