Utilizing the Lake Superior watershed and the St. Louis River as a foundation for learning
Students will observe and investigate the properties of snow and snowflakes as a means to learning about states of matter in this exploratory lesson. The curriculum file is a PDF of the lesson plan.
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.
Students will learn about temperature and temperature changes using the Lake Superior thermocline. Concepts and vocabulary covered are: water column, thermocline, metalimnion, epilimnion, hypolimnion, lake turnover, dimictic, and lake stratification. The curriculum download is a PDF of the plan for this lesson.
Attached is a lesson plan and worksheet for investigating Thompson Reservoir. This will prepare students for a more detailed chemistry investigation by gathering a physical inventory of the Reservoir and a chance to experience a virtual overview of the upstream watershed. The lesson also introduces the study of sediments. Use the curricula titled "Google Earth Tour of the St. Louis River" for the virtual tour. Sediment core is optional. The curriculum download is a PDF including the lesson plan and worksheet for data collection.
Take this one-page quality visual aid out with you on your late fall or winter hike. Students will love to look for burrows, dens, scratchings, tracks and traces of animals when outside. Have students make burrows or dens using snow, branches, leaves, or bring a tarp - then they will be able to become animals, imagining a shelter in the woods. The curriculum download is a PDF of this visual aid.
Students will begin to understand the water cycle by exploring one stage of it, runoff/infiltration. The curriculum download is a PDF of the plan for this lesson.
Although other places in the country and in the world have lots of snow, they aren’t as special as ours. Our Great Lakes give us extra lake effect snow! So, the next time you are around the Great Lakes and it’s snowing, try to remember how special our area really is! The curriculum download is a PDF containing everything you need to run this lesson with your class, including a link to a video lesson to share with your students.
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.