Google Earth

Today we are going to look at the landscape... from the sky.  Google Earth is an excellent resource, especially when trying to understand the relationship between rocks and the various topography around where we live.  We are going to use Google Earth to explore the relationship between where our houses are and where mountains and rivers are located.  The perspective this program offers is unique and very informative.
Today's start up is "Describe the rock cycle in your own words."

Rocks and Soil

Today we are going to watch a Bill Nye video on rocks and soil.  The past few days has been loaded with a lot of information and now we are going to review with Bill Nye to help us solidify what we have learned.  The start up for today is "How could a topographic map be useful?"

Elkins Topo Map

So we reviewed the rock cycle yesterday and now we are ready to begin working on how to read topographic maps.  I've got topographic maps of the Elkins area and the students will try to study these maps to understand where they live.

The start up for today is "what is a contour line?"

Rocks

Today we are going to start talking about Rocks.  The rock cycle is very important to understanding how new rocks form  and were the rocks we see came from.  West Virginia is mostly sedimentary rock but there are examples of igneous and metamorphic rock in our state.  Once we are sure of the rock cycle we will begin looking at the topography of the area around Elkins.

The start up for today is "What is one example of each type of rock?"