My Very Own Volcano?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Imagine that you are hiking up a mountain with your family.

Before you go farther on your hike, you notice that there are some bits of ash coming from the top of the mountain. You finally realize that you are hiking up a volcano!

Terrified, you begin to run in the opposite direction, but your family stops you and tells you that you are okay because some volcanoes release ash all the time. That means you may not be in danger of hot lava releasing from the volcano.

Relieved, you are very interested in learning more about volcanoes!

Start by watching Volcanoes for Kids | A fun and engagin introduction to volcanoes for children from Clarendon Learning:

A volcano is a hill or mountain that has an opening that goes down under the earth. Pressure builds up on the inside, and the hot melted rock under the surface comes out. It can come out in an explosion or more slowly.

When it's in the earth, the hot melted rock is called magma. When it comes out on the surface, it's called lava. When lava hardens, it forms another layer of rock around the volcano.

This drawing shows what goes on inside (and outside) of a volcano:

Most volcanoes form where tectonic plates meet.

These plates are big pieces of the earth's crust. When they run into each other or pull apart, sometimes magma from under the earth gets squeezed up.

• Did you know that not all volcanoes are found on land?

In fact, most of the volcanoes in our world are found underwater!

Just like the volcanoes we see on land, underwater volcanoes are able to create magma and erupt producing lava! An underwater eruption!

Volcanoes are a truly amazing part of our world! Let's join Dr. Jo to see what she knows about volcanoes:

Hike on over to the Got It? section to create your model and dive deeper into volcanoes . . . oops . . . study them more closely from afar!