Plate Tectonics

We explored the theory of plate tectonics this week, which was a great excuse to break out the biscuits : )

We started by drawing on an orange - I explained that the surface of the earth is abit like an orange peel but unlike an orange its not made up of one piece but of lots of smaller pieces joined together called plates - we researched the main plates and they drew them onto a world map.

I then used the biscuits to demonstrate the different types of plate boundaries - convergent, divergent and tranformative and if they could demonstrate and name one they could eat it (needless to say they got them all right).

They worked with some 3 part cards and then played a game where they would do a specific hand action each time a type of boundry was called out,

My favourite hand action has to be the 'layered hands' for sea floor spreading at a divergent boundry. One child starts by pushing their hands up through the 'sea floor' person forcing their hands slightly apart, then the next child forces their hands up the middle and so on.