Archipelago is Back! Island Topographical Models

One of my strongest memories from elementary school was the day my wonderful grade 6 teacher, Mr. Welburn, had us make mountains out of plasticine, measure and mark off every inch of height, slice through our mountains at those "elevations" with fishing line, and then trace each layer onto what became topographical maps of our mountains. I really "got" topography and contour lines that day.

And yesterday, every Spring Leaf who worked on a topographical model of their island "got" topography and contour lines. What a fun, chaotically organized (organizedly chaotic?) and learningful day it was! Many, many thanks to Karen for dreaming up this activity and for coordinating it all. And thanks to all the parents who helped out ... only two small knife wounds all afternoon, but lots of smiles and a grand group sense of accomplishment. As Roz said, "My boys absolutely LOVED it and really took away a lot from it. They will never forget what a 'contour line' means! Great hands-on, fun, practical learning — loved it!"

A quintessential Spring Leaves day.

p.s. If you'd like an intro to Archipelago, please visit Wendi's blog posts, Archipelago! and Archipelago Activities.

Tracing the contour lines

The parents all got in on the action!

Painting the "ocean" base

Lots of concentration and fancy knife work!

Gluing the layers together

Ta da! The not-quite-finished products

And the young ones had some fun, too