This tasty elementary school map lesson and social studies activity can help students better understand the major US mountain ranges and rivers. 

Materials:  A map of the US with the two major mountain ranges and 5 major rivers labeled.  Copy this onto 8 1/2 x 11″ paper.  Also, get some blue food coloring and mix with white frosting.  In addition, you will need toothpicks, candy corn, and Skittles candies.  This is a fun Halloween activity, also.

1.  On your smart board or overhead projector, show students a map of the US that shows the Rocky and Appalachian Mountain ranges, as well as the following rivers:  Colorado, Rio Grande, Mississippi, Ohio, and Hudson.  Every student will need to have a copy of the map on their desks, as well.  Explain the characteristics of the mountain ranges such as the Rockies have a higher elevation and are more pointed than the Appalachian range.  Have children tell you what states and/or countries they are in.   Students should know the compass rose well and be able to tell you that the Rockies are in the western part of the US and the Appalachian range is in the eastern part of the US.

2.  On your map, point out the rivers listed above.  Have children explain the order of the rivers from west to east.  Let them create a mnemonic device to help remember this order.  Example:  My students came up with this: Cats Really Meow Over Here (Colorado, Rio Grande, Mississippi, Ohio, Hudson).  They also thought of a way to remember the order from west to east of the mountain ranges:  Really Awesome (Rockies, Appalachians).  Have students discover which river is the longest, which rivers create borders, etc. 

3.  Give each child 1/4 c. of blue frosting in a Dixie cup, about 10 candy corn with white tips, 5 or 6 Skittles candies, and a toothpick.  The children are to use their toothpick and frosting to ‘paint’ the 5 major US rivers and use the frosting as ‘glue’ to put the candy corn on the Rocky Mountain Range, and put the Skittles, standing on end, over the Appalachian Mountain Range.  It’s a great visual for the students to see that the Rockies are higher and snow-capped, as opposed to the more rounded and lower-in-elevation Appalachians.

4.  Last, students can eat their edible social studies creation if they want. Extension:  Students can choose a mountain range or river to research and then make a poster, write a report, create a diorama, etc., to share with the class.

keywords: mountain worksheets, mountains regions, rivers geography, rivers facts, geography lesson

An interesting way to incorporate an elementary school habitats unit with a beginning multiplication lesson is to have students use pictures of creatures to create a collage and write multiplication sentences underneath the collage that represent repeated addition of legs, eyes, wings, etc. 

The pictures can come from many sources:  Photographs, magazines, or websites; however, all of the pictures need to be one kind of creature.  For example:  A student might have 7 or 8 pictures of different kinds of frogs.  So, that child would create a collage of those pictures on construction paper and underneath write a multiplication sentence such as, “8 frogs x 4 legs = 32 legs”.    That student could also add:  8 frogs x 2 eyes = 16 eyes.   Have students put a title on their project and decorate with colored markers. 

You can extend the lesson by having students add to their poster:

* math vocabulary by labeling the factors and products,

* repeated addition for each multiplication equation,

* the commutative property of multiplication, and

* interesting facts about the creatures and their habitats.

Advanced students could add to their poster:

* double-digit multiplication by multiplying all the legs, wings, eyes, etc., x all the animals, and

* the distributive property of multiplication by swapping left-over pictures and making a new collage that has an equation for each picture, which are then added together using this property.

This is a great way to reinforce the components of a complete sentence for elementary school children.  They should have prior knowledge and lessons on what is a complete sentence.

First, you will need to write a descriptive sentence on an overhead transparency and then cut out each word, including the period with the last word of the sentence. 

Next, put the words in random order on the overhead projecter.  Read the words aloud.  Ask the students if they can help you put the words in the correct order.

Some will immediately understand what the first word of the sentence is because it will have a capital letter.  Others will connect that the last word of the sentence is followed by the end mark. 

Then, once the students have successfully helped you put back together your sentence, point out the capital letter, end mark, complete subject and complete predicate.

After that, have students write their own descriptive sentence on paper.  Let them cut out the words just like you did. 

Finally, put students in pairs with their words and let them each try to put the sentences back in correct order.  Students may then check each other’s work.

This quick activity really helped my students understand complete sentence parts.