|
 Jane
Harrell wanted an interesting way to present the study of land forms and
bodies of water to her second grade class at Williamston Primary School.
With its varied land
forms—mountains to coast— spanning over 400 miles, the Roanoke River
and its basin seemed like a project the kids could really get into to.
And she was right! From its headwaters in western Virginia to the
brownwater swamps approaching the Albemarle sound in eastern North
Carolina, the Roanoke offers just the kind of variety students need.
Fitting it all on a 6–foot–long piece of plywood...now that was a
challenge!
 After
finding the right map to enlarge, she traced it onto a large piece of
paper. She had the students paint the background and then she divided
the map into four sections and the class into four groups.
"One
group was responsible for the section of the basin where the river
empties into the sound," says Harrell. "Since that part
includes Williamston, they included their school and, of course, the
local McDonalds restaurant. Along with the swamps, they included
fields of cotton and peanuts, representing the fertile farmland. They
added sand along the Outer Banks, too. "The
group that covered the Roanoke Rapids area created lakes with glitter,
trees with tissue paper and sticks, and a few hills," Harrell
added. "Two groups with lots of hills and mountains in their
regions used dough made from flour and water and painted the mountains
brown." And so it
went...ocean, river, lakes, swamp and sound; plains, islands, hills,
mountains and valleys. The students were literally up to their ears in
these land forms and bodies of water. It couldn't have been a better
lesson on the mighty Roanoke, either. Then came the work of putting it
all back together again. "Mr.
Goss, our custodian, got a 6 foot piece of plywood for us to use as a
base. It worked very well," said Harrell, "except that the
mountains ended up being a lot heavier than we anticipated!" |
