Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet...

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Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth Deserts

Transcript of Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet...

Page 1: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

Deserts

Companion worksheets for the

BBC documentary Planet Earth

Deserts

Page 2: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

Notes.

The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing students to an array of environments, plants and animals, beautifully captured and wonderfully narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

These work sheets are a primary / elementary level companion to the show. They are designed to refine the student’s knowledge of the geography and environmental diversity of the world presented in the series, build map reading skills and build an appreciation for the diversity of life on the planet.

The link below is to the discovery channel page.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/animals/animals.html

Page 3: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

Task 1 Planet Earth

Before watching ‘Deserts’ get started with the tasks below.

Using color pencils:

1. Draw a line across the map to represent the equator. Try it in pencil first and then finish it off with a red color pencil.

This website will help you find the right place for your red line

http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/k9mod/mapskill/mod3fl5.swf

2. With a blue color pencil lightly and carefully color the oceans, seas and largest lakes of the world. You can label the oceans if you’d like!

3. Now take a look at your world and list the continents and major islands the equator passes through. There are only four! ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

4. Find and color the Gobi desert using a tan or yellow color pencil. The Gobi is a large desert on the border of Mongolia and China. That is where we will begin our journey! Let’s Start.

Page 4: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing
Page 5: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

The Gobi Desert

What is the name of the twin humped camel able to survive the harsh climates of the Gobi desert?

_________________________________________________________

Why is the Gobi desert one of the harshest in the world?

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00:00:00 ~ 00:05:20 Task 2

Listen Carefully!!

1. Why can Bactrian Camels travel away from water holes in winter? _______________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

2. How many Bactrian camels live in the Gobi desert?

_______________________________________________________________________

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Task 3 The Himalayas

The Himalayan mountain range is the world’s highest. The long chain of snowy peaks includes mountains over 8000 meters high, such as Mount Everest and K2. Using a brown pencil color your world map to represent the Himalayas! Check out the pictures below to help you find them on your world map & to see how this beautiful and very tall range was created. Use a red felt tip pen to draw on your map the route India took on its way to Eurasia.

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Task 4 Rain Shadows 00:05:21 ~ 00:06:00

In the video David Attenborough explains why the gobi region is a desert. Very little rain falls on the gobi desert because of the Himalayan mountains.

After watching the section of the video explaining this problem look at the pictures below and in your own words explain what a “rain shadow” is.

Page 8: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

Rain Shadows Explained by ___________ ___________________________________________________________________

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Draw your own rain shadow diagram.

Page 9: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

Task 5 The Sahara DeSerT

Find and color the Sahara desert on your world map. Try to match the colors to the picture below. Be sure to add the Nile River as a thin blue line! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara Using the link above for help list the 11 Saharan countries that people live in…

______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

00:18:45 ~ 00:22:20

Task 5 & 6 00:06:01 ~ 00:07:15

Page 10: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

Task 6

How big is it?

We know that the Sahara is the biggest desert in the world, but how big is it really? After you write the names of the countries pictured on the right choose the country that is closest in size to the Sahara! Look at a world atlas for help naming the countries.

a) ________________________

b) ________________________

c) ________________________

So which one is it?

On your world map color the country that is about the same size as the Sahara Desert!

a

b

c

The Sahara is the world’s largest source of …

_____________________ and _________________

Fact:

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Task 7 00:07:16 ~ 00:12:02

0

A Sea of Dunes : a dune is a hill of sand built by wind.

The wind blows desert sands and piles it up

as hills like the one in the picture.

In what country can you find the largest sand

dunes in the world?

____________________________

How high can a sand dune get?

⊗ 3000 meters

⊗ 300 feet

⊗ Three hundred meters

How do you make more sand? The beautiful rock formations in Egypt’s White Desert are cut by tiny, hard grains of sand being blown against them over

many years. The sand slowly cuts tiny

grains off the rocks, which then become sand. themselves.

This is called Erosion.

Whole mountains can be eroded.

Fill out the equation below.

Strong winds + hard sand hitting rocks = More ____________

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Animals in the Sahara! Task 8 Did you spot the animals living in the Sahara Desert. Draw and name three of the animals you saw in the boxes below…

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Task 9 The Desert Sun 00:12:03 ~ 00:14:22

The Arid Outback…

The desert sun is very strong. We know that many deserts are very hot dry places with little rainfall. The continent pictured to the left is the driest continent in the world. Very large parts of this continent are called ‘Arid’ and ‘Semi-Arid’.

What is the name of this continent?

____________________________

A semi-arid area sees some rainfall, and small plants called shrubs and grasses do grow.

What do you think the weather is like in an arid area?

____________________________

____________________________

On your world map label and color this continent, using the same colors shown in the picture.

What’s the temperature?

During the summer, in the deserts of this continent, out in the open, ground temperatures during the day can rise to…

That’s the same as 158°F

°C

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Task 10 Desert Life 00:14:23 ~ 00:18:40

Can you name the Australian animal in the

Picture?

___________________________

It gets very hot in the desert. What are two ways these animals keep themselves cool during the hottest part of the day?

_________________________________________________________________

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Meanwhile Back in the Sahara…

Avoiding the heat

Fennec Foxes have a different way of staying

Cool. Like many desert animals they only

come out at ______________________!

Animals that only come out at night are “nocturnal”. Can you name two other nocturnal animals living in the Sahara Desert?

1. __________________________ 2. ___________________________

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Task 11 The Driest Desert in The World

The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a 1,000 km strip of land on the Pacific coast of Chile. It is the driest desert in the world. Go to your world map and color the Atacama using Color pencils that match this photo. Why is the Atacama Desert known as the driest Desert in the world?

⊗ It never rains ⊗ In some places it rains only every 50 years ⊗ All of the rivers dried up ⊗ Nobody knows

Even though the desert is dry animals do live in certain areas of the Atacama. The Guanaco for example. What animals are the guanacos related to? ________________________________________ Where do guanacos find water in the desert, how do they get it? ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________

00:18:41 ~ 00:19:41

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Task 12 Atacama Cacti So the guanacos eat cactus fruit to get

Water. How do the cacti survive

Without rain?

Watch the video carefully and try to

Explain how the cacti survive in such a

dry desert. You can draw a picture to

show what happens.

Explain & Draw!

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Besides guanacos, what other animals benefit from this?

______________________________________________________________________________________

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00:19:42 ~ 00:22:57

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Task 13 The Sonoran Desert & Saguaro Cactus

The Sonoran Desert is in the state of Arizona. In which country is the state of Arizona?

____________________________________

After you find the answer go to your world

map and color that country. Color the area

of the Sonoran Desert a different color first!

00:22:58 ~ 00:24:57

After a rain storm in the Sonoran Desert what happens to the saguaro cacti?

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

Unscramble the words to complete the sentences.

l a i G g S a r a o u

_____________ woodpeckers have a brown face, black and white striped back, and white wing patches. Adult males have a red cap of feathers on their head.

They like to nest in ___________ cactus plant trunks.

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Task 14 The long Nosed Bat Migration

The Long Nosed Bat escape the summer

heat and migrate north to the United States.

To do this they must cross the Sonoran Desert.

Most of the year it is too dry to fly across a desert

so they wait for the Saguaro Cactus flowers to bloom.

This happens at night, luckily for nocturnal bats.

Why do they need the Saguaro Cactus?

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What is a migration? What are some reasons animals migrate?

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Look at the map below. Find the area where Long Nosed Bats usually live.

What country is this? ______________________________

Color and label your world map to show the area in which Long Nosed Bats live before their migration north.

00:24:57 ~ 00:27:36

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Task 15 Canyons

A canyon is a beautiful land form often found in arid areas. The largest canyon in the world is located in the United States of America. It is called “The Grand Canyon”. Check out the Grand Canyon on Google Earth! Canyons are usually formed by rivers slowly eroding a deeper and deeper path into the ground. The cliffs are made of harder rock types that are resistant to erosion. Wind and the water from a river combine to cut away less resistant types of rock, like limestone. Freezing and expansion of water as ice also helps form canyons. Water seeps into cracks between the rocks and freezes, pushing the rocks apart, eventually causing large chunks to break off the canyon walls.

Erosion What do you think this word means?

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______________________________________ 00:27:37 ~ 00:28:50

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Task 16 Life in Deserts

Broadley's _____________________live in South Africa. They are very colourful and able to make impressive leaps, a technique they put to good use in catching black flies as they swarm overhead.

Find and colour South Africa on your world map.

The _____________________ is a desert-dwelling goat species found in mountainous areas of Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Sudan.

Find and colour the countries listed, on your world map!

00:28:50 ~ 00:35:21

Nam

e Them

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Task 17 Life in Deserts cont…

Can you find and colour Namibia on your world map?

These ________________________________ walk up to how many miles a day to find food?

⊗ 50 kilometers

⊗ 15 miles

⊗ 15 kilometers

⊗ 50 miles

These desert Oryx have a difficult life, but one animal makes life here just that little bit more dangerous. What animal hunts the oryx?

__________________________________________________________

00:35:21 ~ 00:42:10

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Task 18 Life saving flash floods

Flash floods are caused by rain falling in mountains far away. The rain runs down the mountain and out into the desert. The river of water the flash flood creates does not last long, sinking into the sand quickly, but they do provide life saving water to plants and animals in the desert. Flash floods don’t happen often, but when they happen the animals are quick to take advantage.

In the Nambian desert how does a flash flood help the desert lions?

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00:42:11~ 00:45:00

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Death Valley

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Record high °C 31 36 39 44 50 53 57 53 51 45 37 31

Average high °C 19.4 22.9 27.8 32.5 38.1 43.3 46.9 45.9 41.4 33.8 25.1 18.4

Average low °C 4.4 7.9 12.7 16.7 22.6 27.3 31.1 29.8 24.2 16.4 8.9 3.5

Rain (mm) 9.9 13 7.6 3 0.8 1.3 1.8 3.3 5.3 1.8 4.6 7.6

What is the hottest month of the year in Death Valley? ________________________

What was the highest ever recorded temperature in Death Valley? ______________

What is the average (high) temperature in the desert during May? _______________

Which month has the lowest average (high) temperature? _____________________

Which month has the most rainfall? _______________________________________

Which month has the least rainfall? ________________________________________

Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America.

Check the temperature and rainfall information below and answer the questions.

00:45:00 ~ 00:46:10

Page 24: Deserts - WordPress.com · Deserts Deserts Companion worksheets for the BBC documentary Planet Earth. Notes. The Planet Earth series produced by the BBC spans the globe, introducing

Task 20 The Desert Swarm

Normally, the desert locust is a solitary insect that lives in desert regions of northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and western India. During that solitary time (green area on map), locust populations are low and present no danger to crops. After long droughts and rain returns to the desert, the increased vegetation allows waiting locust eggs to hatch. Billions of locusts may eventually meet up and feast their way across the land - eating the new desert vegetation before moving with the wind to consume everything in their path (the yellow area).

This is called a locust plague.

How long can desert locust eggs survive underground?

________________________________

What is a very large group of locusts called?

________________________________

When many of these groups meet up and start to eat everything they find what do we call this event?

_________________________________

Name one desert you have studied that lies within the green area in the map above.

_________________________________ 00:46:10 ~ 00:50:00