Investigating Earth (How Does the Land Change Over Time?)

In this book, students are encouraged to think like scientists as they investigate our dynamic Earth’s changing land.

They will explore the natural processes and phenomena that build mountains, form rivers and lakes, and create amazing rock formations.

• Students will see how the events that shape our Earth can occur quickly or slowly. They will be introduced to volcanoes, earthquakes, and landslides, which happen quickly. And they will compare these fast-moving events to the slow erosion of rocks by wind and water that happens over a time period much longer than a person can observe.
• The book explores Earth’s surface features—including oceans, rivers, lakes, and ponds—and identifies that water exists on Earth as solid ice and in liquid form. Students will also learn how maps represent the shapes and types of land and water in an area.
• Students will investigate how engineering and technology help protect the natural world. They will explore solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land, such as planting mangrove forests to protect coastlines.
• This fact-packed book is an accessible exploration of the Earth’s surface that helps build early scientific skills including: planning and carrying out simple hands-on investigations, making and recording observations, comparing results, and using evidence to answer questions.
• The text supports informational text reading standards while meeting core science requirements and reinforcing scientific vocabulary.
• Ready-to-go downloadable resources and worksheets are available. This book directly targets the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Earth Sciences performance expectations: 2-ESS1-1, 2-ESS2-1, 2-ESS2-2, and 2-ESS2-3.