Untitled

North Carolina's Mountains

Topic Page for Fourth Grade by Noelle Marshall

Introduction

Links

Activities

Teachers Page

Rubric

Introduction:

The Mountains of North Carolina are beautiful and diverse with wildlife. There are many things to do and see! Now you have a chance to visit places that you haven't seen before. Look through these links and see what you can find out about the North Carolina Mountains! Then do the fun activities below!

Links:

Maps of the Mountains
Find out about the Linville Cavern (Click on History)
Learn about GrandFather Mountain and how this Mountain got it's name!
Take a break and check out the view!
Let's go on a train ride!	OR
NC Most Famous House
How was this Masterpiece built?
Learn a little something about NC.
North Carolina's very own Ghost Mountain

Back to top

Activities

Activity 1: Make a journal entry. Describe a day that you spent in the mountains. Tell about the places you have seen and the things that you did. Tell if you would like to go back; why or why not?

Activity 2: Create a Venn Diagram of the differences between the mountains and where you live. List similarities and differences between the two.

Back to top

Information for the Teacher

This page is designed for students to learn more about the North Carolina Mountains. It will help the students explore the people of North Carolina's mountains and their way of life (competency goal 3). The students will explore the mountains online and learn about their physical features and culture. This web page gives students a chance to see what the mountains are all about even if they don't have a chance to go on a field trip. It also covers some many of the SCOS for Social Studies Fourth Grade and Language Arts. It is really a fun way to learn!

Social Studies SCOS that are covered:

1.3 Analyze similarities and differences among North Carolina's people, past and present.

In the construction Biltmore link it talks about the history. The railroad links also talk about early railroads.
3.2 Locate in absolute and relative terms major land forms, bodies of water, and natural resources in North Carolina.

The maps in the beginning show where the mountains are in North Carolina.
3.3 Suggest some influences that location has on life in North Carolina.

Doing the venn diagram they will logically think out the differences in location.
4.3 Compare the physical and cultural characteristics of regions within North Carolina.

Having them look at the beautiful waterfalls will help them see the differences between the regions in North Carolina.
4.4 Evaluate the importance of regional differences in North Carolina.

Writing the journal article the students will see difference and understand their value.
5.1 Explain how North Carolinians in the past used, modified, or adapted to the physical environment.

Reading about Linville Taverns and other articles the students will start to see the importance that tourism has on the mountain region.
6.2 Compare ways in which people, goods, and ideas moved in the past in North Carolina with their movement today.

They will learn about this objective when they look at the train web sites.
11.1 Identify and describe changes which have occurred in ways of living in North Carolina.

Reading about the biltmore history, they will automatically compare it to today and see the changes that have occurred.
12.1 Identify people, symbols, and events associated with North Carolina's heritage.

The encyclopedia link will let the student explore symbols of North Carolina.

Language Arts SCOS that is covered:

2.03 Read a variety of texts, including:
fiction (legends, novels, folklore, science fiction).
nonfiction (autobiographies, informational books, diaries, journals).
poetry (concrete, haiku).
drama (skits, plays).

The students are reading nonfiction articles that they may not have been exposed to.
2.05 Make inferences, draw conclusions, make generalizations, and support by referencing the text.

When they have to write the journal they will have to think for themselves about what they liked in the mountains. Also when making the venn diagram the students will be generalizing differences and similarities.
3.06 Conduct research for assigned projects or self-selected projects (with assistance) from a variety of sources through the use of technological and informal tools (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people, libraries, databases, computer networks).

I feel that going to the links on the topic page is a form of research even though it is put together for the students. It shows the students what is out there and that there is online articles where you can get information.

Modification for Diverse learners:

There are some learners that have difficulty understanding what they are reading. You could pair them with another person and have them read and explore the web pages together. I tried to put a lot of pictures to help the visual learners.

There is titles for each of the graphics so that a student with visual impairment is able to know what the graphics are.

You could give a student with ADHD a list of questions to answer while they are reading the web sites. This list will be focus on the material that your lessons are focused on. This will also help with when you are doing a lesson in class. The student will be more focused because they can relate what they already learn from the web site with what you are teaching.

Back to top

Rubric

What they needed to do.	Adequate 10	Good 15	Excellent 20
Students Behavior measured by observation	Students talk about the Web sites most of the time they were on the web page.	Students talk about the Web sites most of the time they were on the web page and had some comments.	Students talk about the Web sites the whole time they were on the web page and had a quality conversation about it.
Students activity 1 Journal entry	Students wrote a journal article that made sense.	Students wrote a journal article that made sense and mentioned two places that they visited while on the topic page.	Students wrote a well written journal article and mentions three or more places they visited on the web page.
Student's activity 2 Venn Diagram	Student made a venn diagram and put in five things that were different or similar.	Student made a venn diagram and put in more than five things that were different or similar.	Student made a venn diagram and put in more than five things that were different or similar. The information they found was from the web sites.
Total Points Earned

Back to top