Home Geography for Primary Grades · Lesson XI · Unit 3: The shape of the land
11. Plains, prairies, deserts and oases
Goal: Your child knows a plain, a prairie, a desert and an oasis, and can describe each one and model it in a sand tray.
You'll need
- A sand tray: a baking pan or plastic tub with damp sand (or a molding board with clay or play dough)
- Bits of green paper or moss, small stones, a small dish of water, toy animals
- Optional: a free online map or globe
- A geography notebook (any notebook kept just for these lessons) and a pencil
What's in the book
The lesson starts with the level floor and playground, then imagines a much bigger level stretch called a plain, a grassy prairie (and a prairie fire), a dry desert, an oasis with date palms and a spring, a caravan of camels, and a sandstorm.
The lesson, step by step
Is it level?
Start with what is near. Is the kitchen floor level? The yard? The land you see out the window? Walk outside and look as far as you can: is the land nearly flat, or does it go up and down?
A plain
Read the first part together.
Such a broad, nearly level stretch of land is called a plain.
In the sand tray, smooth the sand flat with a ruler. That is a plain.
Prairie and desert
Read about the prairie and the desert. On one half of the tray, scatter green paper or moss: a grassy prairie. Leave the other half bare: a desert where no rain falls.
Ask: Why does the prairie have grass and the desert none? (Rain.)
The oasis
Read about the oasis. Press a small dish of water into the middle of the desert and put a little green around it.
An oasis is a fertile spot in a desert.
Ask the book's questions: What does fertile mean? When do we call land barren? (Fertile land grows plenty of plants; barren land grows little or nothing.)
The ship of the desert
Read about the caravan.
It is sometimes called the ship of the desert.
Ask: Why do travelers use camels to cross the desert, not horses? Use toy animals to make a caravan cross the tray to the oasis.
The sandstorm
Read the sandstorm part with feeling. Ask your child to tell it back: what do the travelers do? What do the camels do?
Draw a palm
The book says to find a picture of a palm tree and try to draw it. Your child draws an oasis with a palm tree, a spring and a camel.
Afterwards
On a free online map or globe, look at the Great Plains of the United States and the Sahara Desert in Africa. If you live on or near a plain, say so: "We live on a plain!"
Answers to the book's problems
A plain is a broad, nearly level stretch of land. A plain covered with grass and flowers is a prairie; a dry plain of sand, rock or gravel where little or no rain falls is a desert. An oasis is a fertile spot in a desert, with water, grass and palm trees. Fertile land grows plants well; barren land grows little; a desert is land too dry to grow much. Travelers use camels because a camel can go a long time without drinking and can carry a heavy load a long way; horses need much more water.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.