Mountain on the Rise

• Worksheets:
  • "White Mountain National Forest Quarter"
  • "Mountains Arise"
  • "Mountains Arise Key"
  • "White Mountain Comic Strip Rubric" (1/2 page per student)
• Age-appropriate, relevant Web sites, such as:
  • White Mountain National Forest Web site: www.fs.usda.gov/whitemountain
  • www.ready.gov/kidsfun-games/comic-strips
  • Geological Origin of the New England Chain: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03mountains/background/geology/geology.html

Worksheets

Worksheets and files (PDF)

1. Display and examine the "White Mountain National Forest Quarter" page. Locate this national site on a class map. Note its position in relation to your school's location. Tell the students that the front of a coin is called the "obverse" and the back is called the "reverse." Explain to the students that the United States Mint began to issue the quarters in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program in 2010. By the time the program ends in 2021, there will be a total of 56 designs. Each design will focus on a different national site—one from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia.
2. Read the coin information on the White Mountain National Forest Quarter page and examine the design using the zoom feature. Explain to the students that Mt. Chocorua is located in the White Mountains, which is part of the Sandwich Range and the Appalachian Mountains.
3. Introduce to the students the concepts of plate tectonics and magma intrusions. Have the students research the process for the formation of mountains and mountain ranges, particularly Mt. Chocorua and the White Mountains of New England. Have the students record the steps in the formation of the mountains on the "Mountains Arise" worksheet.
4. Share some examples of comic strips with the students. Have the students create a comic strip illustrating the formation of the mountains. Emphasize the importance of creative storytelling in the comic strip while conveying the facts.

Use the "White Mountain Comic Strip Rubric" to evaluate whether the students have met the lesson objective.