Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Blackline Master #1
Station Labels
Atmosphere
Biosphere
Geosphere
Hydrosphere
Cryosphere
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 1
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Instruction Cards for Stations
Atmosphere
If you roll a: Then do this:
You breathe in Nitrogen, Oxygen and
1
other gases; STAY
You get caught in a Thunderstorm;
2
GO TO THE HYDROSPHERE
It’s raining frogs from a tornado; GO
3
TO THE BIOSPHERE
Ice Storm! Take cover! ; GO TO THE
4
CRYOSPHERE
You are driving and a mudslide from
5 excessive rain blocks the road; GO
TO THE GEOSPHERE
You hike up a high mountain and
6 notice you are short of breathe;
STAY
Biosphere
If you roll a: Then do this:
1 Your mom has another baby; STAY
You watch as deer drink from the
2
stream; GO TO HYDROSPHERE
You are ice fishing and fall through
3
the ice; GO TO CRYOSPHERE
You are flying on a plane to visit
4 Grandma; GO TO THE
ATMOSPHERE
You bury your old dog Fido; GO TO
5
GEOSPHERE
6 You get a new puppy; STAY
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 2
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Geosphere
If you roll a: Then do this:
You decided to go cave exploring;
1
STAY
You are at the Hawaiian Islands and
2 an undersea volcano emerges; GO
TO THE HYDROSPHERE
You visit the Redwood Forests; GO
3
TO THE BIOSPHERE
You climb mountain glaciers in New
4 Zealand; GO TO THE
CRYOSPHERE
You watch Mt. Vesuvius erupt ash
5 into the air; GO TO THE
ATMOSPHERE
Earthquake! Get in the door frame! ;
6
STAY
Hydrosphere
If you roll a: Then do this:
1 You are drinking well water; STAY
You are offshore fishing and hit an
2 iceberg; GO TO THE
CRYOSPHERE
You are caught in a Hurricane; GO
3
TO THE ATMOSPHERE
You are fishing in a river for salmon;
4
GO TO THE BIOSPHERE
You go and visit the Grand Canyon;
5
GO TO THE GEOSPHERE
You are swimming in the Ocean;
6
STAY
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 3
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Cryosphere
If you roll a: Then do this:
1 A new Ice Age! ; STAY
You watch as the polar ice caps melt;
2
GO TO THE HYDROSPHERE
You put dry ice into your Halloween
3
punch; GO TO THE ATMOSPHERE
You visit Antarctica and see
4 Penguins in their natural habitat; GO
TO THE BIOSPHERE
As you drive there are potholes from
5 the winters of ice on the road; GO
TO THE GEOSPHERE
While visiting the North Pole you get
6
caught in an ice storm; STAY
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 4
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Blackline Master #2
Data Collection Worksheet
You are a human interacting with the different Spheres of Earth. Begin at your first
Sphere station (write that down in row 1 in the table below). Roll the dice to find out
where you go to next. Read the directions on the dice to find out what interaction occurs
between you and the Sphere and where you go next. Fill out this information in the
table. Repeat this until the time is up or you roll 15 times (whichever comes first).
Sphere What happens Sphere Destination
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 5
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Blackline Master #3
Defining Spheres Venn Diagrams
Name:_______________________________Date:________________Period:______
1. Define each sphere (in your own words explain what that sphere
represents on Earth) in their circle and in the shared areas write in
the examples that represent the interaction you collected on your
data table.
BIOSPHERE
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH
HYDROSPHERE
CRYOSPHERE
GEOSPHERE
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 6
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Answer Key
1. Define each sphere (in your own words explain what that sphere
represents on Earth) in their circle and in the shared areas write in
the examples that represent the interaction you collected on your
data table.
ATMOSPHERE BIOSPHERE
Sphere that contains all living
Sphere that contains gases
HYDROSPHERE things
that affect weather and life on
earth
EARTH
Sphere that contains all of
Earth’s water
Frozen Portion of Earth
HYDROSPHERE
Sphere that contains the solid
CRYOSPHERE portion of Earth’s surface
GEOSPHERE
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 7
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Blackline Master #4
Graph Your Data
Use your data table to create a bar graph to show your journey and record how many
times you visited each of the spheres.
Title:______________________________________________________________
1. Which sphere did you visit the most? Which sphere did you visit the least?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
2. What are some of the similarities that you experienced between the different spheres?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Looking at your data table which interaction from column 2 represents an interaction between more
than 3 spheres? -
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
4. Give your own example of an interaction that would affect 3 or more spheres.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. Predict what you think would happen to the interactions of the spheres if you were to take away one
whole entire sphere.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 8
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Answer Key
Graph: Use your data table to create a bar graph to show your journey and record how
many times you visited each of the spheres.
Title:______________________________________________________________
1. Which sphere did you visit the most? Which sphere did you visit the least? answers will vary based on
the roll of the dice.
2. What are some of the similarities that you experienced between the different spheres? The cryosphere
and the hydrosphere are both dealing with water.
3. Looking at your data table which interaction from column 2 represents an interaction between more
than 3 spheres? Offshore fishing and you hit an iceberg; fishing is biosphere, iceberg is cryosphere,
boating is in hydrosphere.
4. Give your own example of an interaction that would affect 3 or more spheres. A horse in a field
running; horse and grass are biosphere, soil and ground are geosphere, the horse is breathing in oxygen
which is atmosphere.
5. Predict what you think would happen to the interactions of the spheres if you were to take away one
whole entire sphere. If the atmosphere were taken away, then the biosphere couldn’t exist because we
need oxygen and plants need carbon dioxide. It would also affect the hydrosphere, the water cycle
wouldn’t occur without the atmosphere.
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 9
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Blackline Master #5
Name __________________________________________ Date _________________ Period ___________
Checking for Understanding: Earth’s Spheres
1. In the picture below, a slow moving mass of ice has gradually weathered and eroded rock away
in a mountain valley. The landscape of rock has greatly changed.
Which sphere was affected in the transformation?
a. geosphere: because the cryosphere scraped rock away as it slowly moved
b. geosphere: because the hydrosphere scraped rock away as it slowly moved
c. biosphere: because the hydrosphere flooded the valley eliminating trees and plants
d. biosphere: because the cryosphere flooded the valley eliminating trees and plants
2. In 1815 a volcano erupted spewing billions of tons of ash into the sky. This ash “cloud” caused
global annual temperatures to drop below normal, causing “a year without a summer” in 1816.
Which sphere did this ash “cloud” affect to cause these changes?
a. hydrosphere: because the water in the ash absorbed the suns radiation
b. hydrosphere: because the ice in the ash caused the sun’s radiation to reflect off
c. atmosphere: because the ash allowed more radiation than normal to reach the surface
d. atmosphere: because the ash blocked more radiation than normal, not allowing it to
reach the surface
3. Which of the following situations interactions involving all five of Earth’s spheres?
a. A polar bear floats on an iceberg.
b. An alligator on the lake shore eats a bird.
c. A farmer in the rainforest growing coffee beans.
d. A glacier flows overland taking rocks and trees with it as it melts.
4. What spheres are interacting if a lengthy and severe drought affects Florida?
a. Cryosphere is eliminated, which affects the biosphere.
b. Cryosphere is eliminated, which affects the geosphere.
c. Hydrosphere is eliminated, which affects the biosphere.
d. Hydrosphere is eliminated, which affects the geosphere.
5. Majority of earthquakes occur at transform boundaries. What sphere is responsible for the
sudden jump of the Earth’s crust?
a. geosphere because the rock is sliding past each other
b. biosphere because humans mine into mountains causing the rock to crack
c. hydrosphere because the weight of moving water causes the rock to crack
d. cryosphere because as the ice melts it cracks through the ice and into the rock
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 10
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Answer Key
Name _______________________________________ Date _______________ Period__________
Checking for Understanding: Earth’s Spheres
1. In the picture below, a slow moving mass of ice has gradually weathered and eroded rock away
in a mountain valley. The landscape of rock has greatly changed.
Which sphere was affected in the transformation?
a. geosphere: because the cryosphere scraped rock away as it slowly moved
b. geosphere: because the hydrosphere scraped rock away as it slowly moved
c. biosphere: because the hydrosphere flooded the valley eliminating trees and plants
d. biosphere: because the cryosphere flooded the valley eliminating trees and plants
2. In 1815 a volcano erupted spewing billions of tons of ash into the sky. This ash “cloud” caused
global annual temperatures to drop below normal, causing “a year without a summer” in 1816.
Which sphere did this ash “cloud” affect to cause these changes?
a. hydrosphere: because the water in the ash absorbed the suns radiation
b. hydrosphere: because the ice in the ash caused the sun’s radiation to reflect off
c. atmosphere: because the ash allowed more radiation than normal to reach the surface
d. atmosphere: because the ash blocked more radiation than normal, not allowing it to
reach the surface
3. Which of the following situations shows an interaction involving all five of Earth’s spheres?
a. A polar bear floats on an iceberg.
b. An alligator on the lake shore eats a bird.
c. A farmer in the rainforest growing coffee beans.
d. A glacier flows overland taking rocks and trees with it as it melts.
4. What spheres are interacting if a lengthy and severe drought affects Florida?
a. Cryosphere is eliminated, which affects the biosphere.
b. Cryosphere is eliminated, which affects the geosphere.
c. Hydrosphere is eliminated, which affects the biosphere.
d. Hydrosphere is eliminated, which affects the geosphere.
5. Majority of earthquakes occur at transform boundaries. What sphere is responsible for the
sudden jump of the Earth’s crust?
a. geosphere because the rock is sliding past each other
b. biosphere because humans mine into mountains causing the rock to crack
c. hydrosphere because the weight of moving water causes the rock to crack
d. cryosphere because as the ice melts it cracks through the ice and into the rock
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 11
Judy McDonald, Christina Daschke Printed on 2/4/2021
Blackline Master #6
Interactions Between Earth’s Spheres Project Rubric
CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
All graphics are All graphics are
Graphics do not
related to the related to the All graphics
relate to the
topic and make it topic and most relate to the
topic OR several
Graphics - easier to make it easier to topic. Most
borrowed
Relevance understand. All understand. All borrowed
graphics do not
borrowed borrowed graphics have a
have a source
graphics have a graphics have a source citation.
citation.
source citation. source citation.
Almost all
Several spheres
All spheres and spheres and
and interactions Labels are too
interactions of interactions of
of importance on small to view OR
importance on the importance on
the poster/video no important
Labels poster/video are the poster/video
are clearly spheres or
clearly labeled are clearly
labeled with interactions were
with labels that labeled with
labels that are labeled.
are easy to read. labels that are
easy to read.
easy to read.
Less than 3
At least 7 5-6 accurate 3-4 accurate
accurate
accurate interactions interactions
interactions
Content - interactions between between
between
Accuracy between spheres spheres are spheres are
spheres are
are displayed on displayed on the displayed on the
displayed on the
the poster/video. poster/video. poster/video.
poster/video.
The poster/video
The poster/video The poster/video The poster/video
is distractingly
is exceptionally is attractive in is acceptably
messy or very
Attractiveness attractive in terms terms of design, attractive though
poorly designed.
of design, layout, layout and it may be a bit
It is not
and neatness. neatness. messy.
attractive.
Journey through the Spheres of the Earth page 12
