ACTIVITY CARDS FOR EARTHQUAKES & VOLCANOES UNIT
Task #
Topic
Activity
*1
E/V
List, Group Label & Write
(pre-assessment)
2
IP
To the Center of the Earth!
(data-collection)
3
IP
What’s Inside the Earth?
(Spanish, hands-on)
4
V
Label the Volcano
5
PT
Continental Plates Puzzle
(hands-on)
6
PT
Pangaea, The Continental
Drift Theory
(video)
7
E
8
E
The Great San Francisco
Earthquake
Earthquuaaakkkkeee!
(investigative)
9
E/V/PT
Ring of Fire
(interactive website)
(investigative)
Students will use an interactive website to map volcanic activity
and identify the relationships between tectonic plates,
earthquakes and volcanoes.
10
E/V
Reporting on Famous
Earthquakes and Volcanic
Eruptions (class book)
Students will create a news report on what they know and have
learned about a specific earthquake or volcanic eruption.
11
V
Students will classify volcanoes by important characteristics and
features.
12
V
13
V
14
V
World’s Most Famous
Volcanoes!
(classify, data-collection)
Pompeii: Buried Under Ashes
of Mt. Vesuvius
(multicultural, thematic)
Volcano in Japan, Mt. Fuji
(multicultural, thematic)
Volcano Lab: Viscosity of
Fluids (inquiry/investigative)
**15
V
~IP – Internal Processes
~E – Earthquakes
~V – Volcanoes
~PT – Plate Tectonics
Build A Volcano!
(hands-on, inquiry)
Overall Lesson Objective
Students will be able to evaluate and record what information
they know about either earthquakes or volcanoes and what they
know after reading more about their topic.
Students will use an interactive website, read relevant
information of the Earth’s structure and be able to identify
important characteristics.
Students will read about the structure of the earth and make a
model of the earth identifying its main parts.
Students will match vocab words to definitions and be able to
identify and label the main parts of a volcano.
Students will review and gain a better understanding of tectonic
plates and their boundaries.
Students will demonstrate how the earth’s land masses were
once one huge land mass known as Pangaea by fitting them
together and describing the processes that cause plate
movement.
Students will read an article about an event in history and answer
comprehension questions.
Students will simulate an earthquake and make observations and
predictions on their experiment.
Students will learn about the famous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in
79AD and compare the pros and cons of living near a volcano.
Students will learn about Mt. Fuji and creatively write a haiku
poem.
Students will explore different liquids and their viscosity through
hands-on experimentation and an interactive, online viscosity lab
to see how temperature affects viscosity.
Students will simulate a volcanic eruption with vinegar and
baking soda by constructing a model out of clay and plaster
materials.
* - To be completed first (pre-assessment)
** - To be completed last (class experiment)
While completing these activities, students will refer to the tracking sheet which will let them know what activities
they have already done and those that still need to be completed. The students are responsible for completing each of the
activities for the topic before we move to the next topic as a class. Each task should be completed in the card order if possible.