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geography

Lewis & Clark Free Mighty Mississippi Book and Easy Sediment Activity

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a Lewis and Clark Mighty Mississippi book and hands-on sediment activity. Also, look at Lewis and Clark Fun Homeschool Unit Study and Lapbook and Hands-On Simple And Best Homeschool Geography Ideas & Tips for more ideas.

This past week we have bee reading about the Great River, The Big Muddy, Father of Waters, Old Man River, and an American Treasure otherwise known as the Mighty Mississippi River.

Lewis & Clark Free Mighty Mississippi Book and Easy Sediment Activity

Today, I have the Lewis & Clark – Mighty Mississippi book & sediment activity to tell you about.

After digging into this topic, the Mississippi River alone could be a super fun and awesome unit study on its own. It has just been a fascinating topic and more than I planned for this past week.

Ojibwe – Big Muddy

We got bogged down (corny pun intended) on this study because we just didn’t want to move on too quick.

Mississippi River Guide

What sidetracked us was finding this really super helpful and well-laid out fun downloadable packet from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Download this awesome and free 352 page pdf. from the Corps of Engineering. Super resource!

At first glance, it said it is about 5/6th grade level, but after looking at it, there were also activities for lower grades and for 7th to 12th grade.

It is truly a multiple age unit study.

Lewis and Clark Mighty Mississippi @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

It is a unit study with science, geography and even history tied in together on this download.

There are game cards, lots of hands-on activities and I love the writing suggestions for high school.

We just couldn’t resist reading over it and doing some of the activities.

Sediment Activity 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus1Sediment Activity 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus1
We did this easy activity to show sediment as we talked about hydrologist and what they used to measure water temperature, ph, dissolved oxygen and salinity.

Pretty cool stuff to read about considering I didn’t know there was so much stuff to learn about water.

For the sediment bottle, we gathered sticks, dirt, different size rocks, twigs and even some litter and Tiny made a paper funnel to put it in the bottle.

Add water and shake it well.

We took a picture right after doing the activity and then about an hour afterward, we looked at the bottle again to see the difference.

Sediment Activity 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus   Sediment Activity 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
It was a quick activity for things we had around the house.

And easy as the activity was to do, it really makes the point of helping Tiny to remember how sediment is the stuff that gets swept along by the river and then settles to the riverbed when the flow slows down.

Big Muddy free minibook about the Mississippi River @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus1Big Muddy free minibook about the Mississippi River 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus1
Learning about legends surrounding the river, the many people who traveled alongside it and stories told about the Mighty Mississippi, which covers a huge part of the states, it’s a great geography topic to spend some time on.

We stayed on it, like I mentioned, longer than I planned, but then again you know that is why we do unit studies. We don’t want to be told to move on.

MORE LEWIS AND CLARK ACTIVITIES

Next, look at the Lewis and Clark lapbook.

LEWIS AND CLARK LAPBOOK

Lewis & Clark Free Mighty Mississippi Book and Easy Sediment Activity

You can purchase this lapbook now.

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

HOW TO GET THE FREE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI RIVER MINIBOOK

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie now.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

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FREE MY LITTLE BOOK OF LANDFORMS IMAGES WITH NAMES

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a free little book of landforms images with names for the youngest geography learner. Also, look at my page Hands-On Simple And Best Homeschool Geography Ideas & Tips.

Geography is more than a study of the land and water but it’s about the people too.

However, introducing children to geographical landforms is something they can easily grasp.

FREE MY LITTLE BOOK OF LANDFORMS IMAGES WITH NAMES

In addition, when children learn about physical landforms they can research how different it is from where they live or if it is the same.

That small spark can ignite a love for geography that shouldn’t be boring.

Besides, geography should not be reduced to labeling maps.

Hands on activities need to be a large part of learning right from the beginning.

GEOGRAPHY BOOKS FOR KIDS

In addition, living books should be a huge part of learning.

Sure, add reference books like atlases to your day, but keep your children curious about geography by reading stories and good books.

This is how they appreciate that geography is the study of people in areas and how they adjusted to their environment.

Also, studying the plants and animals keeps geography engaging for any age.

10 Geography Children's Books

I have a list of some of my favorite books for different ages, locations, and styles to help you choose a few to add to your library.

Next, look at some of these vocabulary words for the landforms images with names book.

VOCABULARY WORDS FOR LANDFORMS IMAGES WITH NAMES BOOK

While your child is coloring the picture and printing the name explain the meaning of some of the words.

Here are some simple definitions.

  • bay – A bay is a curved body of water where the land juts in. Think of the San Francisco Bay.
  • basin – This is a large, bowl-shaped area of land that collects water.
  • beach – It is a sandy area or edge along a body of water like a sea or ocean or even a lake.
  • canyon – A deep narrow valley with steep sides . The Grand Canyon is an example.
  • cape – A long point of land that sticks out into the sea or ocean.
  • cave – Caves are a natural underground space or a hollow in the earth. They are formed by water or wind.
  • crater lake – A crater lake is a lake that forms in the large bowl-shaped of a volcanic crater.
  • desert – Deserts are dry, sandy areas where there is very little rain.
  • estuary – It is an area where a river meets the ocean or sea. It is usually a mix of fresh and salt water.
  • glacier – A glacier is a slow moving mass of ice.
  • hills – Hills are small rounded areas of land smaller than a mountain usually.
  • island – An island is a piece of land surrounded by water.
  • isthmus – This is a narrow strip of land that connects two larger areas of land and is surrounded by water.
  • lowland – Lowlands are areas of land that are lower in elevation than the surrounding areas.
  • mesa– Flat-topped landforms usually a mountain or hill. Normally, they’re found in deserts.

GEOGRAPHY VOCABULARY WORDS

  • mountains – Mountains look like towers. They are tall rocky landforms that rise above the surrounding land.
  • peninsula – It is a piece of land that is almost surrounded by water but it is still connected to the mainland. For example, think of Florida.
  • plateau – A plateau is a flat, elevated area of land.
  • river – Rivers are large flowing bodies of water that flow across land and flows into an ocean, sea, or lake.
  • valley – It is a low area between hills and mountains. Often it has water running through it.
  • volcano – A volcano is a natural opening or crack in the Earth’s surface. Hot, melted rock called magma, gases, and ash can escape from deep inside the Earth.
  • wetland -A wetland is an area of land that is covered with water or has very wet soil. They can be bogs, swamps, or marshes.

MORE HANDS-ON GEOGRAPHY ACTIVITIES

FREE MY LITTLE BOOK OF LANDFORMS IMAGES WITH NAMES

Finally, grab the free printable book below.

HOW TO GET THE FREE MY LITTLE BOOK OF LANDFORMS IMAGES WITH NAMES

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie now.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I am excited today to share discovering geography through a field trip to Incan ruins. Also, look at my page Meso-America Free Unit Study and Lapbook. And Homeschool Geography for more hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

After finally finding a home here in South America, we’re ready for some “school”.

We have all been excited about folding geography back into our school day.

You know I told you I use North Star Geography for two really big reasons.

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

One reason I love is is that I can adapt it for both my middle school and high school teen.

Bright Ideas Press North Star Geography

It is easier with a high school geography to tweak it to fit a younger child.

And not so easy to lesson plan for an older kid with an elementary resource.

Second, there are two or more activities or ideas listed to do with each lesson plan.

North Star Geography Activities

Geography at the middle school and high school level should stay hands-on and interactive. 

However, resources for interactive activities are not easy to find at this age.

Not many provide the teacher with two or three brainstorming ideas to enhance the curriculum with.

I feel a resource should always ease the teacher planning by providing activities.

Incan Ruins Geography

So when we studied about the biosphere, which includes learning about the flora, fauna and ecosystems, I just knew we had to do the second activity suggested in the curriculum.

We wanted to learn about the area we live in now.

Pumapungo

(inhibited child of mine)

We didn’t have to go far to do this activity.

Look at these local ancient Incan ruins or Pumapungo Archaeological Park.

We took a field trip there; they were built in the late fifteenth century.

flora and fauna

Here we could learn not only about the native flora and fauna, but also tie in history.

It’s almost impossible to study either geography or history separately.

Why? Because things like the ecosystem and surroundings affected the development of a culture and it’s history.

tumipampa

It reads “Tupac inka Yupanqui, and later his son Huiana Capac, dignified these provinces of the Canaris and what they called Tumipampa with buildings and royal houses, adorned the chambers with herbs, plants, and animals of gold and silver; the entrances were plated with gold, and settings of fine stones, emeralds, and turquoise; they constructed a famous temple of the sun, also plated with gold and silver . . .” Inca Garilosa de la Vega

Incan Terraces

Pumapungo was made of several buildings like the Palace of Wayna-Kapa.

Learning World Geography Hands-On

This had a high temple, terraces and even a cool tunnel of the northern Incan empire.

terraces

Though this isn’t quite all of the view of the ruins, I just had to pull back when taking the picture.

I want you to get the full flavor of this majestic site.

Terraces

The ancient ruins are part of an old Incan city Tomebamba. 

Most of the stones were carried off by the Spanish conquistadors to build the city of Cuenca.

The Spanish conquistadors left very little, but enough that one could determine each section. 

Inside were the Temple of the Sun and the Convent of the Virgins of the Sun.

making bricks

This is where the Incan made brick. These were like underground big furnaces.

making bricks

Then below this level is where they housed birds native to the area along with local fauna. 

Of course all of this entails different levels and much walking.

bird house

We just had to take our time walking down. This is the view going down.

stairs down

And this is the view coming up. 

back up

Flora and Fauna of South America

But the walk was well worth the time and oxygen needed to get back up.  Look what we learned about in the walk down.

fauna of the inca

It reads “The Inca . . .had a house and patio full of birds, and monkeys and long-tailed monkeys, and macaws and parrots, and parakeets, and sparrow hawks and cururi . . . and many other birds of the highlands and the yungus . . .” Guaman Poma de Ayala

toucan

White-Throated Toucan.

Bearded Guan

We hadn’t seen a guy like this at our zoo back home.

This is a Bearded Guan.

Macaw

A Chestnut Fronted Macaw.

llama

Next, look at a few books to add to your unit study.

Books About Meso-America for Kids

5 Resources for Learning about Meso-America, the Aztec, Inca, and Maya

Add some of these books to your unit study about Meso-America.

More Meso-America Activities

alpaca
variable hawk

Variable Hawk.

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

Signs were about each bird and the text was in both Spanish and English.

South America Ruins for Kids

The signs explained about diversity and whether it was endangered or not.

parrot

Bronze Winged Parrot.

Black chested Buzzard Eagle

We had to look at this guy for a while too. It is a Black-Chested Eagle. 

Everywhere along the site there were signs like the one below in both Spanish and English.

That helped us to appreciate where all the complexes and water sources were located.

Agua Los Andes

(Water in the Andes)

It reads “Water, the essential origin and energizer of life, inspired its sacralization in Andean man.  For this reason the myths of it’s origin are linked to rivers and lakes.  This conception generated a network of knowledge that developed an ideology of belonging to nature, freed of individual forms of private property.  Rather sustaining technologies of the environment were appropriated with systems of supportive social organizations.”

Water of Andes

There were beautiful brooks and streams located in the park. 

Learning About Ancient Ruins With Kids

Wayna-Kapac ordered a qucha constructed. It means moist ground.

This was in honor of Tiksi Wiraqucha, a divinity venerated in the Andes.

Incan Gardens

(Orchards and Gardens of the Inca)

It reads “In the time of the Incas that cultivated area was a garden of gold and silver, as existed in the royal house of the King, where there were many herbs and flowers of diverse types, lesser plants, large trees, animals small and large, wild and domesticated, and creatures, such as snakes, large lizards and tiny ones, snails, butterflies and birds, and other large flying fowl . . .there was a large field of corn and the seed called Quinua . . .” Inca Garcilaso de la Vega

We ended our day of geography and history discoveries by adopting the local Ecuadorian way.

That means eating ice cream just about each day. 

Delicious homemade ice cream and parlors are found everywhere.

After all, because we don’t want to stand out, we have to blend in.

Adopting Local Ecuadorian Ways

I hope you and your kids enjoyed the pictures.

We want you to be able to savor this geography adventure as much as we did.

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

Ocean Unit Study Ocean Layers Hands-on Fun Activity

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We’re doing an ocean unit study ocean layers today. Also, look at my page Oceans Unit Study and Lapbook.

Since Tiny was reading about the ocean layers in our atlas, we decided to keep it fun and make dessert before supper and learn at the same time while our furniture was being loaded up and hauled away. 

Ocean Unit Study Ocean Layers Hands-on Fun Activity

Besides, most all of these ingredients we had at the house and I needed something Tiny could do while we were dealing with people in our home.

First, add some of these books to your ocean unit study.

We love to add living books when we can find them. Then we add reference books.

Ocean Books for Kids

16 Ocean Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To

Choose a few of these ocean themed books to go along with your study of the Oceans. Whether you're looking for a spine for a unit study or literature, you'll love this roundup.

Here is the short list of ingredients. We normally are not big eaters for packaged cookies because we prefer homemade, but we make an exception for Oreo cookies anytime.

Ocean Layers
  • Oreo cookies
  • Chocolate pudding
  • Banana cream pudding
  • cool whip
  • blue dye
Ocean Layers 1Ocean Layers 2

To show the darkest part of the ocean or the trench, he put crumbled Oreo cookies at the very bottom of a large glass. 

Then, because we had chocolate pudding, he used that for the next layer which is the abyss layer.

Both of those ocean zones are dark and forbidding so I think his choices for yummy layers to help him remember those layers will stick!

I wished though we had a lighter shade of chocolate to show the separation a bit more clear, but I try to use things we have in the house already.

Ocean Layers 3Ocean Layers 4

A little bit of blue dye with some whip cream was  perfect for the midnight ocean layer. 

Though it’s still dark at this layer, a large amount of animals live there and produce their own light. 

In his mind, the blue color equates to finding more ocean life at this layer.  I thought that was a good connection.

Next, we had banana cream for the twilight layer. 

It was a great color choice for this ocean zone because though the light gets here, it is still light or faint.

Ocean Unit Study Ocean Layers Hands-on Fun Activity

Of course the pudding has a heavier weight than the whip cream, so his ocean layers began to sink a bit.

More Learning About the Ocean Hands-on Activities

But—uhmmm—it never bothered him!

Ocean Unit Study Ocean Layers Hands-on Fun Activity

Then, one more delicious layer for the bright white light or whip cream called sunlight and he got out of labeling a worksheet he can already name the ocean layers.

Ocean Unit Study Ocean Layers Hands-on Fun Activity

Ocean Unit Study – Ocean Layers

I think with all the mayhem we had in the house with our furniture leaving, this was a fun and easy way to learn the names of the ocean layers. 

Finding the right combinations of sweet treats that tasted good together just kind of fell into place on this activity.  That sometimes is not so easy to do with edible activities.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Colorful engaging geography childrens books are a fun and memorable way to teach them all about locations and their characteristics. Look at my page Hands-On Simple And Best Homeschool Geography Ideas & Tips for more ideas.

But don’t think only preschoolers can benefit from picture books.

And be sure to show the younger ones more complex maps, mix it up and provide them with a mix of books to learn all about geography from.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

The word Geography comes from the Greek word geo which means earth and graphy which means a writing or description.

It is the study of the physical features of the Earth.

Also, it’s a study of the atmosphere, and water.

Teaching Geography to Multiple Ages

It is learning about the 50 states and their capitals, the oceans, and what an island or physical map is.

Typically, upper elementary is when you begin more formal geography lessons starting with US geography and then moving onto the world in middle school.

However, I am a big believer in at least introducing the concept to your child from preschool years on through exploration, beautiful picture books, globes, games, and more.

With a great selection of maps, globes, games, apps and of course most importantly books you can teach geography without even using a curriculum.

Children can learn more than just how to read a map, immersing them in learning about languages, landforms, government, and cultures.

Early on kids desire to learn about their place in the world and how they fit into it.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

This easy me on the map project helps make that wonder a little more tangible by showing how a smaller (but complete unto itself) object fits into a larger one.

For example, your neighborhood is in a city, that city is within a state, and that state is part of a country, that is part of a continent, and that continent is on planet earth.

You can leave your book with just the location labels or let your child get creative by writing words or drawing pictures that represent each one.

Geography Activities for Kids

First, look at more homeschool geography activities for kids.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

10 Geography Children’s Books

Next, look at these fun geography children’s books which bring geography to life.

Add one or two your home library.

10 Geography Children's Books

I have a list of some of my favorite books for different ages, locations, and styles to help you choose a few to add to your library.

Now that you have a big selection of books to choose from, grab some construction paper and let’s get going with today’s activity.

This project, while very simple, introduces not only the concept of me in the world or on the map but also demonstrates other skills.

For example, how to use a compass to create circles of different sizes, build fine motor skills through that as well as cutting, and allows your child to be creative with what they are learning.

Easy Me On The Map Project

You will need:

  • 6 colors of construction paper
  • Compass with pencil
  • Scissors
  • Markers or Crayons
  • Hole punch
  • Brad
10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

First, begin making circles by using a compass to draw one on each color of construction paper, making them ½” larger each time.

If you don’t have a compass at hand, you can use bowls and cups of varying sizes to trace.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

When you have all your circles lay them on top of each other, with all the excess at the bottom and holes punch through all of them at the top at the same time so it lines up nicely.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

Write along the bottom edge in order from smallest to largest.

  • My neighborhood,
  • my city,
  • my state,
  • my country,
  • my continent, and
  • my planet.
10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

Now, the fun part, let your child draw or write things about each place on the corresponding circle. Challenge older kids to do more, let younger kids draw simple pictures.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project

Finally, place your brand through the holes of your “book” and open the tabs, the book can now lie stacked or spread out to see everything.

10 Geography Childrens Books | Easy Me On The Map Project