Students will find out about Mr. McKinley. It’s the largest mountain in the United States. They will discover it’s location and altitude. They will plan a trip to climb Mr. McKinley. They will research location and means of transportation.

Connection with Curriculum

This activity may be used in Social Studies or Geography, math, and art classes.

Objective #1: Students will research the location and elevation of Mt. McKinley and the location of Denali National Park and Preserve.

Essential Element: Places and Regions.

Standard # 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.

Knowledge Statement #1: The physical characteristics of places.

Skill Set #2: Acquiring Geographic Information.

Skill #1: Locate, gather, and process information from a variety of primary and secondary sources including maps.

Theme: Place

Objective # 2: Students will show how to use maps and other geographic materials to acquire report information.

Essential Element: The world in spatial terms.

Standard #2: How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a special context.

Knowledge Statement #3: Students will know and understand how to display spacial information on maps and other geographic representation.

Skill Set #5: Answer Geographic Questions.

Skill #1: Present geographic information in the form of both oral and written reports accompanied by maps and written reports, accompanied by maps and graphics.

Theme: Place

1. Encyclopedia
2. Almanacs
3. Travel books
4. Resource books
5. Maps of Alaska
6. National Geographic magazines
7. Pictures of Mt. McKinley
8. Slides
9. Paper
10. Colored pencils or markers
11. Handouts
12. Brochures from Denali National Park

1. A month before the project have students write for pamphlets from Denali National Park and Preserve (National Park Service).
2. Students will visit our school library and the public library to collect resource books and take reference material from the internet. They will also gather magazine articles.
3. Students will check with their families and friends to wee if they have information, pictures, or slides from visits to Alaska.

1. Handout maps of Alaska and have students try to locate the mountains with the highest elevations. Also students will locate various National Parks and Preserve in Alaska.
2. Each group of three students will create a travel brochure of Denali National Park and for MT. McKinley.
3. Students will work in groups to plan a route to Denali National Park. Students will then explain their route orally. Their explanation will be accompanied by maps and written reports. They will estimate the time and mileage of their routes.
4. Students will share their brochures with the class. They will present them orally first. Then they will leave their brochures out for viewing.
5. Each group will create a model of Mr. McKinley with a 3X5 inch card of its specific statistics.

Each group will make a presentation the class. They will display their maps, brochures, and their relief model of Mt. McKinley. They will pass out their route to Alaska including the distance and the E.T.A. on the large classroom map.

1. The same procedure could be applied to the study of other National Parks in Alaska using mountains and glaciers as focal points.
2. Students could create a postcard of Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley.
3. Students could create a travel diary of their route to the park.
4. A decoupage could be created with the materials students collected from magazines.
5. The movie White Fang could be shown. Excepts from James Mitchner’s Alaska could be read to the class.
6. Students could plan a trip to Alaska with their family.

1. Student’s portfolio of their trip to Denali will be evaluated.
2. Group reports will be evaluated on the teacher’s requirements.  This would include the project model of Mt. McKinley and the 3 x 5 card with specifications.
3. Administer a quiz which would require students to mark in Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley on a blank map of Alaska.  It would also test questions pertaining to the specification statistics on the 3 x 5 card.
4. Classroom participation in a group discussion.

- the project model of Mt.McKinley
- the 3 x5 card with the specifications

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