We are learning a poem to help us learn more about landforms.

I am a plain, I am totally flat,

Covered with grass and other plants like that.

I am a hill, like a mountain but small.

The top of me is rounded and smooth like a ball.

I am a mountain, a mountain so high.

The peak at the top almost touches the sky.

I am a valley, a valley so low,

a space between mountains where rivers can flow.

I am an island, land surrounded by sea.

To come for a visit, a boat or plane you'd need.

I am a river, a fast flowing stream,

my water is fresh and a fisherman's dream.

I am a lake, surrounded by land.

The place where swimming, and boating and picnics are planned.

I am an ocean, a wide deep blue sea,

I am filled with salt water and waves rolling free.

Morah Katie: That poem shared a lot of information with us. The words were also doing something. What were they doing?

Matan: Rhyming!

Morah Katie: They were! I love rhymes because it is like the words are playing with each other making everything more fun! Just like when my friends play together! I love it!

Jade: There are mountains, and there is a river.
Morah Katie: The grassy area, that is a good picture of a plain.
Lakshmi: And there is a lake or a pond.

Evan: I'm making an island.

Morah Katie: What did you girls create?

Emily: Land.

Morah Katie: What are the high, tall parts?

Lakshmi: Mountains.

Morah Katie: What are the low parts?

Lakshmi: The valleys.

Ozzie: I'm making mountains with Lakshmi.

Lakshmi: Yeah and I am making valleys too.

Rowen: I made a lake. I go to lakes.

Max: Mountain.

Emily: I drew a human near a mountain.

This week we are learning about a few new landforms.

Capes and Bays

Morah Katie: Why can you drive your car on a cape?
Matan: Because it is made of sand.
Morah Katie: Sand, or some type of land that your car can drive on.  
Lochlan: It's an island.
Morah Katie: A cape looks like an island.  It has water almost all around it, but not totally, just on two sides.  We can drive out to a cape, we don't need a plane or boat to get there.
Morah Katie: What about the bay, should I drive my car in the bay?
Miles: NO! It will break! It will fall apart.
Colette: It will sink.
Morah Katie: What should we take into the bay?
Matan/Colette: A boat! It will float.
Morah Katie: What will it be floating in?
Matan: Water!

 Matan: I made a mountain, and it is surrounded by bays.

Morah Katie: Let's take a closer look at our cape and bay information: You can drive your car on a cape.  What is similar in these words?
Carson: The C's.
Morah Katie: Let's look at: You can take your boat into a bay.  What is similar in these words?
Matan: The sound.
Morah Katie: They share the same first sound.
Carson: B.
Morah Katie: You guys are catching everything these words are doing!

We used sand to expand our exploration of capes and bays.

Some friends enjoyed making landform collages.

As the children created their collage, I was impressed by their engagement with all the many landforms:

Carson: My mountain scraps look like a V, so I already have a valley.

Colette: A plateau is like a mountain, tall but just flat on top. A hill is smaller than a mountain. 

Lakshmi: The river will tell people this is a valley, and my two mountains.

Maya: A mountain has snow on top because it is so cold and it's cold because it's so tall.

Matan: I want a mountain but also an island. I have a tall mountain island in the ocean with water all around.

Miles:  A hill is small and round like a ball! I finished the rhyme!

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