Iceland
Grades 1+
Feel the ground or the floor under you. Think of it as part of a continent. Feels solid, doesn’t it.
Except it’s not.
The Earth has a crust. It is like icing on a cake, except the cake is round.
The icing is made up of pieces that move as the cake shifts. We call those pieces of icing tectonic plates.
The tectonic plates bump into each other. When they bump, the process forms mountains. When mountains form one after the often, the result is called mountain ranges. When the pieces separate, it forms deep cuts in the Earth, called rifts.
Iceland Activity 1
Your teacher will give you a copy of a world map with the continents outlined. Continents are huge pieces of land. There are seven of them.
They continents are easy to remember. Pretend you are playing hide and seek. You’re “it.” Instead of slowly counting 1 to 10 while everyone hides, you slowly say:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 …
A
A
A
A
North
South
E – You’re it!
TROUT SHOUT!
Yell the list!
Again!
Again! This time hit your desk.
Again! Hit your desk harder!
Those stand for:
Africa
Antarctica
Asia
Australia
North America
South America
Europe! (You’re it!)
TROUT SHOUT!
Yell the continents!
Again!
Again! This time hit your desk.
Again! Hit your desk harder!
Iceland Activity 2
Carefully cut out the continents. Fit them together. You can do that because at one time all seven were one continent, which we call Pangea. Then they slowly and steadily drifted apart, inch by inch, in a process we call continental drift. You can witness that here: [INSERT BRIEF VIDEO OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT]
♦
Which brings us to me.
I am Iceland, born from that massive tearing of the world. Volcanoes rose out of the ocean. They erupted and became me!
I am Iceland. I am mostly free of ice.
My neighbor to the northwest is Greenland. It is mostly free of anything green!
I am right where two tectonic plates are separating.
I am a young island. Just a kid. I formed about 20 million years ago. Hey, that’s young for a big piece of land!
In Iceland, you can see the tectonic plates playing. They are separating. The rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs through me. Lava flows every few years.
♦
I am called the “Land of Fire and Ice.” I am at the edge of the Arctic Circle. I have over two hundred volcanoes and many geysers, and many hot springs. 
Most people live on a narrow coastal strip, in the valleys, and on the plains. They especially live in Reykjavík (Ray-ka-vik), the capital.
Why isn’t there a lot of ice on me, since I’m so far north? That’s because of the lava and the underground heat.
Sometimes those heat water underground and forms steam, like from a tea kettle or coffeepot. Icelanders use that steam. It creates what is called geothermal energy. They heat their houses and industries with it.
And they soak in the hot springs that result from geothermal activity. They are so popular that people call them “People’s Pools.” They help people relax. And because the pools contain minerals, especially sulfur, the pools also helps people stay healthy. 
[pic showing the particles hitting earth’s magnetic field]
♦
I’m also the island of the midnight sun and the aurora borealis. Imagine playing baseball at midnight if you wish. During winter, you and your friends can watch beautiful green, pink, and purple hues of the Northern Lights, which are caused by the sun’s rays hitting earth’s magnetic field. They dance and swirl across my night sky. [BRIEF VID OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.]
Iceland Activity 3
Match the word and the definition.
1. _____ Continent a. The top layer of the Earth.
2. _____ Continental drift b. Huge sections of the Earth’s crust
3. _____ Crust c. When water under pressure shoots from the ground
4. _____ Geothermal d. Pools of hot water created by water heated underground
5. _____ Geyser e. Formed when tectonic plates split apart.
6. _____ Hot springs f. A gigantic continent
7. _____ Mountain ranges g. Energy created by heated underground water
8. _____ Northern Lights h. When Earth’s landmasses move apart from each other
9. _____ Pangea i. Formed when tectonic plates crash into each other
10. _____ Rifts j. A section of a tectonic plate that is above the sea.
11. _____ Tectonic plates k. When high-energy particles from the sun hit Earth’s magnetic field. In the north it is called the aurora borealis.
——-
*Teachers of grades 1-3 might consider skipping this activity or else doing it as a class.
Iceland Activity 4
Use the noun and verb tests to find out which of the following are nouns and which are verbs.
Noun tests Verb tests
The ___________ OR The __________ named ___________. Sbe _______. They ____________ .
1. think | 3. Pangea | 5. icing | 7. oceans | 9. midnight |
2. is | 4. live | 6. brings | 8. rays | 10. Iceland |
Iceland Activity 5
Use the noun and verb tests to find out which of the following are nouns, which are verbs, and which are both. If they are both, they will fit in at least one noun and one verb test.
Noun tests Verb tests
The ___________ OR The _______ named _________. She ____________. They ____________
|
1. bump |
2. continent |
3. heat |
4. rose |
5. ice |
6. imagine |
7. people |
8. cuts |
9.cake |
10.world |