THE RED RIVER
GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENON

Grade Level:
4^th-8^th

Standards Integration:
Minnesota:
Grades 4-5: Social Studies: Historical Events
2. Reconstruct a historical account of an event using primary and secondary sources.
Read, Listen, and View: Interpretation and Evaluation
1. Distinguish fact from opinion in nonfiction selections.
Grades 6-8: Social Studies: Geography and Culture
1. Describing the physical and cultural characteristics.
Economics and Business: Technology Applications
1. Gathering and evaluating information from electronic sources.
Scientific Concepts and Applications: Earth Systems
4. Describing how a premise is supported by scientific concepts, principles, theories, or laws.

North Dakota:
Grades K-4: Social Studies: Social Studies Resources
4.4.1 Understand and use maps, graphs, charts, globes, atlases, and computer programs to locate and organize information about people, places, and events.
Social Studies: Geography
4.6.3 Understand how physical systems shape the earth.
Library/Technology Literacy:
4.1.2 Use information-seeking strategies.
Grades 6-8: Social Studies: Geography
8.6.2 Understand the relationship between the characteristics of various world places and regions and historical events and people.
Science: Unifying Concepts
8.1.1 Understand how models can be used to explain scientific principles
Science: Earth and Space Science
8.5.2 Understand landforms and the processes that change the surface of the Earth.

Materials:
Chocolate swirl ice cream (1/2 gallon square), cookies, M&M’s, peanuts, baking sheet or pan, plastic gloves, bowls and spoons (to be used with Activity 1).

Objectives:

	Simulate glacial activity so that students will begin to comprehend the geological formation of glacial Lake Agassiz and then the Red River Valley.
	In order to learn about Lake Agassiz, the students will rely on investigation skills.

Background:
The Red River Valley is not a river valley per se, but is set in the Red River Basin on the flat bed of the Red River Lobe of glacial Lake Agassiz. Lake Agassiz was formed about 10,000 years ago by the advance and retreat of a glacier, which was part of the continental ice sheet at the end of the last great ice age.

Pre-Visit Activity 1:
Ask the students if they are familiar with Lake Agassiz and its significance for the Red River Valley. If the students are not familiar with Lake Agassiz, challenge them to find out what it was and prepare a short report.

Post-Visit Activity 1:
The students should be familiar with Lake Agassiz and its importance in the formation of the Red River Valley. Create a glacier much like those, which once covered our region. Crumble cookies, candy, and peanuts onto the baking sheet to represent glacial till (soil and rocks picked up and moved by the force of the glacier). Remove ice cream from its container and put it on top of the glacial till to represent the glacier. Observe the marbling in the ice cream, which represents soil and rocks picked up by the glacier. Put on plastic gloves and press down on the ice cream to compact it. Notice that the glacial till begins to stick to the glacier (or be pushed along). Pull the glacier back to reveal striations where the till is pulled as the glacier retreats. Note that pressure, like compaction of the ice cream, occurs naturally due to snowfall and ice buildup. Ask the students to observe the movement of the glacier. Relate it to the way an actual glacier moved. Divide the glacier into bowls and enjoy! Source: http://www.riverwatchonline.org/education/brochure2.pdf.

Pre-Visit Activity 2:
Ask the students to discover what they understand about the glacial features of our region. Using topographic and physical maps, ask the students to list those features, which are unique to the Red River Valley. Pay special attention to the river. Ask them to find out why the Red River flows north by using resources such as books, the local geological center, or the Internet.

Post-Visit Activity 2:
The students should now have a clear understanding of why the Red River flows north. Water flows in only one direction: down. The important thing to remember is that to a river, or more precisely to the drops of water that make up the river, "down" has nothing to do with compass points -- with latitude or longitude -- only with altitude. Water flows from higher altitudes to lower ones, and the river's channel has to be steep enough to overcome not only gravity and inertia, but also friction between water currents.)  Ask the students to find out if other rivers in the world flow north. Use topographic, physical maps, and the website http://www.geocities.com/loisnotlane/rivers.html to discover more about rivers that flow north.