Dec 11 is International Mountain Day! Turn this fun national day into an opportunity to get learneres excited about the environment around them. The FREE version of the app Peak Advisor provides a great interactive way to learn the names of the Mountains and Peaks around you. Once you have downloaded the app head outside, lauch the app, and hold it up. Any peak or mountain will be identified. Tap on the name and the app reposrts the altitude along with the option to teleport to that location providing a 360 degree view. A floating compass is always visible as well for reference. There is a pro version as well and great for an avid hiker and mapping, however the FREE version is perfect for the classroom and sparking interest in ones surroundings.
Here are a few more resources.
The National Park service has an easy to implement introducotry lesosn plan on mountain formations using basic classroom materials.
For a more indepth and scaffolded sst of lessons check out these lesson plans from Montana State University.
The United Nations had a website dedicated to International Mountain Day with lots of resources.
Have students create a digital artifcat illustrating mountain formation concepts with Google slides or MS Power Point. A great way to also sneak in a lesson on copy, paste with a bit of stop action motion thrown in.. Have students create an initial slide, then copy and paste and edit the new slide with the progress of the concept, for example moutain formation. Learners can also incroporate the timing feature in slides to automate their project.c