Lesson Plan

Sand Dunes Post Trip Activity

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Students sitting in a half circle on the top of a sand dune face a ranger who is digging in the sand.
Grade Level:
Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Subject:
Literacy and Language Arts,Science
Lesson Duration:
60 Minutes
Common Core Standards:
4.RI.7, 4.W.7, 4.W.8
Additional Standards:
Next Generation Science Standards: 4-ESS2-1, 4-LS1-1
Thinking Skills:
Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.

Essential Question

How does learning about the Death Valley sand dunes help students learn about extreme desert habitats?

What did students learn (educationally and personally) from visiting the Mesquite Sand Dunes at Death Valley National Park?

Objective

Students will be able to:
• Apply observations from the Extreme Living field trip to create a visual display (a diorama or a visitor pamphlet) of sand dunes. This will include animal and plant life, as well as geological features that influence the making of a sand dune.
• Identify and discuss five things that connect to the formation and existence of all sand dunes.

Background

Death Valley is known for being the hottest, driest, and lowest point in North America. To many people, sand dunes are the essence of the desert, but in Death Valley National Park they occur in only a few locations. Your students had opportunities to observe, record, and question the unique animal tracks and habitats that are found in these special locations. Unique plants and animals live in this environment through several adaptations such as getting water from seeds (kangaroo rat), growing long ears (jack rabbit and kit fox), raising their bodies off the sand (sidewinder snake), and only releasing water when the air is most humid (creosote bush).
 

Preparation

Take pictures of the students during their field trip to Death Valley NP.

Gather the following materials in preparation for this lesson:

Pictures of Death Valley sand dunes, as well as other desert sand dunes
Heavy paper to make triangle diorama
Scrap paper and markers
Scissors
Glue
Copies of enough instruction sheets for each student (found in materials section)

Materials

Pass this document to students who chose the Visitor Pamphlet Activity.

Download Sand Dunes Tri-Fold Instructions

Pass this document to students who chose the Diorama Activity.

Download Diorama Instructions with Photos

Lesson Hook/Preview

Give students three sticky notes. Ask them to write one thing on each sticky note about the sand dunes they saw in Death Valley. Have the students discuss with one partner what they wrote on the sticky notes. Next put the students into groups of four and have the students pick one thing from the sticky notes to share. After a few minutes, send the students back to their seat. Write the four topics below on the board. Then have the students look at their sticky notes and place them in the topic group they think their sticky belongs.

animal life       
plant life     
geological features     
weather    
other

After all the students have placed their sticky notes, review a few of them. Ask the students to give you a thumbs up if they agree with the placement or a thumbs down if they don’t agree. If the students are not sure, then they can have their thumb in the middle. (Fun extension: Snap a photo of the science sort and send it to the Death Valley Education Program. We would love to see the students’ work!)
 

Procedure

  1. Explain to the students they will share their field trip knowledge and experience with others.
  2. Review the vocabulary and discuss how the words can be describe the dunes they saw during their field trip.
  3. Explain to the students they will create a diorama and/or a visitor pamphlet to encourage other people to visit the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley. You should have a sample of each finished product for students to see.
  4. Review the directions. Discuss the importance of using animals, plants, geological features, and evidence of weather. Discuss the expectations. Show the samples.
  5. Let the students decide which product they want to create individually. Pass out the Trifold Directions and Diorama Directions to the appropriate students.
  6. Give students time to work on their product. Let them research additional information on the computer and in textbooks. Walk around the room and discuss with the students what they are including in their products.
  7. When all students are finished with their product, have the students sit in small groups on the floor. Have each student share their product with the group. The students should be able to describe what the dunes looked like and what things they saw on and around the dunes. 

Vocabulary

  1. Gusting: (of the wind) blow in gusts
  2. Immense: extremely large or great, especially in scale or degree
  3. Habitat: the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism
  4. Unique: being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else.

Assessment Materials

Sand Dunes Post Activity Rubrics

Use the rubric appropriate for the student's project choice: trifold visitor pamphlet or the diorama.

Rubrics for the diorama and pamphlet activities

Download Assessment

Supports for Struggling Learners

  • Show pictures from the field trip. Create a list of words as a class to describe what they see in the pictures. Display this list for students to use while working on their products.
  • Visitor Pamphlet Activity: 1-Provide the exact five topics for students to research instead of a choice between seven topics. 2- Put students in groups of five. Each student completes one topic. The group puts everyone's work together to make one pamphlet.
  • Diorama Activity: Pre-make the diorama template. Each student then decorates their own diorama.

Enrichment Activities

Provide the following questions to the students. Each student researches a different question. They will share this information to their classmates through a poem, song, poster drawing, or other creative way.

  1. Do all sand dunes have some similar features?
  2. Where in the United States can you find sand dunes?
  3. What animals are endemic to Eureka Dunes in Death Valley?
  4. What are the different types of dunes? (transverse dunes, crescent dunes, linear dunes, star dunes) How are they different?
  5. Watch one of the following videos, take notes with a bubble map and then create a one-page flyer about sand dunes. Be sure to include facts that you learned.

DragonFly TV kids 
Singing Sand Dunes
Sand dunes- Curiosity show 
 

Additional Resources

DragonFly TV kids 
Singing Sand Dunes 
Sand dunes- Curiosity show 

Death Valley National Park Sand Dunes- Death Valley explorer 

Related Lessons or Education Materials

This lesson plan pairs as a post-trip activity with our sand dunes field trips, such as Extreme Living.

This lesson plan was developed through the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program. Please provide us with feedback on this lesson plan using the contact link below. Thank you!

Contact Information

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Tags: death valley national park devapost

Last updated: November 22, 2021