• Mount Rainier peeks through clouds, viewed across subalpine wildflowers and glacial moraine.

    Mount Rainier

    National Park Washington

String A Volcano

A view of Mount Adams from Mount Rainier.
A view of Mount Adams from Mount Rainier. Both mountains are part of the Cascade Range.
NPS Photo
 
Overview: Most of the world's active above-sea volcanoes are located near convergent plate boundaries where subduction is taking place. Through books and online research, students will summarize and transfer information onto the mobile volcano pieces for Japan and the Cascade Mountain Range. Students then should be able to compare and contrast the history and major features of the volcanoes. This lesson is adapted from USGS Living with a Volcano in Your Backyard curriculum.
Grade Level:
 5+
Objectives: Students will:
  • Become familiar with important aspects about each of the 20 volcanoes
  • Identify sources of information about Cascade and Japan Arc volcanoes
  • Summarize main ideas to compare facts
Lesson Plan:
 String a Volcano - word, 45KB
String a Volcano - pdf, 139KB
Resources: String a Volcano Cascade Cards
String a Volcano Japanese Cards
String a Volcano Japanese Volcano Background Info

Did You Know?

Visitor exploring the former Paradise Ice Caves.

For many years, the Paradise Ice Caves were a popular attraction at Mount Rainier.  Until the 1980s, visitors could explore passages within the Paradise Glacier which had formed due to seasonal melting of the ice.  By the early 1990s, climate change had melted away the last traces of the caves. More...