Yellowstone Mini Unit Study

I specifically planned our Geology Unit to take place right before our trip to Yellowstone because I knew it would be generally applicable, but before we went, I wanted to zero in on some specific geologic (and other) highlights of Yellowstone itself. So we had this little Yellowstone mini-unit in the week and a half before we left. 

I am generally a great advocate of learning about a place before you go there (it makes traveling so much more fun and meaningful!) but this time along with the many children's books we checked out from the library, I checked out this book for myself:

I read the first chapter and then decided maybe Death in Yellowstone was NOT a book one should read before visiting Yellowstone! :)

Here is my Pinterest board for the Yellowstone Unit.

Here's an interesting article about the magma chamber under Yellowstone

Here's a short video about Norris Geyser Basin (my favorite part of Yellowstone on our trip!)

Bison or buffalo?

Here's a cool way to build your own geyser. This works a lot like a real geyser works (not the Mentos-and-coke reaction people sometimes call a "geyser")

Video about Geysers from the National Park Service

This video explains how the rangers predict the eruptions of Old Faithful—and here's a chart to help you do the same thing

A rare cold-water geyser in Utah! The pressure in this geyser is caused by natural carbon dioxide gas in the ground. I wish we'd known about it when we were in Green River recently.

Here's an activity to help you learn about fumaroles

And of course we had to do a geyser bottle activity! The children insisted. :) We used alka-seltzer tablets for ours. You can feel the pressure on your hand before letting go!