GIVE ME A CLUE!
Karen Franz
Woodrow Wilson Elementary
Manhattan, KS
 
 
Overview:
Kansas is divided up into 12 river basins. Students will learn the name and location of each river basin by creating individual clue cards. Students should have a working knowledge of cardinal and intermediate directions before writing their clue card.
 
Grade Level: 3-5
 
Outcome:
Students will know the definition of a river basin, the name of the basin they live in, as well as the names and locations of the 12 river basins in the state of Kansas.
 
Geographic Theme: Location
 
Kansas Social Studies Standards For Benchmarks (5-K):
The students will understand the connections among people, places, and environments in the local school and community, Kansas, the U.S., and different nations of the world.
 
National Geography Standards:
#1 The geographically informed person knows and understands how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process and report information from a spatial perspective.
 
Performance Objective:
The student will create a clue card, giving information about one of the river basins in Kansas.
 
Vocabulary:
river basin intermediate directions
watershed reservoir
cardinal directions  
 
 
Materials Needed:
 
Procedure:

1.

Before working on the clue cards, review cardinal and intermediate directions, as well as the definitions of water shed, water basins, and reservoirs. For each clue card, students will need access to the Kansas River Basins map (attached), as well as each individual basin map (see Appendix).

2.

Choose a river basin, and locate it on your Kansas River Basins map.

3.

Write your river basin on the back of the note card. Write your clues on the front of the note card.
 Clue 1  List one state that your river basin borders (OK, NE, MO, CO)
 Clue 2  Tell if you basin has a reservoir
 Clue 3  Give a cardinal direction from another basin
 Clue 4  Give an intermediate direction form another basin
 Clue 5  Name a river that runs through your basin
 Clue 6  Name a city in you river basin
Examples Clues For The Verdigres Basin
 Clue 1  My basin borders Oklahoma
 Clue 2  My basin has a reservoir
 Clue 3  My basin is south of the Kansas-Lower Republican Basin
 Clue 4  My basin is southwest of the Marias des Cygnes Basin
 Clue 5  The Fall River is in my basin
 Clue 6  The city of Independence is in my basin

4.

When students are finished writing clues, they may switch cards with a neighbor for proofreading to be sure all clues are correct. Finished cards may be glued (at the top) to a half piece of construction paper, which has been decorated with water symbols. Cards may be used as an interactive bulletin board, learning center activity, or as a class-exchange-a-card activity.
 
Assessment:
A student will correctly give clues to the river basin that he/she has chosen. A student will be able to identify river basins from other clue cards.
 
Extension:
Depending on the age and ability of the student, clue cards may be made by students working individually, in pairs, or in small groups.
 
Resources:
“Kansas Water Office” Inter net. Map of Kansas River Basins. (Jan. 1996) Appendix of the Kansas Water Plan Summary, Kansas Water Office.
     

 

 
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e-mail: pphillip@fhsu.edu