Students explore the natural features that shape our world — mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and coasts — and learn how each one affects the people who live near it.
Students will be able to…
Mountains, rivers, plains, coasts — the land comes in many shapes. What are they called, and how do they shape where and how people live?
Project this and tap each landform and body of water. Have students record what it is and where they might find it.
Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.
If you flew across the country, what would you see?
Students investigate the explorer.
Students analyze.
Students conclude.
Students make a map.
Aligned to the C3 Framework for Social Studies and Common Core literacy in social studies.
Construct maps and other graphic representations of familiar and unfamiliar places.
Use maps to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions.
Use maps of different scales to describe the locations of environmental characteristics.
Interpret information presented visually and explain how it contributes to understanding.
Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.
Have students shape clay or salt dough into a map showing mountains, a river, a plain, and a coast, then label each feature. A printable land-map guide is in the Social Studies library.
Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.
A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.
A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.