Your assignment: Using the following websites and other sources available to you in science class, you will prepare a presentation on one of the four regions of California-desert, coastal, mountain, or valley--using one of the project ideas listed here. Your project will need to include the essential information listed at the bottom of the page: Project Essentials

Resources

Habitats of California http://www.laspilitas.com/comhabit/habit.htm

Sierra Club-California Coasts http://www.sierraclub.org/habitat/ecosystems/plover.aspx

California Coastal Ecological Resources http://ceres.ca.gov/ceres/calweb/coastal/livingres.html

California Desert dot Gov http://www.californiadesert.gov/conservation.php

National Geographic Kids: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0801.html#special

California Coastal Geography: http://ceres.ca.gov/ceres/calweb/coastal/geography.html

Backyard Nature : http://www.backyardnature.net/sierras/index.htm

California Research Bureau: http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/97/09/#Heading2

Ms. Little also has several resource books on the regions of California in her room.

Project Ideas

•You are a sprite writing a letter to Mother Nature asking to create a new region in the world--coastal, desert, valley, or mountain. Convince Mother Nature why we need this region and why it will be helpful.

•You are an early Californian explorer--you have just discovered one of the regions. Decribe and illustrate some of its features in your journal.

•You are a newspaper reporter--doing a report on one of the regions you have just visited.

•You work for the California Visitor's Bureau and your job is to make a visitor's brochure to attract people to visit a certain region of California.

•You are a Hollywood director and you want to convince the producer that your region has the most to offer as a site for a movie.

•Create a concentration matching game for the features, animals, plants, climate, and geography of a region. (Picture and short description)

•Create a detailed diorama of a particular region. Have a schematic labeled to show what you have included.

•Create a poster of a model region--what it should include, descriptions, and illustrations.

•Write a picture book about one of the regions so a young child might learn more about that region.

•Make a mobile for one of the regions. Describe what you have produced either separately or incorporated in some way.

•Make a cube with 6" faces that displays the features of your chosen region and write descriptions and illustrations on each face of the cube.

•Make a collage of one of the regions. Have a schematic which describes what is in your collage.

Project Essentials:

Whatever presentation model you choose, you must show evidence of the following:

•3 to 5 qualities that describe the climate of your chosen region.

•5 qualities to describe the geography of your chosen region.

•Tell about water availabilty for your region.

•5 natural food sources for creatures of that region.

•7-10 major creatures that exist mainly in your area. Include at least one critter from each category--animals, birds, arthropods, and fish.

•5-7 major plants that are important to your region.