The Topic:  Deserts

 Easier - A desert is a dry, often sandy place. Few plants grow in deserts because there is so little rainfall.

 

Harder - A desert is a region that supports little plant life because of insufficient moisture and dry soil. They are usually (but not always) hot, barren regions that receive little rainfall. Deserts, also called arid regions, characteristically receive less than 10 inches of rainfall per year. Deserts cover about one-fifth of the earth's surface.

 

Deserts have varied landscapes created by water and wind erosion and by deposits of silt, sand, and other sediments. And though rain is scarce in all desert regions, deserts are not total wastelands. Deserts usually have at least one permanent drainage system of dry stream beds.  

Desert USA 

http://www.desertusa.com/index.html

This ultimate desert resource lets you visit North American deserts through pictures, stories and video clips.

 

Desert Biome 

http://mbgnet.mobot.org/sets/desert/index.htm

Site has information on deserts: what they are, where they are located, and the plants and animals which live in them.

 

Deserts of Our World: A Literary Adventure 

http://www.envirolink.org/oneworld/focus/deserts/index.html

Experience the diversity and cultural richness of the world's deserts through the people who have been challenged by their uniqueness and rewarded by their remoteness. Writer contributors include Hillerman, Nichols, and others.

 

Living Desert, The 

http://www.livingdesert.org/

This is the website of a wildlife and botanical park devoted to desert habitats of the world, home to many of the world's rarest animals and plants.

Websites By Kids For Kids

Desert Animals

http://www.greeceny.com/ls/grade4/desert.htm

Learn about desert animals.Website by fourth graders.

 

Desert Explorer! (1999 ThinkQuest Project) 

http://library.thinkquest.org/28855/main.html

Here you can learn about the desert; its animals and plants, the climate and weather, the special landscape.

 

Desert at Mysterious Journey (1999 ThinkQuest Project) 

http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/desert/introf.htm

This website was designed for students to gain an understanding of the desert tropic area.

 

Desert At Earth's Homepage (1998 ThinkQuest Project) 

http://library.thinkquest.org/19679/data/deserts.htm

Here is a brief overview of the desert landform.

 

Endangered Desert Animals of the U.S. (1999 ThinkQuest Junior Project) 

http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5788/

Here you can learn about these endangered desert animal species: the ocelot, kangaroo rat, Gila Monster, prairie dog, and peregrine falcon.

 

More Deserts Websites

Desert Animals 

http://arthur.k12.il.us/arthurgs/desanim.htm

This is a links-site to lots of desert animal webpages.

 

Deserts at On the Line 

http://www.ontheline.org.uk/explore/nature/deserts/deserts.htm

Here you can learn about the world of the desert; its plant and animal life and conservation efforts.

 

Deserts: Geology and Resources (U.S. Geological Survey) 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/contents/

Investigate what is a desert, types of deserts, causes of aridity, how dunes are formed, and more.

 

Desert Survivors

http://www.desert-survivors.org/survival.html 

 

Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee Inc. 

http://www.tortoise-tracks.org/

Site promotes the welfare of the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, in the wild through the establishment of preserves such as the Desert Tortoise Natural Area.

 

Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute 

http://www.sasionline.org/

This is the website of an organization devoted to the study of and the education about arthropods in the Sonoran Desert.

 

Some Desert Trips . . .

Deserts Field Trip

http://www.field-trips.org/tours/sci/desert/_tourlaunch5.htm

Start at the trailhead and make stops along your desert trip; just like an auto tour.

Related Website:

2) Deserts Field Trip (Teacher Resources)

http://www.field-trips.org/sci/desert/tr.htm

 

Diary of Jedediah Strong Smith: The Crossing of the Great Salt Lake Desert

(From the Mountain Men and the Fur Trade site) 

http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/jed.html

Read excerpts from this mountain man's diary as he crossed the Great Salt Lake Desert.

 

Digital Desert Project 

http://www.aeve.com/digitaldesert/ddad/ddinfo.html

This site provides photographic tours of several desert communities.

 

The Desert in Bloom

http://www.desertmuseum.org/desertinfo/exh_bloom.html

Find out about desert wildflowers.

 

Desert Studies (Grade 3) 

http://www.wested.org/tales/07desert01.html

Travel along through the Sonoran Desert.

 

Websites For Teachers

Amazing Desert Dwellers at Teachers.Net (Pre-school) 

http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/277.html

In this activity, students learn about the many adaptations desert animals have made to survive in their challenging habitat. The students then use this information to invent new creatures well-suited for desert life.

 

Deserts and The Southwest United States by Stacy Perri (Grade 3) 

http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/YLP/Units/Curriculum_Units/95-96/Desert_SPerri/table_contents.html

This unit lesson plan has twelve desert lesson plans.

 

The Desert Is Theirs by Byrd Baylor (Grade K-3) 

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/desert/deserttg.html

This cyberguide outlines a plan for students, working with partners or small groups, to investigate the plants, animals and people of the Arizona desert.

 

Desert Adaptations-Water (Grade 4-12) 

http://explorer.scrtec.org/explorer/explorer-db/rsrc/783750686-447DED81.1.htm

Since it is not practical, in most cases, to take students out in the desert and leave them, this hands-on activity is the next best thing.