Explain to students that people can visit and explore many of the landforms in the U.S.Have students use the drawing tools to identify and label different features and make an online map of landforms in their state. See what landforms students can identify on the MapMaker Interactive that were not included on the MapMaker Kit tabletop maps. Direct students to explore the different base maps-satellite, topographic, street, and so on-to see how different maps often highlight different landforms. Have students use the MapMaker Interactive to see what else they can learn about landforms in their assigned state from the activity or the state where they live.They can also be creative with cake and icing or other foods to make the shapes and colors of the land. Have students choose material such as colored modeling clay or paper mache and paint. Have students work in small groups to build 3-D relief maps of the United States or their state, with landforms labeled.Display the maps with the cards attached to the maps in the hallway for others at school to see. Have them explain why they would like to go there in 2-3 sentences. Have students write on an index card the name of a place they would like to visit in the state they researched. Ask: What patterns of landforms do you see that you had not noticed before? Students might point out that certain states have more lakes, rivers, or high areas than they realized. Have a whole class discussion about the landform map. Have students mark their state map(s) showing the landforms and marking cities, parks, and other major landmarks. Have a whole class discussion to create a key for the map and to decide which information should be included. Give students copies of the state tabletop maps from the National Geographic State MapMaker Kits and provide markers, colored pencils, atlases, encyclopedias, and/or access to additional state resources such as the National Geographic MapMaker Interactive (topo layer). Individually or in small groups, assign students one or two states to research the landforms. Have students research landforms in different states. Also point out the plains in California where fruits and vegetables are grown and shipped all over the country. Much of our food is grown in the rich soil of this plain. Point out the Great Plains, one of the largest plains in the world, located in the center of the United States. The plains are where most countryвЂ™s agriculture is. Of the different landform types, where do you think most of the United StatesвЂ™ food is grown?.What are the highest mountains, marked on this map, in different areas of the country?.Have students point out the lakes, rivers, oceans, peninsulas, islands, mountains, hills, plains, and plateaus. Project the Landform Map of the United States. Have students read a United States landform map.

Ask: Into what body of water does it flow? (Chesapeake Bay)ДЈ. Ask students if they can name that group. These are part of a group of mountains that stretches all the way from Canada to Alabama.

Find the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains.

Ask: At the foot of what mountains is the Piedmont located? (Blue Ridge Mountains) A piedmont is land at the foot of mountains.

Point to different colors on the map, and have students use the map key to name the type of landform.

Guide students to read the map with these prompts: These maps often use color to show mountains, hills, plateaus, plains, and more. Explain that a landform map shows the locations of landforms in a place. You can project your state map using the National Geographic MapMaker Interactive and find locations of the different landforms students describe.Дў.

Which of these landforms are near our hometown or in our state?.

Can you name other landforms that you donвЂ™t see on this drawing? (small streams or creeks, islands).Which are bodies of water? ( bay, lake, river).Which landforms are flat? ( plateau, plain, coastal plain) How are they different? (one is high, one is low and close to a coast).Which landform is the highest? ( mountain).Ask students to describe experiences they have had of being near any of these landforms, or seeing them in a movie, in photos, or on a map. Show the photo gallery with examples of these landforms around the world. Project the Landforms map and invite volunteers to point to the different landforms, name them, and read the descriptions.

Champlain mountain 3d model