Human/Environment Interaction means the interaction of people and the environment, how people adapt to the environment, and how people change the environment to meet their needs and wants. The activities below are based on the theme of Human/Environment Interaction. Select the appropriate grade level for your child and try the activities!

Grade 1 : What's the Weather Like?
Grade 1 : See for Yourself
Grade 2 : Write a Story!
Grade 2 : Let's Set Up Camp!
Grade 3 : Urban or Rural?
Grade 3 : Time Will Tell
Grade 4 : Learning the Three R's
Grade 4 : Changing Our World
Grade 5 : Report the Weather
Grade 5 : Build a Dam
Grade 6 : Construct a Canal
Grade 6 : Impact the Environment

Work with your child to make a calendar showing how the weather affects your family each month of the year. Human/Environment Interaction explains how people live in a place. It explains how they change their environment. For example, people build bridges, houses, and roads. Human/Environment Interaction also explains how people adapt to their environment. For example, in places along the ocean, people may fish for a living. In cold places, people wear more warm clothing. Weather is part of the environment of a place. Talk with your child about the ways that the weather affects her or him, such as the kinds of clothing worn or the kinds of outdoor activities done. Ask your child how the following kinds of weather would affect them: rain, snow, hot temperatures, cold temperatures, lightning, and heavy winds. Use the following steps as guidelines for making the calendar: Talk with your child about the kind of weather your area has during each month of the year. Help your child draw a picture of how the weather affects her or him each month. The picture might show the way your child dresses or the kind of activity she or he does based on that month's weather. Write the name of the month on the picture. Use yarn or brads and bind the months together in a calendar in the correct order. Display the calendar in your home. Materials Needed: construction paper or poster board crayons and markers yarn or brads for binding the pages together back to top

Grade 1 : See for Yourself

Grab your camera and your hard hats! Take your child on a field trip to a construction site in your community or in a nearby community to learn about the way people change the land. Human/Environment Interaction explains how people live in a place. It explains how people adapt to their environment and also how they change their environment. People change the land by building roads, bridges, and shopping malls. You and your child can use the following steps as a guide: Find out what used to be at the site you visit and what is being built there now. You can obtain this information by calling your local government office. Talk with your child about how this new construction might affect the environment. For example, will the new construction improve an area by providing jobs? Will the new construction displace wildlife? Will it replace a farm? Will it pollute a stream? How does the new construction fit into the environment? If possible, provide your child with a camera so she or he can take pictures of the construction in progress. If possible, return to the site when it is finished and compare the photographs to the finished construction. If a camera is not available, your child might like to sketch before and after pictures of the site. Materials Needed: hard hat (optional) paper crayons, colored pencils camera (optional) back to top

Grade 2 : Write a Story!

Tell your child to imagine that she or he is an author and has been asked by the publisher to write a story about a child who lives in one of the following environments: in mountains, near an ocean, or on a desert. Human/Environment Interaction explains how people live in a place. It describes how they change their environment. For example, people build schools, houses, and roads. Human/Environment Interaction also explains how people adapt to their environment. It describes how people use the land and how they live, work, and play on Earth. You and your child can use the following steps as a guide: Help your child choose an environment for the setting of the story. The story should include information about how the main character in the story lives, works, and plays in this environment. Your child might want to illustrate the story with drawings or pictures cut from magazines. When your child has finished writing the story, ask your child to read the story to another family member. Materials Needed: paper and pencil magazines glue, paste, or tape scissors back to top

Grade 2 : Let's Set Up Camp!

Help your child design Bear Lake Campground. Human/Environment Interaction explains how people live in a place. It describes how they adapt to their environment. For example, in cold climates, people wear heavy warm clothing. Human/Environment Interaction also describes how people change their environment. For example, people build roads, houses, and airports. A human campground also changes the environment. Work with your child to change the land near Bear Lake into a campground. You and your child can use the following steps as a guide: Work with your child to complete the map below, or make a diorama of Bear Lake Campground, using the symbols provided. The campground might include the following: trees, trails, cabins, bridges, picnic area, play area, boathouse, ranger station, first-aid station, food hall, canoes, and campfire sites. Talk with your child about why people change the environment. Ask your child to tell why people would want to make Bear Lake into a campground. Then discuss how the new campground will affect the environment. When you and your child have finished, display Bear Lake Campground for all to see. Materials Needed: map of Bear Lake Campground and symbols box for diorama (optional) glue, paste, or tape paper and pencil crayons, colored pencils, or markers back to top

Grade 3 : Urban or Rural?

Help your child make a collage that compares and contrasts Human/Environment Interaction of urban areas and rural areas. Human/Environment Interaction means how people live in their environment. Environment is the land, water, air, resources, plant, and animal life around you. How people make a living often depends on their environment. Human/Environment Interaction also explains how people change their environment to meet their needs and wants. For example, people might change a field into a parking lot, or an area with rich soil into a farm. Use the following steps as a guide to make your collage: Divide a large piece of paper or poster board in half. Label one side "Urban Areas" and the other side "Rural Areas." Talk with your child about some of the differences in the Human/Environment Interactions of urban areas and rural areas. Your discussion might include the kinds of buildings, transportation systems, homes, ways of using the land or making a living, and ways of having fun. Write your findings on a notepad. Use your notes to help you and your child find appropriate pictures for the collage in newspapers, magazines, and Internet sites. Cut out or print the pictures. Sort the pictures according to urban areas or rural areas. Paste or glue them onto the paper or poster board into a collage. Pictures of Human/Environment Interaction that are the same in both environments might be pasted so they overlap the columns. Materials Needed: large paper or poster board notepad and pencil newspapers, magazines, and the Internet scissors paste or glue markers back to top

Grade 3 : Time Will Tell

Help your child make a time line of changes that have occurred in your community as a result of Human/Environment Interaction. Human/Environment Interaction means how people live in their environment. Environment is the land, water, air, resources, plant, and animal life around you. Human/Environment Interaction also explains how people change their environment to meet their needs and wants. For example, people might change a field into a parking lot. You and your child can use the following steps as a guide: Find out about changes that have occurred in your community. You might look for information at the local library, town or city government buildings, newspapers, or local historical groups or museums. Help your child assemble the events and dates in chronological order on a time line. Your child may wish to illustrate the time line with drawings or pictures cut from magazines. You may wish to ask if the time line can be displayed in the local library, city hall, or local historical museum. Materials Needed: information about community changes paper pencil crayons, colored pencils and markers magazines scissors glue, paste, or tape back to top

Grade 4 : Learning the Three R's

Help your child make a poster showing ways for families to help the environment. Human/Environment Interaction means how people adapt to their environment. Human/Environment Interaction also means how people change the environment. Some changes are good, but some cause problems. One such problem is the increasing amounts of garbage that people in our country produce. One way to reduce the amount of garbage they produce and help the environment is to practice the "Three R's": Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. You and your child can use the following steps as a guide: Help your child learn more about the Three R's by looking for information in books, encyclopedias, magazines, and on the Internet. Use the information to help your child make a poster showing examples of how to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle to help the environment. Your child may wish to illustrate the poster with drawings or pictures cut from magazines. Share your poster with family members, neighbors, and classmates. Display the poster in your home and follow the Three R's! Materials Needed: encyclopedias, reference books, or the Internet poster board crayons, colored pens, pencils, or markers magazines (optional) glue, paste, or tape scissors back to top

Grade 4 : Changing Our World

Help your child make a scrapbook of pictures showing how people have changed the environment. Human/Environment Interaction explains how people adapt to their environment. Human/Environment Interaction also means how people change the environment. Some changes are good, but some cause problems. For example, people protect the environment by planting trees that provide homes for animals, hold the soil in place, and provide shade in hot weather. On the other hand, cutting down a forest can destroy wildlife habitats and cause erosion since there is nothing to hold the soil in place. In some cases the changes may be good but they may cause problems. For example, people might dam a river to stop flooding and erosion. At the same time, the dam may destroy wildlife habitats. You and your child can use the following steps as a guide: Help your child draw or find pictures in newspapers and magazines that show how people change the environment. Assemble the pictures on paper or in a notebook. Work with your child to write captions under each picture explaining whether the changes to the environment are good or if they cause problems. When you have finished the scrapbook, have your child share it with other family members or with friends. Materials Needed: newspapers and magazines paper or notebook for scrapbook glue, paste, or tape pencil or markers yarn or brads for binding scrapbook pages back to top

Grade 5 : Report the Weather

Help your child be a weather forecaster. Human/Environment Interaction explains how people adapt to their environment. Human/Environment Interaction describes how the environment affects people. It also explains how people depend on the environment, including the weather. For example, people depend on the warm temperatures, sunny days, and rain to grow crops. Use the following steps as a guide: Using the information you find, help your child write a script for a weather report. The weather report should incorporate what your child has learned about Human/Environment Interaction. For example, the forecast might describe the weather and how people should dress for it. If a freeze is forecasted, the reporter might tell the listeners to cover their plants that are out-of-doors. If rain is forecasted, the weather reporter might tell farmers to plant seeds to take advantage of the weather. You and your child might make a map of the United States showing the weather fronts, temperatures, and precipitation. When giving the weather forecast, your child should point out how all these aspects of weather affect people. If possible, videotape your child's performance as a weather forecaster. Share the video with your friends and family. Materials Needed: weather forecasts from newspapers or the Internet paper for the map (optional) pens, pencils, or markers (optional) video recorder (optional) back to top

Grade 5 : Build a Dam

Help your child make a diorama, or model, of one of the following dams: Rogun, Kishau, Grand Dixence, Chicoasén, Tehri, Guavio, Chapeton, Fort Peck, or Lower Usuma. These dams are examples of Human/Environment Interaction. Human/Environment Interaction demonstrates how people adapt to their environment and make changes to live in their surroundings. Use the following steps as your guide to making your diorama: Help your child do research and choose one of the dams to model. Find information, including a diagram, of the dam. Look in encyclopedias, reference books, or on the Internet for information. Help your child construct the diorama, using clay or cardboard. Have your child include an informational table of the dam with facts such as location, type, height, volume, year completed, reason for building, and how the dam changed the environment. Discuss with your child how the dam affects its environment. Share the diorama with family members and friends. Materials Needed: encyclopedias, reference books, or Internet modeling clay or cardboard box for diorama paper and pencil colored pens, pencils, markers, or paints back to top

Grade 6 : Construct a Canal

Help your child construct a model of one of the following canals: Suez Canal, Panama Canal, Erie Canal, Kiel Canal, or the Corinth Canal. Human/Environment Interaction describes the interaction of people and their environment. It tells how people adapt to their environment. For example, in places along the ocean, people may fish for a living. Human/Environment Interaction also describes how people change their environment. For example, people build bridges, houses, and roads. You and your child can use the following steps as a guide to build the canal: Research to find information, including a diagram, of the canal. You might look in encyclopedias, reference books, or on the Internet. Use modeling clay or the salt/flour recipe provided below to make a model of the canal. Make an informational table about the canalÍs features and interesting facts. Discuss with your child how the canal affects the place where it is located. If possible, display the model of the canal and the informational table in your local library. Materials Needed: encyclopedias, reference books, or Internet cardboard modeling clay or salt/flour mixture paper and pencil Salt/Flour Recipe 2 cups flour 1/2 cup salt 1 cup water 2 tsp. cream of tartar Mix ingredients together and knead. The mixture may be stored in an airtight container. back to top

Grade 6 : Impact the Environment

Work with your child to observe and record how your family members affect the environment. Human/Environment Interaction represents the interaction of people and their environment. It demonstrates how people adapt to their environment. For example, in cold climates, people wear warm clothing. Human/Environment Interaction also describes how people change their environment. For example, people build bridges, houses, and roads. Help your child keep a log of ways your family affects the environment. For example, you might record the amount of garbage your family throws away each day for a week. You can do this by weighing the garbage before you put it in the trash can. At the end of the week, add the daily weights together to get the weekly total. Then, as a family, discuss the impact of your garbage on the environment. Some questions for discussion might include: Where does our garbage go? What happens to it once it is dropped off somewhere? How does our garbage affect the environment? How can we make less garbage? Other ways you might observe and record your family's affect on the environment: Time the length of showers taken by each person in your family. Calculate how many gallons of water are used for showers or baths. Estimate the number of miles your family drives the car each week. Determine the amount of electricity used by your family each month. After all of these observations, you and your child may wish to develop a plan to reduce waste, energy, and water use. Then you can present the plan to other family members and begin working to help the environment. You can make a difference! Materials Needed: family garbage scale paper and pencil

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