Earth Science Week Classroom Activities

No Child Left Inside Activity

Writing Earth Science

Grade Level: K-12 Earth Science and Language Arts

Activity Source: Developed by the American Geosciences Institute for the first No Child Left Inside event in 2008.

AGI logo multicolored with tagline connecting each, science, and people

 

Background

Earth science is more than measurements, maps, charts, and graphs. The language of geoscience, full of unique poetry, offers another avenue to understanding. Offer students a chance to flex their writing muscles in the context of Earth science.

Materials

  • Lined paper, preferably in a hardback notebook
  • Pen or pencil

Procedure

  1. Find a comfortable spot outdoors, whether far from school or right outside your classroom, and observe the natural world. Can you see earth — and is there anything living in it? Can you hear moving water? Can you feel a dry breeze?

  2. Write a poem describing the natural world where you are. Include as many sensory details as possible. What can you see in the sky, feel in the ground, smell on the earth, taste in the air, hear all around?

  3. Connect these observations with what you’ve learned about Earth science in the classroom. What is the history of this landscape? How did these landforms and organisms come to be? Where and when will the story of these natural materials, forces, and processes continue?

  4. If time permits, use your first draft as a starting point for further investigation and research. Maybe study the local geology or search the Web for information on the history of industry in the area. Write a second draft, adding depth to your first impressions with these new understandings.

 

Standards and Connections

NGSS

  • Disciplinary Core Ideas: ESS2.A: Earth’s materials and systems; ESS3.C: Human impacts on Earth systems
  • Science and Engineering Practices: Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
  • Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and effect; Patterns

 

Additional Standards Common Core Writing: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.*.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. *Applies to Grades 1-12

 

Sustainability Connections

  • SDG 4: Quality education– Communicating geoscience knowledge develops scientific literacy and understanding.