The first few weeks of Earth Science has been all about how we use maps to understand the Earth as a whole. We learned about the different types of maps that exist, and how they show us different features of the Earth. We started the unit by mapping the school, and Ms. Zafiris tried to use the maps to get around her new school.
We then explored latitude and longitude, practicing interpreting the coordinates for different points on the Earth.
Finally, we looked at topography maps. Taking a 3D landscape and putting it on a 2D map can be hard to comprehend, so we made physical topography maps using modeling clay and water (dyed blue to represent the ocean) and as our "sea level" rose, we drew contour line to map the landscape. This illustrated how the steeper a landscape is (either going up, or down into a valley!) the closer contour lines are, helping us to visualize and read topography maps.
And of course, you can't do science without reflecting on your experience, so we wrote up our observations and conclusions.
If you want to look at the topography of where you live, you can go to TopoQuest and check out your landscape. It might surprise you what it looks like from a bird's eye view!
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