Slow and Fast Landform Changes Science Sort

Teach students about the formation of landforms with a SORT about Slow and Fast Changes. This Slow Change vs. Fast Change Sort is aligned with the Next Generation Science Stations for Second Grade. In this station, students will sort each landform based on whether it was created as a result of a slow or fast change.

Find more earth science resources organized by NGSS standard in the complete elementary earth science guide.

What is Included in the Slow and Fast Sort Station

Included in the Sort about Slow and Fast Changes are:

• Reading Passage about erosion, plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes
• Larger table-group color sorting cards that include a picture and description of the landform
• Smaller cut and paste sort for individual students that include a black-and-white picture
• Differentiated questions in short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and multiple-choice formats. Worksheet and task cards are included for some options.
• Answer key

Slow and Fast Changes Sort for Table Groups

There are two ways to do this sort. One way is in table groups where students look at the images on the cards, read the short description, and determine which type of change the landforms underwent: fast or slow change.

Most of the landforms are an actual place in the world. Here are a few examples of the descriptions:

• The Matterhorn is a mountain in Switzerland. Glaciers carved off its sides. Glaciers take many years to build up. They also take many years to carve mountains.
• This is a rift in Iceland. It is where two of Earth’s plates are moving apart. It has taken thousands of years for this to open up.
• Erosion can happen after a heavy rainstorm. Water carries away soil. This happens on farms where there is a slope.

There are different types of changes that students will learn about in this sort: the slow and fast changes that landforms undergo. Students will decide whether each particular landform forms from a slow or fast change by looking at the images and reading the information.

Slow and Flash Change Cut and Paste Sort

The second way to do the sort is a cut-and-paste option. Students can do both options: sort color option as a whole group and the cut and paste option individually. Or you can choose to have students do only one option.

The cut-and-paste option is all in black and white and a worksheet format. After reading the informational passage, students look at the images and then sort the cards depending on if each landform undergoes a slow or fast change. We suggest that you have a copy of the color sort available for students to reference since the worksheet sort does not have descriptions of the landforms.

Reading Passage & Differentiated Responses

Like many of our science stations, this one comes with a detailed reading passage and differentiated responses for students to demonstrate their understanding.

This reading passage goes in-depth about erosion, plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Included is an MP3 version of the text read aloud for students who struggle with the amount or complexity of the text. The audio text can be accessed via the QR code or link.

Below is an example of the Short Answer worksheet and the Fill-in-the-blank worksheet. Multiple-choice and short-answer task cards are also available for students to use with their science journals.

How to Purchase the Slow and Fast Changes Science Station

This Slow and Fast Changes Sort Science Station can be purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers. It is sold individually and part of a whole Sorts for Second Grade Science Stations. Also available is a Second Grade NGSS Science Station BUNDLE for History of the Earth.

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