Utilizing the Lake Superior watershed and the St. Louis River as a foundation for learning
The curriculum attached is actually a list of websites you can find useful for you and your students. Some of the websites will give you access to data that you can give to your students, other websites (like the WI DNR EEK!! website) provides information that your students can use (and is age appropriate for elementary/middle school). Other websites provide great kits or other resources.
The Savanna Portage was the crucial link between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico. Its discovery and usage created an interesting and important mix of cultures between Native Americans, Voyageurs, fur trading companies, and other explorers. This lesson is a readers theater reenactment of events that may have transpire along the Savanna Portage during the time when Voyageurs and Native American people were first interacting. The curriculum download is a PDF of the plan for this lesson. The supporting file is a ZIP file containing supporting files for this lesson such as PDF character guides and PowerPoint slide shows.
This lesson is a map quest that incorporates maps, land, government, and bodies of water. Using maps and a legend students will discover the different governing entities that are responsible for certain parts of the river and determine if the land is federal, state, city, or tribal. The curriculum file is a PDF lesson plan. The supporting file is a road atlas style map of the St. Louis River Watershed and is a PDF.
Students will see maps of Lake Superior and the St. Louis River to compare the sizes. Students will then each draw a portion of either the St. Louis River or a river near their school that flows into the St. Louis River or Lake Superior. They will make connections that every part of the river can impact the health of the rest of the river and of Lake Superior. The curriculum download is a PDF lesson plan for this activity. The supporting file is a PDF with a simple outline of Lake Superior.
If you live around the Great Lakes, you are familiar with snow….lots and lots of snow. The Greats lake region often has more snow than other areas throughout the country because we have something called “lake effect snow.” But just what exactly is lake effect snow? In this lesson students will investigate this phenomenon to understand how the lake effect causes heavy snow in the areas around the Great Lakes by focusing on phase state change from liquid to vapor. The curriculum download is a PDF of the lesson plan. The supporting file is a PDF of the student worksheets.