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Students can create a landscape in which they would want to live in. Introduce some different ideas depending on materials available.

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Students can create a landscape in which they would want to live in. Introduce some different ideas depending on materials available.

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On a paper connected, they would identify what kinds of landscapes and bodies of water are present in their landscapes.

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Science - Earth Systems, Structures and ProcessesEssential Standard and Clarifying Objectives3.E.2 Compare the structures of the Earth’s surface using models or three-dimensional diagrams.3.E.2.1 Compare Earth’s saltwater and freshwater features (including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and glaciers).3.E.2.2 Compare Earth’s land features (including volcanoes, mountains, valleys, canyons, caverns, and islands) by using models,pictures, diagrams, and maps.UnpackingWhat does this standard mean a child will know, understand and be able to do?3.E.2.1Students know that there are bodies of water on the surface of the earth and that they are often named based on their characteristics andlocation. Some bodies of water are salty, some are ‘fresh’, some are ‘brackish’, and some are frozen in ice sheets and glaciers. Different typesof organisms have developed to live in these different bodies and types of water.3.E.2.2Students know that the surface of the earth has many different types of physical features and that these features are named according to theirstructure. There are many representations for any given land feature and these possess correspondences consistent with their attributes.(models, maps, etc.).

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Science - Earth Systems, Structures and ProcessesEssential Standard and Clarifying Objectives3.E.2 Compare the structures of the Earth’s surface using models or three-dimensional diagrams.3.E.2.1 Compare Earth’s saltwater and freshwater features (including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, and glaciers).3.E.2.2 Compare Earth’s land features (including volcanoes, mountains, valleys, canyons, caverns, and islands) by using models,pictures, diagrams, and maps.UnpackingWhat does this standard mean a child will know, understand and be able to do?3.E.2.1Students know that there are bodies of water on the surface of the earth and that they are often named based on their characteristics andlocation. Some bodies of water are salty, some are ‘fresh’, some are ‘brackish’, and some are frozen in ice sheets and glaciers. Different typesof organisms have developed to live in these different bodies and types of water.3.E.2.2Students know that the surface of the earth has many different types of physical features and that these features are named according to theirstructure. There are many representations for any given land feature and these possess correspondences consistent with their attributes.(models, maps, etc.).

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Social Studies -3.G.1.5 Summarize the elements(cultural, demographic, economic andgeographic) that define regions,community, state, nation and world.The student will understand:• Human ideas help characterize the identity of a community or region..The student will know:• Regions are defined by culture, demographics, economics and geography.• Examples of characteristics of each element that defines a region.For example: landforms define a geographic region, industry defines an economic region,language defines a cultural region, etc.3.G.1.6 Compare various regionsaccording to their characteristics.The student will understand:• Regions are distinguished from each other by their features, functions, culture, and geography.The student will know:• A region is a basic unit of geographic study. It is defined as an area that has unifyingcharacteristics.• Different types of features such as physical, political, cultural, urban and rural characterizeregions.Third Grade Social Studies ● Unpacked Content Page 9 of 19 Current as of February 08, 2013The student will be able to:• Use a variety of visual materials and data sources to compare regions.

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Social Studies -3.G.1.5 Summarize the elements(cultural, demographic, economic andgeographic) that define regions,community, state, nation and world.The student will understand:• Human ideas help characterize the identity of a community or region..The student will know:• Regions are defined by culture, demographics, economics and geography.• Examples of characteristics of each element that defines a region.For example: landforms define a geographic region, industry defines an economic region,language defines a cultural region, etc.3.G.1.6 Compare various regionsaccording to their characteristics.The student will understand:• Regions are distinguished from each other by their features, functions, culture, and geography.The student will know:• A region is a basic unit of geographic study. It is defined as an area that has unifyingcharacteristics.• Different types of features such as physical, political, cultural, urban and rural characterizeregions.Third Grade Social Studies ● Unpacked Content Page 9 of 19 Current as of February 08, 2013The student will be able to:• Use a variety of visual materials and data sources to compare regions.

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Landscapes, Natural Phenomena, Time, Change, Natural Resources, Settlements

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Requirements for civilization, Human Basic Needs, Geological Features, Identification

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Students will be able to draw connections between settlements/cities and landscape implications.
Students will be able to identify why cities around the world were built in the areas they were built in.
Students will be able to associate waterways with human basic needs as one of the biggest important factors for human survival.

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How are we able to tell bodies of water apart from each other? (f)

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How are we able to tell bodies of water apart from each other? (f)

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What makes bodies of water so different? (f, c)
How do we categorize land features on Earth? (f)
What kind of landscapes do humans need to survive? (c, d)
How do some landscapes define a city? a state? a country? a continent? (c, d)
What is important when deciding where to settle down and live? (d)
Should you think about where to live? What are some things you want to think about when wanting to move somewhere new? (c, d)
What are some places that you would like to travel to? (c)
Can you give some reasons why you want to travel to these places? (d)

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3rd Grade - Watercolor Landscape Art Lesson Plan

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Tree Abstract Landscape Painting / Cotton Swabs Painting Technique # 435

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How To Draw a Landscape--Art Lesson For Kids

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Owl Moon by Jane Yolen: Children's Books Read Aloud on Once Upon A Story

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What you will learn from this video What you will learn

The food we eat gives our bodies energy.

Energy from our food actually comes from THE SUN!

The sun's energy is transferred to plants & animals that become our food.

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Food Science Video For Kids | 3rd, 4th & 5th Grade

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Hello, Tumblin' Tumbleweeds! I hope all y'all are feelin' footloose and fancy-free (like, why would you wanna be free of fancy?! I take it back, I hope you are fancy- full). My third graders have been wrapping up their art projects as the end rapidly draws near (like, 7 days left, y'all. Not like I'm counting the days, minutes, seconds or anything. Ahem) and I realized I'd never shared these beauties with ya! So in this here post, I'll fill you in on our process, the prezi used and some other whut-nuts.

So I've been kinda obsessed with having the kids work in chalk since we created those chalked ceiling tiles last month. And the kids have really enjoyed working with it as well. There's just something about using an art supply that involves smearing and getting up-to-our-elbows messy that's just irresistible.

Since these guys didn't have a chance to make ceiling tiles, I thought I'd let 'em work on a desert landscape. It tied in nicely with our theme of Mexico and allowed me to introduce a super fab contemporary female artist, Sushe Felix .

When I first spotted Sushe's work, I was totes smitten. And I totes thought she was working in chalk! That is until I saw this photo...

Like, fur realz?! All those amazingly even gradations are PAINTED?! Are you kitten me? I am in love with her work, you can view more of it (and her hubby's, his work is pretty groovy as well) here.

Right? Totes smitten. If you have a chance, check out her paintings of animals, they are so cute. The girls let out a collective "awwwww!" when I shared a baby owl painting with them.

For this project, we used the KOSS brand chalk that had worked so well for our ceiling tiles. We also used 9" X 12" sheets of paper.

I told the kids that their first step was to create their background. They could use any light color they wanted for their sky and any coupla colors they thought might look good for a desert floor.

We blended with our fingers because it's super fun. I did tell 'em to use separate fingers for different color blending so as not to muddy their vibrant colors.

Next the kids cut out big cloud shapes.

And colored them with darker colors of chalk in the same fam as the color of our sky. Again, this was to prevent muddy looking colors.

Using one hand to hold the paper super still, we used our other hand to smear the chalk upward.

The key is not to let the paper move so that your cloud stencil can create a crisp line.

Then we flipped the cloud paper over and repeated the process on the other side of our masterpiece.

Next up: creating the mountains! Cut a zig-zag mountain-y kind of shape out of some scrap paper.

Color like you did the clouds with a variety of greens. However, this time, instead of pushing the chalk up, pull the colors downward.

The kids seriously thing this entire process is magical. You will be considered high class art teacherin' royalty with this one, I promise ya.

Now cut out a piece of paper that doesn't have peaks like a mountain but has plateaus. We borrowed some desert books from the library to use on our tables for inspiration. Let's hope the librarian doesn't notice the chalk dust.

For the cliffs we did the same pull-down-the-chalk method.

Once complete, we looked at even more desert books and my stash of How-to-Draw books for ideas of what could live in our landscape.

Just a mile?! Well, I'm not taking my chances with that scorpion, yikes!

Love the pink sunset in this work of art. We did chat about creating depth and space with a decrease in size of objects, rivers and roads.

Just 200 more miles to Tennessee, y'all! Hope in your dune buggy and drop by! Tell next time, kids.

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In the Art Room: Desert Landscapes with Third Grade

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Hello, Tumblin' Tumbleweeds! I hope all y'all are feelin' footloose and fancy-free (like, why would you wanna be free of fancy?! I take it back, I hope you are fancy- full). My third graders have been wrapping up their art projects as the end rapidly draws near (like, 7 days left, y'all.

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Possible idea to change and build off of

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Possible idea to change and build off of

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Encylopedias (Print)

HOW DO I USE AN ENCYCLOPEDIA??

An encyclopedia is a set of books with articles on many topics arranged in alphabetical order.

To find an article, look at the first letter of your topic.

Each book in an encylopedia has a letter on the spine. Find the book with the same letter that matches what you want to find.

Use the guide words at the top of the page to find your topic. Then look for the article.

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RILINK Schools: Grade 3 Landforms and Waterways: Grade 3 Landforms and Waterways

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Become a Landform or Waterway expert! Your task is to research your topic. *What is it? *How is it important? *Where in the world is it located? Be sure to give credit to your sources. Then create a paper slide show to share with the class!

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These printable activities will help your students learn about landforms and bodies of water. Landform vocabulary words include mountain, hill, cliff, plateau, plain, mesa, and canyon. Bodies of water words includes lakes, ocean, river, pond, waterfall, gulf, bay, and canal.

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These printable activities will help your students learn about landforms and bodies of water. Landform vocabulary words include mountain, hill, cliff, plateau, plain, mesa, and canyon. Bodies of water words includes lakes, ocean, river, pond, waterfall, gulf, bay, and canal.

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One idea is to have students research one city anywhere in the world and find out what landscapes make that city unique.

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One idea is to have students research one city anywhere in the world and find out what landscapes make that city unique.

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Creating a list of all the landscapes that make it unique and compare with other students.
Then students would create a NEW city and list what unique landscapes they want in their city.
After imagining their city, students will create a visual of what their city looks like. It could be as a map, as a 3D model, as a picture drawing, or any other visual the student can think of.
Create a few key guidelines and requirements for the visual, but not allowing for diminishing creativity.

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Landforms, Hey!: Crash Course Kids #17.1

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Exploring Landforms and Bodies of Water for Kids - FreeSchool

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D.I.Y making a landscape to see how water flows

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D.I.Y making a landscape to see how water flows

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Write down three different places water is found on Earth.

How can you tell the difference between a lake, river and a glacier?

Why is it important that we try to conserve fresh water on Earth?

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Learn where we can find water on Earth. Most of it is in the ocean as salt water. We can find fresh water in lakes, rivers, underground and in glaciers.

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Abstract

Have you ever had fun playing with sand and water, observing how little rivers you create carve their way down to the lowest point of the sandbox, backyard or beach? Some meander, others braid, and some carve a path straight down. Hyrdologists (or scientists who study water) do very much the same thing! Only they set up the model in a particular way, so observing their mini-rivers helps them answer questions about how water flow affects the environment. In this geology science project, you will create your own question, set up a model with sand, cornmeal, and water to help you study your question, and learn from your observations just like a real hydrologist.

Objective

Model rivers using cornmeal, sand, and water to observe how varying water speed changes the riverbed.

Credits

Sabine De Brabandere, Science Buddies

Cite This Page

General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Science Buddies Staff. "Go with the Flow: Model Rivers with Cornmeal, Sand, & Water." Science Buddies, 23 June 2020, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Geo_p045/geology/model-rivers-with-cornmeal-sand-water. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2020, June 23). Go with the Flow: Model Rivers with Cornmeal, Sand, & Water. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Geo_p045/geology/model-rivers-with-cornmeal-sand-water

Last edit date: 2020-06-23

Introduction

Have you ever played in the terrain of your backyard, pouring water over dirt and rocks to create little rivers that eventually flow into a gully or gutter? You might know that water is a major element shaping the landscape around us. Think of the devastation after a flood or the destructive power of a tsunami. Water also shapes and reshapes the landscape in a much slower way, gradually over long periods of time. Take the Grand Canyon in Arizona. For millions of years, the Colorado River has carried crushed rock across a plateau, carving into it a steep valley more than a mile deep! Figure 1 shows two other examples where water has shaped the landscape.

Water comes from rainfall and snowmelt. Some water soaks into the ground. The rest flows across the land as runoff into rivers, streams, and lakes. On its way, water erodes the land and drags sediment and debris with it.

Not all sediments are equal. Scientists classify sediment based on its grain size, all the way from giant boulders to pebbles, gravel, sand, silt, clay, and colloid. In a colloid, the grain size is microscopically small; if you are interested in learning more about colloids check out the science project Making Mixtures: How Do Colloids Size Up. The composition of the sediment is also important.

Why is this classification of sediments important? One reason is that water with more speed, or fast-running water, has more energy and can carry bigger, heavier sediments with it.

Some of the sediment sinks and settles out on the ground. This can leave self-organized structures behind like ripples or dunes on the beach or on riverbeds. Figure 3 shows an example of sand ripples on a beach.

When water from rainfall and snowmelt accumulates too quickly for the ground to absorb or the rivers to carry away, flooding happens. This type of flooding is called alluvial flooding, or river-based flooding. The flooded water retreats slowly or is absorbed by the ground, leaving sediments behind. Figure 4 shows sediment-rich runoff after a flood and the sediment left behind.

Although water tends to accumulate at the lowest point, it does not always take a straight path there. Some water will meander, as shown at left in Figure 5. The picture on the right is an example of what scientists call a braided river. Braided rivers have several small channels separated by often temporary islands.

Hydrologists use models in addition to outdoor observation to gather information. Models are simplified representations of an object in the real world. Some models exist on the computer, others are physical replicas. Both are handy tools to study rivers.

In this geology science project, you will build a model that represents a river in the real world. Your model will act the same as a river in nature in important ways. You will change the speed at which water runs in your river and observe how this affects other characteristics like the width of the riverbed, if and where deposits are formed or whether or not flooding occurs.

Now take some sand, cornmeal, and water and go with the flow!

Terms and Concepts

Questions

What function do rivers have in the water cycle?

How do rivers shape the land? What major processes take place?

Can you find other natural formations formed by water?

Why are models handy tools for hydrologists?

Bibliography

The following Science Buddies project idea background information explains why grain size is important when making liquid mixtures or solutions. It will help you understand sedimentation.

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Materials and Equipment

Empty milk/water jugs, 1 gallon size (4)

Utility knife or box cutter

Permanent marker

Adult helper

Area with small slope that is OK to get messy (at least 16 by 20 inches). Some examples are:

Sloped area in a larger sandbox, suggested dimension 20 inches long, 16 inches wide, and a slope of about 4 inches high.

A brick or big block under one side of a movable sandbox to obtain a 4-inch slope.

A driveway with a slight slope equivalent to 5 inches over a length of about 2 feet.

Plastic sheet or tarp (20 by 22 inches)

Sand (25 pounds)

Dowel, diameter approximately 1 inch, length between 10 and 20 inches. Any sturdy material is fine: PVC, wood, or the inner cardboard roll from a roll of paper towels work well.

Ruler

Pencil (3) or drinking straws (3)

Cornmeal (16 pounds)

Video and/or photo camera (optional)

Water from household or garden tap

Volunteer or helper (can be the same as the adult helper)

Notebook

Pen or pencil

Experimental Procedure

Prepare Your Work Area and Tools

This geology science project uses a model to study rivers. The water in the model river moves much slower than water in a real river. Because of this, the water in the model cannot move real sand in the same way as it moves real sand in nature. We need to choose a lighter material to represent the sand. Hydrologists use plastic sand in their models. We will use cornmeal in this geology science project to model the sand in real rivers.

1. Prepare your jugs.

1. Ask an adult to remove the tops of the four jugs as shown in Figure 6. This enables you to pour water easily in and out of the jug.

Figure 6. A gallon jug with the top removed using a utility knife.

2. Ask an adult to cut a small triangular hole near the bottom of the first jug. The sides of this triangle should be between ¼ and ½ inch long and the horizontal line of the triangle should more or less align with where the bottom of the jug touches the ground when standing. Figure 7 shows an example.

Figure 7. Gallon jug with a triangular hole cut near the bottom.

3. Ask an adult to cut a medium triangular hole near the bottom of the second jug. This time, the sides of the triangle should be about ¾ inch long.

4. Ask an adult to cut a large triangular hole near the bottom of the third jug. This time, the sides of the triangle should be about 1-¼ inches long.

5. The fourth jug will be used as a watering can. Using a permanent marker, draw a line where this jug is approximately ¾ full. (Note: You will want to be more exact here if you plan on making quantitative measurements of water flow speed. Fill the jug with ¾ of a gallon of water (12 cups) and mark this water level with permanent marker on the jug.) This way - you will know you used exactly ¾ gallon for each river. Measuring the time it takes for the ¾ gallon of water to flow will allow you to calculate the water speed in gallons per seconds.

2. Prepare your work area.

1. Cover your work area with the big plastic sheet or tarp. This will make cleanup easy.

2. Flatten the plastic as much as possible.

3. Spread sand evenly over the plastic, covering an area about 16 inches wide by 20 inches long with a layer of sand roughly 1 inch thick. The 20 inch length should be on a downhill slope. In total there should be a change of 4 inches in height over the length of he area.

4. Use your dowel to spread and flatten the sand.

5. Push the dowel in the sand to make three riverbeds as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Use the dowel to create riverbeds in the sand.

6. Create three riverbeds parallel to each other, leaving about 4 inches of space between them. Start about 2 inches from the side of your workspace.

7. Push the dowel in the sand so approximately half of the dowel is in the sand. This creates riverbeds of about ½ inch deep at the deepest point.

8. Put a pencil (or drinking straw) as shown in Figure 8 at the end of each riverbed so you remember where the riverbeds are once you cover the area with cornmeal.

3. Create a top layer of cornmeal.

1. Cut a small hole in the cornmeal bag.

2. Spread the cornmeal over the sand by shaking the bag. Try to pour an equal amount of cornmeal over the whole work area. This layer should be between ½ and 1 inch thick. Make sure you leave at least 4 pounds (or a fourth) of the cornmeal remaining for future testing.

3. Use your dowel to spread and flatten the layer of cornmeal.

4. Push your dowel at the same locations where you had the sand riverbeds to re-create those riverbeds. The pencils (or drinking straw) sticking up at one end will indicate where the riverbeds are.

5. Use step 2g as a guide. Riverbeds will be about ½ inch deep.

6. You can use a camera to take pictures of your riverbeds to go on your science fair project display board.

Let the Rivers Run

Time to let the water flow! You will pour an equal amount of water on each model riverbed, but the water will run at different speeds, depending on the size of the hole cut in the bottom of the jug. You will start with the slow-running river (the jug with the smallest hole) and move on to the medium- and fast-running rivers as you move from one riverbed model to the next.

If you would like to be more quantitative about how fast each river is flowing then try timing how long it takes for each jug to empty. You can report the flow rate as the number of gallons per second.

In your lab notebook, create a table like Table 1. You will use it to record your observations.

Slow-Flowing River

Medium-Flowing River

Fast-Flowing River

Observations While Water Flows

Evidence Seen in Riverbed after Water Flows

Table 1. In your lab notebook, create a table like this one to record your observations for each set of experiments you perform.

1. If you plan on taking a video of your project, get everything ready for videotaping.

2. Position the jug with the smallest hole and the jug you will use as a watering can near the first model riverbed. To model the slow flowing river.

3. Fill the watering can up to the ¾ line.

4. Let the river run:

1. Hold the jug with the hole hovering over the end of the first model riverbed. The hole should be aligned with the riverbed as shown in Figure 9.

1. If you have the space and extra sand to create a stable platform to put your jug down, you can do so. But if you do, make sure you create platforms of the same height for the three different river models.

2. If you need to hold your jug a little higher because the edge of your sandbox is in the way, do so. But be sure to keep the jugs at the same height as you let the water run in the three different river models.

2. Let a helper pour the water from the watering can in the jug with the hole as shown in Figure 9, being sure that he or she pours the water in without stopping and interrupting the water flow into the model riverbed.

3. If you choose to videotape your project, begin filming now.

1. Note any observations about what happened while the river was flowing in Table 1. Here some things to look for:

1. Did you observe any braiding, meandering, or flooding while the water flows?

2. Were islands created by the water in your river model? Did they stay the entire time, or get washed away?

3. Did the banks of your river hold firm or break down? If they broke down, did it happen gradually or suddenly?

4. Do you see evidence of what happened in the riverbed after water flows?

2. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for the jug with the medium hole (medium-flowing river) and the second riverbed model.

3. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for the jug with the large hole (fast-flowing river) and the third riverbed model.

4. You can use a camera to take a new picture of your new riverbeds to go on your project display board.

5. Measure how wide the riverbeds are at 5-inch intervals. Create a table like Table 2 in your lab notebook. You will use it to record your measurements.

1. Measure the width of the riverbeds at 5-inch intervals, starting from the source (or the place where you held the jug with the hole).

2. Note all your measurements in your table.

3. Add any further observations about erosion and sedimentation you observe. Some things to look for are:

1. Visible sand on the riverbed shows the cornmeal bed has completely eroded away.

2. Pockets of cornmeal in a riverbed that looks completely eroded are a sign of sediment deposit. This is possibly a leftover island of a braided river.

3. Widened riverbanks are evidence of erosion.

4. Wet areas outside the riverbanks can be signs of flooding.

6. Repeat the experiment on the riverbed models two more times.

1. If any plunge pools were created, fill them with sand. You do not have to fill the sand layer in any other way. (Plunge pools form where vertically falling water touches the ground or the riverbed and the force creates a depression, or pool, of deep water. Plunge pools would typically form if you held your jugs higher than the riverbed.)

2. Add cornmeal to create a new riverbed for each river model.

3. Repeat steps 1 through 10.

7. Clean up your work area.

1. Dispose of all the cornmeal and sand on the plastic sheet or tarp. This material can go to the compost bin or be mixed in with the dirt in your garden. It is not advised to leave the cornmeal in the sandbox as it might attract rodents and other animals.

2. Clean up all your spills, wash out and dispose of the jugs and plastic sheet or tarp in the appropriate recycling bin (if you have one).

Analyze Your Data

1. If you videotaped the experiments, rerun your video.

1. See if your can time how long it takes for the jug to empty in the slow, medium and fast-flowing river using your video. If so, you can use these measurements to calculate the speed of each river by dividing the amount of water used (¾ gallons) by the number of seconds it took for the jug to empty.

2. Look at the details in your video and see if you can complete your observation tables similar to Table 1 in your notebook.

2. Compare your observations and measurements; can you see any trends? Here are some things to look for:

1. Did any of the rivers (slow-, medium-, or fast-flowing) show more/less erosion and/or deposits at specific distances from the source than the other types?

2. Did any of the rivers show evidence of becoming a braided river, a meandering river, or island formation?

3. Did any of the rivers show evidence or flooding or drought (water not reaching the end of the river)?

3. Do your findings match your expectations?

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

Variations

You can add more objects to your river model - e.g., pebbles to represent huge boulders in real rivers. Do different locations of the pebbles affect the river flow differently?

See how plant growth influences erosion by planting tooth picks along the river banks. The toothpicks represent trees in nature.

Study how pollution will be distributed in the rivers. A piece of paper towel or cotton ball soaked with food coloring represent pollution sources in nature.

Use only cornmeal (without a base of sand) and study the depth of the rivers.

Hold the jug with the water at a height of 1 inch above the riverbed model to study the effects of a waterfall.

Ask an Expert

The Ask an Expert Forum is intended to be a place where students can go to find answers to science questions that they have been unable to find using other resources. If you have specific questions about your science fair project or science fair, our team of volunteer scientists can help. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot.

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Go with the Flow: Model Rivers with Cornmeal, Sand, & Water | Science Project

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Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. Here's how. Have you ever had fun playing with sand and water, observing how little rivers you create carve their way down to the lowest point of the sandbox, backyard or beach?

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The Power of Water for Kids: How Erosion by Water Shapes Landforms for Children - FreeSchool

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Impact of Waterways for the modern world

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Impact of Waterways for the modern world

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I remember my first trip to the mangrove forests near the island of Koh Sralau and along Cambodia's coastline. I had no idea how extensive the mangrove forests were or how spectacular they would be. The forests stretched for miles and miles, carving out small islands, narrow waterways and channels, and ecologically diverse estuaries. I wanted to document the impact of sand dredging on the mangroves and on the lives of the people who live and thrive in these forests and the oceans surrounding them.

For over a decade, the government of Cambodia has granted several private companies concessions to mine these mangrove forests for sand. Each year, millions of metric tons of sand are shipped to Singapore to enlarge this island nation's land mass, while Cambodia destroys its only natural protection against erosion, rising sea levels, tsunamis, and hurricanes and lays waste to a vital and fragile ecosystem that thousands of families depend on for their livelihood.

As I gazed in awe at the grandeur and beauty of these forests, I wondered if we still value nature as she should be valued. As they are, in their delicate but infinite majesty, these mangrove forests provide a home for fish; crab, clams, snails, and other crustaceans; and microscopic organisms we can't even begin to account for. In the early morning, the egrets, geese, brilliantly befeathered kingfisher, and other wild birds come to feed along the forest edges. Monkeys leap across branches, and otters wade through the narrow waterways. At night silvery fish skip and fly above the glassy water, while fireflies glow in the forest like brilliant cobwebs of silk and gossamer. And in Koh Sralau, the mangrove forests provide a home for people who have for generations depended on this delicate ecosystem for their livelihood and way of life.

For the wildlife and people of Koh Sralau, the mangrove forests and the sand that root and ground these forests are jewels in and of themselves. They are valued for what they are and not for what they could be. The sand is a jewel because it adorns and gives life and sustenance to the mangroves and the creatures and the people who have made their home here. Once it is mined and stripped from its home, it loses its luster. It becomes just sand, sterile and lifeless-without a home, without roots, without memory.

Land was once considered the most secure and sacred ground we could stand on. Now even land, like people and commodities, can move and shift, and be smuggled and bartered for profit. Since the sand dredging began, every family in Koh Sralau has lost a family member, each one forced to migrate to other places and other countries for work. First the land gives way and then the people, and soon the entire fabric of a culture and identity is lost.

Cambodia is not new to displacement. During the Khmer Rouge regime, millions of families, including my own, were torn from their land and their home, forced to labor in work camps for a socialist-communist pipe dream. Nearly two million people died. After the regime fell, these families either returned to their home and their land or sought refuge abroad, some never to reunite with their homeland again. Over the last two decades, I've watched trees torn from their roots, forests burned, the earth dug up and wounded; I've seen families protest and demand the return of their home and their land; and large swathes of forests and small family farms replaced by vast fields of sugar cane and cassava, hydro-electric dams, and other industrial development projects. In these situations, people were moved and forests and habitats destroyed, but the land, although completely altered, always remained. And so endured a hope that a new seedling would grow from the ashes.

Never before have I witnessed the mass movement of land from one country to another, not for farming, not for housing or economic development, but for pure unadulterated entertainment. Since 2007, Singapore imported over 80 million tons of sand, worth more than $740 million, from Cambodia. Marina Bay Sands-a 55-storey hotel, resort, and casino valued at $6.6 billion, which includes the land cost-is considered the most expensive stand-alone casino property in the world. Gardens by the Bay, a billion-dollar garden theme park, is built on top of 250 acres of sand or reclaimed land. The theme park purports to introduce its visitors to "a mysterious world veiled in mist," where they can "learn about rare plants and their fast-disappearing environment"; a world grounded on "the principles of environmental sustainability." It is ironic that a place that aims to teach concepts of environmental sustainability is literally built on a foundation that is not environmentally sustainable at all.

What kind of world can be built from sterile and lifeless sand and land that has no roots, no history, and no memory, except for the violent extraction from its homeland? And what kind of world is left behind, when roots, history, and memory have been torn from beneath our feet? It is already enough to be removed from one's land. It is another thing entirely to have one's land removed as well.

Change and progress are inevitable. The oceans and the mangroves teach me this and have been teaching the people of Koh Sralau for generations. Land would not be possible without the changing tides and the ocean currents that help to shape it. But it is also land that makes these currents soft, the tides predictable, the waves manageable. And with the land comes the mangroves and their web of tangled roots, where fish and crab lay their eggs; kingfisher, monkeys, and otters migrate between forests; and people take comfort in this abundance. But change that isn't rooted in history and memory is a change that may one day crumble-if not literally, at least in the psyche of those who bear the burden of this change. And we all bear this burden as history plunges us further into a world where we have no idea what ground we are standing on, what blood has been spilled on this ground, what lives have been taken to make it possible for us to be here.

While I was in Cambodia, I traveled to the mangrove forests again but this time with a large group of young students and environmental activists, monks, and the local community. Hand in hand we walked, water rising up to our chests, and encircled the islands with a long banner of saffron cloth. The monks chanted while the students and local community chimed in, blessing the mangroves with our commitment to love and protect them. A rainbow hovered above us, reminding us we were loved and protected as well.

It is ceremonies like these that will remind us how connected and interconnected we are in this fragile but powerful web of life. And until we can remember, we will give up the greatest power that we have: to embrace one another and stand tall-like the mangroves.

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This short film documents the impact of sand dredging on Cambodia's mangrove forests and the lives of the people who depend on them for survival.

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Extreme example of how landscapes can be manipulated and preserved

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Extreme example of how landscapes can be manipulated and preserved

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Over the past century, nearly all of Ethiopia's native forests have been cleared for farming and grazing. Now it is up to the Orthodox Churches-who for centuries have safeguarded pockets of primary forest that grow around them-to preserve Ethiopia's quickly shrinking biodiversity and teach people how to live with forests.

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Orthodox Churches for centuries have safeguarded pockets of primary forest and are now working to preserve Ethiopia's shrinking biodiversity.

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A River of Lessons!
Go with the flow! Celebrate National Rivers Month with four lessons about rivers from Education World! Included: Lessons in which students create maps showing famous rivers, study legends about rivers and then write their own river legends, and more!
June is National Rivers Month, a time when communities across the country hold events that spotlight the importance of their local waterways. Contact organizations in your area for river activities in your city or town, or start your own river celebration!

River projects for students flood the Web. We've highlighted two of them:
Down the Drain is an ongoing collaborative project that lets students compare their daily water usage with that of students around the world.

In The WaterShed Atlas Project, students work in teams to study their local watersheds and then post the information they learn. The project runs from October through December, 2001.

Help your students launch themselves on a river of learning with four activities from Education World! Read the brief descriptions below for each lesson. Click any headline for a complete teaching resource!

Mapping Famous Rivers
Students create maps showing the locations of ten famous rivers in the world and write some facts about the rivers under the map.
(Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12)

River Legends
Students read legends about rivers and write their own river legends. (Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12)

Local River Life
Students create a class book about the animal and plant life their local rivers support. (Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12)

A River Full of Fun!
Students complete hands-on activities and experiments with a river theme. (Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8)

Rivers Run Through It
This site provides information about the interior of the Columbia River Basin, which runs through seven western states and two Canadian provinces. Classroom activities are included.

All Along a River
This ThinkQuest lesson provides information and student work sheets about rivers.

Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN)
This section of the Earth Force Web site describes a program that shows young people ways to help improve watersheds in their communities.

Locate Your Watershed
This page from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Web site lets you search for and find your local watershed, an area that catches water and drains into a into a river, a river system, or another body of water.

Freshwater Ecosystems: Rivers and Streams
This site provides detailed information about rivers, including how a stream becomes a river.

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Go with the flow! Celebrate National Rivers Month with four lessons about rivers from Education World! Included: Lessons in which students create maps showing famous rivers, study legends about rivers and then write their own river legends, and more! June is National Rivers Month, a time when communities across the country hold events that spotlight the importance of their local waterways.

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Magic School Bus Book. If possible, find the animated video that goes along with it

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Magic School Bus Book. If possible, find the animated video that goes along with it

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The Magic School Bus Wet All Over by | Scholastic

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Experience the earth's water cycle first hand as Ms. Frizzle's class rises into the air, forms a rain cloud and drizzles down upon earth, just like rain!

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Magic School bus video, needs the full video

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Magic School bus video, needs the full video

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The Magic School Bus Wet All Over (Accessible Preview)

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Impact of Waterways for the modern world and personal storytelling

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Impact of Waterways for the modern world and personal storytelling

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I remember my first trip to the mangrove forests near the island of Koh Sralau and along Cambodia's coastline. I had no idea how extensive the mangrove forests were or how spectacular they would be. The forests stretched for miles and miles, carving out small islands, narrow waterways and channels, and ecologically diverse estuaries. I wanted to document the impact of sand dredging on the mangroves and on the lives of the people who live and thrive in these forests and the oceans surrounding them.

For over a decade, the government of Cambodia has granted several private companies concessions to mine these mangrove forests for sand. Each year, millions of metric tons of sand are shipped to Singapore to enlarge this island nation's land mass, while Cambodia destroys its only natural protection against erosion, rising sea levels, tsunamis, and hurricanes and lays waste to a vital and fragile ecosystem that thousands of families depend on for their livelihood.

As I gazed in awe at the grandeur and beauty of these forests, I wondered if we still value nature as she should be valued. As they are, in their delicate but infinite majesty, these mangrove forests provide a home for fish; crab, clams, snails, and other crustaceans; and microscopic organisms we can't even begin to account for. In the early morning, the egrets, geese, brilliantly befeathered kingfisher, and other wild birds come to feed along the forest edges. Monkeys leap across branches, and otters wade through the narrow waterways. At night silvery fish skip and fly above the glassy water, while fireflies glow in the forest like brilliant cobwebs of silk and gossamer. And in Koh Sralau, the mangrove forests provide a home for people who have for generations depended on this delicate ecosystem for their livelihood and way of life.

For the wildlife and people of Koh Sralau, the mangrove forests and the sand that root and ground these forests are jewels in and of themselves. They are valued for what they are and not for what they could be. The sand is a jewel because it adorns and gives life and sustenance to the mangroves and the creatures and the people who have made their home here. Once it is mined and stripped from its home, it loses its luster. It becomes just sand, sterile and lifeless-without a home, without roots, without memory.

Land was once considered the most secure and sacred ground we could stand on. Now even land, like people and commodities, can move and shift, and be smuggled and bartered for profit. Since the sand dredging began, every family in Koh Sralau has lost a family member, each one forced to migrate to other places and other countries for work. First the land gives way and then the people, and soon the entire fabric of a culture and identity is lost.

Cambodia is not new to displacement. During the Khmer Rouge regime, millions of families, including my own, were torn from their land and their home, forced to labor in work camps for a socialist-communist pipe dream. Nearly two million people died. After the regime fell, these families either returned to their home and their land or sought refuge abroad, some never to reunite with their homeland again. Over the last two decades, I've watched trees torn from their roots, forests burned, the earth dug up and wounded; I've seen families protest and demand the return of their home and their land; and large swathes of forests and small family farms replaced by vast fields of sugar cane and cassava, hydro-electric dams, and other industrial development projects. In these situations, people were moved and forests and habitats destroyed, but the land, although completely altered, always remained. And so endured a hope that a new seedling would grow from the ashes.

Never before have I witnessed the mass movement of land from one country to another, not for farming, not for housing or economic development, but for pure unadulterated entertainment. Since 2007, Singapore imported over 80 million tons of sand, worth more than $740 million, from Cambodia. Marina Bay Sands-a 55-storey hotel, resort, and casino valued at $6.6 billion, which includes the land cost-is considered the most expensive stand-alone casino property in the world. Gardens by the Bay, a billion-dollar garden theme park, is built on top of 250 acres of sand or reclaimed land. The theme park purports to introduce its visitors to "a mysterious world veiled in mist," where they can "learn about rare plants and their fast-disappearing environment"; a world grounded on "the principles of environmental sustainability." It is ironic that a place that aims to teach concepts of environmental sustainability is literally built on a foundation that is not environmentally sustainable at all.

What kind of world can be built from sterile and lifeless sand and land that has no roots, no history, and no memory, except for the violent extraction from its homeland? And what kind of world is left behind, when roots, history, and memory have been torn from beneath our feet? It is already enough to be removed from one's land. It is another thing entirely to have one's land removed as well.

Change and progress are inevitable. The oceans and the mangroves teach me this and have been teaching the people of Koh Sralau for generations. Land would not be possible without the changing tides and the ocean currents that help to shape it. But it is also land that makes these currents soft, the tides predictable, the waves manageable. And with the land comes the mangroves and their web of tangled roots, where fish and crab lay their eggs; kingfisher, monkeys, and otters migrate between forests; and people take comfort in this abundance. But change that isn't rooted in history and memory is a change that may one day crumble-if not literally, at least in the psyche of those who bear the burden of this change. And we all bear this burden as history plunges us further into a world where we have no idea what ground we are standing on, what blood has been spilled on this ground, what lives have been taken to make it possible for us to be here.

While I was in Cambodia, I traveled to the mangrove forests again but this time with a large group of young students and environmental activists, monks, and the local community. Hand in hand we walked, water rising up to our chests, and encircled the islands with a long banner of saffron cloth. The monks chanted while the students and local community chimed in, blessing the mangroves with our commitment to love and protect them. A rainbow hovered above us, reminding us we were loved and protected as well.

It is ceremonies like these that will remind us how connected and interconnected we are in this fragile but powerful web of life. And until we can remember, we will give up the greatest power that we have: to embrace one another and stand tall-like the mangroves.

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This short film documents the impact of sand dredging on Cambodia's mangrove forests and the lives of the people who depend on them for survival.

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Why cities are where they are for everyone, but also a more in depth look and possible follow up

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Why cities are where they are for everyone, but also a more in depth look and possible follow up

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An interesting thought to tie settlements and cities with waterways (photo essay with interactive map)

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An interesting thought to tie settlements and cities with waterways (photo essay with interactive map)

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USAID Stories of Sanitation - World Toilet Day 2019

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As we celebrate World Toilet Day and the transformative public health impacts of improved sanitation this November 19, USAID takes you from Ethiopia to Indonesia in this photo essay to showcase how innovative thinking, government action, and private sector participation are combining to help generate sanitation success stories around the world.

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In the extraordinary new book Blue Planet Run, hundreds of photographers from all over the world track mankind's vital race to provide safe drinking water to the one billion people who lack it

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world water crisis  book blue planet run safe drinking water to the one billion people who lack it

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In the extraordinary new book Blue Planet Run, hundreds of photographers from all over the world track mankind's vital race to provide safe drinking water to the one billion people who lack it