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9th grade · Science · Unit 24 of 28

Water, Ice & Landscapes

How water and glaciers shape the land, and why it matters to people.

What your child practices

Practices how water's properties drive weathering, erosion and deposition, how glaciers shaped New York's valleys, lakes and Long Island, and how landforms, water and hazards shape where people live and work.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: HS-ESS2-5; HS-ESS3-1 · how water's properties shape Earth's surface, and how resources and natural hazards influence where people live

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Physical weathering breaks rock, like ice wedging and roots. Chemical weathering dissolves it, like water dissolving limestone.
  2. Glaciers carved valleys and lakes and left piles of sediment.
  3. Paving land increases runoff and flooding.

Example: Water slowly dissolves limestone to form a cave. Physical or chemical weathering? The rock is dissolved, not just broken. Dissolving changes it chemically. Answer: chemical weathering

Water, Ice & Landscapes in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 24 of 28 in 9th grade Science, after Climate & Earth's Systems and before Waves & Electromagnetic Radiation.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Groundwater is stored in…

    • clouds
    • spaces between particles of rock and soil
    • the mantle
    • giant underground oceans

  2. Question 2

    Rain soaks into the ground best when soil is…

    • loose and not frozen
    • frozen solid
    • paved over
    • packed hard

  3. Question 3

    Smooth, rounded pebbles in a stream got their shape from…

    • freezing
    • being cut by people
    • volcanic heat
    • tumbling in moving water

  4. Question 4

    Paving over land usually increases…

    • runoff and flooding
    • groundwater
    • rain soaking in
    • forest growth

  5. Question 5

    A stream can carry more and bigger sediment when its…

    • color changes
    • speed decreases
    • water freezes
    • speed increases

  6. Question 6

    Which resource did glaciers leave in large amounts across New York?

    • Sand and gravel
    • Oil
    • Diamonds
    • Gold

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