Week 13 — Lesson Plans
6/24–28
Monday — Reading

Read lesson 5: “Topography.”
Tuesday — Activities

Make a topographical map out of salt dough or cookie dough.

For this activity, you can choose whether to make a salt dough map for display or
an edible cookie/icing map. You can use any recipe or store-bought cookie
dough and icing you prefer. The recipe for salt dough is below.

Gather materials for map:
o Cookie dough OR salt dough:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

Water—add by tablespoons, enough to make dough sticky, but
workable
o Heavy piece of cardboard OR cookie sheet (9x11 or larger)
o Food coloring OR colored icing OR poster paints (optional)
o Reference atlas(es)
o Toothpicks and sticky notes (optional)
o Copy of an outline or physical map (optional)

Find a physical map that covers an area with interesting topography. It could be
your home state, a country or continent of your choice, or even a fictional
landscape from a favorite book or movie.
If you’re using cookie dough:

Spread the dough evenly over your lightly greased cookie sheet and bake
according to your recipe.

Using your different colored icings, recreate the topography from your map
on your large cookie. Use blue for water, green for grass and forest,
yellow for desert, brown for mountains, and a little red or orange or cities if
you want, etc.

You can label locations using flags made from toothpicks with sticky notes
attached to the top.

After you photograph your masterpiece, dig in! Put the photo in your
notebook.
If you’re using salt dough:

Mix up a batch.

Either separate some dough now into different bowls and mix with a few
drops of food coloring or just paint it later with poster paints. (Warning:
Food coloring is messy and is hard to get off your hands!) Use blue for
water, green for grass and forest, yellow for desert, brown for mountains,
and a little red or orange or cities if you want, etc.

Tape the copy of your map onto a stiff piece of cardboard (optional). You’ll
build your map on top of this.

Using your dough, recreate the topography from your map on the
cardboard.

You can label locations using flags made from toothpicks with sticky notes
attached to the top.

If you didn’t mix the dough with food coloring, let it dry out a bit before
painting.

Salt dough maps don’t usually last very long, so make sure you
photograph your masterpiece! Put the photo in your notebook.
Wednesday — Atlas Building: North America Research Questions

Answer the following questions using whatever reliable resources you have
available. Write your answers on a blank piece of paper or type them.
1. When was the Panama Canal completed? What did ships do before it was
built?
2. What Canadian territory was most recently established?
3. Why is Greenland sometimes considered part of Europe?
4. What two island chains contain most of the Caribbean islands?
5. From what point can you see both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans on a
clear day?
6. What’s the oldest city in North America that was founded by Europeans? Who
founded it?
7. Which U.S. states have a land border with Mexico? Which have a river
border? What is the name of that river?
8. How many different Native American tribes are recognized by the United
States? What is the largest Indian reservation in the U.S.?
9. In addition to the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, the United States has one
federal district and five inhabited island possessions. What are their names,
and where are they?
10. What is the largest metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere?
11. What is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere?

Place your answers in your notebook in the atlas section.
Thursday — Memorization
Learn the names and locations of the following countries in North America:

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas

Barbados

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Dominica

Grenada

Haiti

Jamaica

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Trinidad and Tobago
Friday — OFF
Week 14 — Lesson Plans
7/1–5
Monday — Reading

Fill out the note-taking page for lesson 5: “Topography.”
Tuesday — Activities

Make a karst cave out of clay and sugar.

This activity mimics the way caves and caverns are formed in karst landscapes
as water erodes limestone.

Gather materials:
o Modeling clay (preferably green or gray)
o 25–50 sugar cubes
o Clear glass container (such as a terrarium or a deep baking dish)
o Water
o Miniature flowers or trees for decoration (optional)
o Toothpick or pencil

Arrange your sugar cubes against the glass in a loose stack 3 or 4 cubes high.

Cover the outside of the cubes with modeling clay. They should be completely
covered except for one part in the bottom, which will be the cave mouth or spring.

Using your toothpick or sharp pencil, poke 1–3 holes in the top of your hill clay—
preferably near where it meets the glass. These will be the sinkholes that allow
water into the cave. Decorate your clay if you desire.

Slowly pour water over the top of your formation. It should filter down through
your sinkholes and start to erode the sugar before flowing out of the “spring”
at the bottom. When you’re done, you should have a lovely cross-section view
of a sugar cavern!
Wednesday — Atlas Building: North America Thematic Map

This week you will make a thematic map of North America. It is your choice
what the theme or subject will be. Some ideas:
o A close-up political map of an area (such as the Caribbean)
o A climate, vegetation, or migration map
o A historical map from a time period you are studying
o A language, population density, or ethnicity map
o A map showing points of cultural interest or tourist attractions
o A map of books you’ve read that take place in this area
o Something completely different for which you can find good data

Place the map in your notebook in the atlas section. You may place it with the
other maps of this area or with other thematic maps—your choice.
Thursday — Memorization

Learn the names and locations of the following physical features in North
America:

Bodies of Water
o Great Lakes
o Gulf of Mexico
o Labrador Sea

Mountains
o Appalachian
o Rockies

Rivers
o Mississippi
o Missouri

Other
o Yucatan Peninsula
 Friday — OFF
Week 15 — Lesson Plans
7/8–12
Monday — Reading

Add the following terms to your glossary. The words are in bold in the lesson and
are defined there and also after these lesson plans for your convenience. This
lesson contains an unusually large number of terms. While some are very
familiar and do not warrant further study, many of them may be new. Please look
through the terms in the lesson and add any unfamiliar terms you want to
remember to your glossary.
o topography
landforms
o terrain/relief
o aeolian landforms
o altitude
o gradations
o landforms
o wetland
o geomorphology
o water table
o tectonic landforms
o source or headwaters
o bathymetry
o fluvial and fluvioglacial
Tuesday — Activities

Print the Landform Coloring Pages and color them, OR label any unfamiliar
landforms on either the coloring page or the blank landform page.
Wednesday — Atlas Building: Country Fact Files


Print out the “Country Fact File” page.
o Pick 1–4 countries in North America, and fill out Fact Files for each of
them.
Add these pages to your atlas under North America.
Thursday — Quiz

Take quiz 5. It will cover lesson 5 and your memorization lists from weeks 13 and
14.
Friday — OFF