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Saturday, October 19, 2013

Spark Student Motivation-Landform Project

Happy Saturday! It is a nice chilly day here in Pennsylvania...I have a cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee and am catching up on blogging-what a great start to the weekend! I'm linking up with my dear friend Joanne at Head over Heels for Teaching for her linky party.


Today I want to share a project with you that I did with my students a few weeks ago...I just didn't have a chance to blog about it when we did it! My kiddos and I have been studying our home state of Pennsylvania. When we first started our unit, I wanted them to have a solid grasp of our state's geography. What better way to have them really learn about it than by having them make a model of our state?

I don't know about you, but my kids love working with clay. I partnered them up, gave them the directions to the project, a paper map of our state, clay, and a few resource books and they went to town. A few of them needed to be reminded that our mountains are not rocky like the Rocky Mountains...they had to tone down their "peaks." Here's a picture of many of the finished clay products.

If you are interested in doing this project with your students you can download it here for free.


Freebie Fridays

Geography

 
What do you do to motivate your students?

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10 comments:

  1. Joanne MillerOctober 19, 2013 at 9:57 AM

    Very motivating! Anything that involves art or music definitely makes it more exciting! I can't wait to grab your freebie! Thanks for sharing and linking up!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tammi BoothOctober 19, 2013 at 10:35 AM

    Great idea Bethany. Thanks for sharing! :)

    Tammi
    The Balanced Classroom

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  3. Pam OlivieriOctober 19, 2013 at 10:35 AM

    I love to do projects with my kiddos too! Where in PA are you from? I grew up in Pittsburgh but I've been gone for over 20 years. I am now in the Carolinas. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
    Pam

    Rockin Resources Blog

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  4. Everyone Deserves to LearnOctober 19, 2013 at 12:25 PM

    Cool idea, Bethany! I bet they had a lot of fun getting their hands dirty with the clay!

    -Maria
    Everyone deServes to Learn

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  5. UnknownOctober 19, 2013 at 12:59 PM

    That looks like so much fun!

    Marcy
    SearchingForTeacherBalance

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  6. Elementary EngagementOctober 19, 2013 at 1:33 PM

    This looks like a lot of fun. I agree that anytime you can incorporate clay, you have a winning lesson!

    Mary
    Fit to be Fourth
    Follow me on Bloglovin

    ReplyDelete
  7. Matt October 20, 2013 at 9:34 AM

    I can remember doing these as a kid and they were my favorites, both in class at and home. This really is a great way for students to learn. This is great. I've never seen someone do it in the shape of their state which is possible even better. Well done.

    matt

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  8. Bible Fun For KidsOctober 20, 2013 at 2:24 PM

    This is a great way to learn! I love the idea! Thanks for sharing at Manic Monday!

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  9. Mary BauerOctober 20, 2013 at 3:50 PM

    Hi Bethany,
    I love this idea. We teach landforms with our science kits and this would make a good connection.

    I just realized that you responded to my social studies question in another forum. I have been following your blog for awhile.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Arlene sandbergOctober 21, 2013 at 10:13 AM

    Thanks for sharing your project.
    Arlene
    LMN Tree

    ReplyDelete

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