Earth's Features Activities for 5th Grade Science

Understanding how maps represent Earth’s features is made engaging with this comprehensive 5E lesson. Students begin with interactive discussions and activities before exploring concepts through a differentiated station lab that includes hands-on experiments, reading passages in English and Spanish, research tasks, and video analysis. They demonstrate their understanding through categorization, writing, illustration, and assessments, with a bonus challenge station for early finishers. Explanation resources such as editable PowerPoints, interactive notebooks, and note-taking templates provide clarity, while student-choice projects deepen learning. Evaluation includes STAAR 2.0-aligned assessments and review materials. Designed for flexibility, this lesson is available in both print and digital formats to support diverse learners and instructional settings. The resources below will give students a comprehensive understanding of Earth's features. All of the following materials are also included in the Kesler Science Membership.

The Kesler Science Patterns of Earth’s Features 5E Lesson is a comprehensive Earth science unit designed to engage elementary students in understanding how maps represent and describe Earth’s features. It includes editable presentations, worksheets, choice projects, and assessments, all structured for differentiated, student-led learning with minimal prep. This lesson is aligned with NGSS 4-ESS2-2 and supports both in-class and virtual instruction.

The 5E Model guides the unit, starting with engaging discussions and activities. Students explore concepts through a differentiated station lab featuring multimodal input stations like hands-on experiments, reading passages in English and Spanish, research tasks, and video analysis. Output stations allow students to demonstrate understanding through categorization, writing, illustration, and assessment tasks. A bonus challenge station extends learning for early finishers.

Explanation resources include editable PowerPoints, interactive notebooks, and note-taking templates. Elaboration is reinforced through student-choice projects, while evaluation includes STAAR 2.0-aligned assessments and review materials. With flexible print and digital formats, this lesson supports all learners and instructional settings.

Engage your 4th-grade students with this student-led station lab on Patterns of Earth’s Features. Designed for hands-on and digital learning, this earth science lesson allows students to analyze and interpret map data to identify patterns in Earth’s features through nine interactive stations.

Students explore concepts through videos, readings, research, and hands-on demonstrations while showcasing their learning through illustrations, writing prompts, manipulatives, and assessments. A challenge station offers extension activities for early finishers. Differentiated passages in English and Spanish support varied reading levels, and digital versions allow for flexible learning in both classroom and virtual settings.

This modular, low-prep resource promotes active learning and critical thinking, making science engaging and student-centered.

The Patterns of Earth's Features Student Choice Projects provide fourth-grade students with multiple ways to demonstrate their understanding. A project page outlines six student-led options plus a “design your own” project, with an editable rubric for teacher, peer, or self-assessment.

These flexible and multimodal projects allow for creative expression and personalized learning. Two versions of the project page support differentiation, offering modified options for students needing remediation and opportunities for advanced learners to take on a greater challenge. Teachers can adjust the rubric to fit grading needs.

The projects require standard classroom supplies like paper, markers, and scissors, with many options available for digital completion. Some crafting materials may be useful for model-building activities.

The Patterns of Earth’s Features science writing activity engages 4th-grade students in a letter-writing exercise to reinforce their understanding of Earth science concepts. Aligned with NGSS 4-ESS2-2, this low-prep, student-centered activity enhances science reasoning and writing skills in both print and digital formats, making it suitable for in-person and virtual learning.

This resource includes teacher directions with an answer guide, project ideas, and rubrics. It offers projection-friendly and printable handouts, with full-sized and half-sheet formats for flexibility. A digital interactive version in PowerPoint, compatible with Google Slides, allows for remote or in-class completion. Ideal for cross-curricular connections, pre-test assessments, student choice projects, early finisher activities, extra credit, make-up work, and differentiation, this writing prompt encourages engagement and creativity while reinforcing key earth science concepts.

The WIKI Tickets© Earth/Space Science Set provides 33 engaging formative assessments for 3rd–5th grade science. Each topic includes five format options: a full-screen projection version, three printable handout sizes, and an interactive digital version compatible with PowerPoint and Google Slides.

Aligned with NGSS and TEKS standards, these assessments cover key earth, space, and weather science topics such as the water cycle, Earth's rotation, landscape changes over time, natural resources, and patterns of Earth's features. Some topics have multiple tickets, ensuring comprehensive coverage of all standards. A bonus table of contents file is included for easy alignment reference.

WIKI Tickets© can be used in both in-person and virtual learning environments. Students can respond on paper, interact digitally, or complete assignments remotely. These assessments work as exit tickets, bellringers, or quick checks, helping you gauge student understanding in a flexible and engaging way.

Year-Round Resources

These year-round activities will increase your students' understanding of many middle school science topics. All of these activities are also included in the Kesler Science Membership.

Visual Data & Graphing

You're not alone if your students struggle with understanding graphs, charts, and tables. It's a skill that takes an enormous amount of practice. This resource will help students build a strong foundation in analyzing data and creating their own data visualizations.

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Bell Ringers and Warm-Ups

These middle school science bell ringers are an excellent way to engage your students as soon as they walk into your classroom. This comprehensive FULL YEAR resource includes everything you need to start off each science class with an interesting warm-up activity.

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Review Board Games

Each game board has been carefully designed to keep students engaged. There are 10 different action spaces on each board and dozens of question cards. All of the actions are related to science concepts and keep the students motivated throughout the game.

Each game is ready to play. Simply print out the board and the cards and let the students enjoy reviewing nine different units.

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Essential Questions and Standards

Below are the essential questions and standards associated with the lessons and activities included in the Earth's features unit. This topic is only one of more than 100 middle school science topics included in the Kesler Science Membership.

Essential Questions

How can we use maps to represent Earth’s features?
How can we use maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features?

Standards

NGSS - 4-ESS2-2 Earth's Features