LATIN AMERICA: CLIMATE AND VEGETATION

THE LAND OF LATIN AMERICA Essential Questions: How has physical geography affected where people have settled in Latin America? Learning Target: IWBAT explain how the climate has influenced where people live in Latin America. Formative Assessment(s): Name five important landforms in Latin America. Explain why these landforms are important.

BELLWORK What kind of climate do you think you would find in Latin America? What kind of weather would go along with these climates?

BELLWORK Climate Tropical Dry Midlatitude Weather hot wet/dry Mild weather (temperate seasons)

LLAMA FUN FACTS Llamas are native to the South American Andes. They were first imported into the United States in the late 1800s for display in zoos. Llama dung makes great fuel—and fertilizer. In fact, it may have helped the Incans grow corn and survive in the Andes. Llamas can reach speeds up to 35 miles per hour.

CLASSWORK TOGETHER, read about Elevation and Climate on page 208 Write and answer the following questions in your notes: 1.How is a vertical climate zone different from a climate region? 2.What are the two highest vertical climate zones? 3.What grows well in the tierra fria? 4.What crops are grown in the tierra templada? 5.What grows in the tierra caliente?

RAINFOREST FUN FACTS The trees of a tropical rainforest are so densely packed that rain falling on the canopy can take as long as 10 minutes to reach the ground. 1 out of 4 ingredients in our medicine is from rainforest plants. The Amazon Rainforest gets an average of 430 inches of rain every year, with no apparent wet or dry season. The trees of a tropical rainforest are so densely packed that rain falling on the canopy can take as long as 10 minutes to reach the ground.

CLASSWORK TOGETHER, read about Climate and Vegetation on pages Write and answer the following questions in your notes: 1.Which climate region covers the majority of South America? 2.What is formed when trees grow closer together? 3.What does the Amazon Rain Forest have more of than anywhere else on earth? 4.What areas have a tropical dry climate? 5.Which country contains the Atacama Desert?

ATACAMA DESERT FUN FACTS The Atacama Desert in Chile is over 50 time’s drier that Death Valley in California. The desert covers over 40,600 square miles and is mostly comprised of salt basins, lava flows, and sand. The average rain fall in the region is just one millimeter per year. Some weather stations in the desert have never reported any rainfall. The weather is so arid that even the mountain peaks that reach over 6,500 meters have no glaciers. Soil samples on Mars are similar to samples taken from the Chile, South America desert. NASA uses the location to test Mars instruments for future missions to the red planet.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT Name the five vertical climate zones in order from lowest to highest elevation Tell me one fact about each zone.