River Jugglers

Grade Level:
Elementary

Subject Areas:
Reading, Social Studies,

Setting:
Classroom

Skills:
Observing, memorizing,
applying, presenting

Prior Preparation: Read to the
class "A River Ran Wild" by
Lynne Cherry or "The River" by
David Bellamy or another book
about rivers and their
historical significance. Explain
to the students that all rivers
have a history and they will be
learning about the rivers in
South Dakota and their
history.

Vocabulary:
none

South Dakota Education
Standards for 4th grade:
Reading
4.R.1.1; 4.R.1.2; 4.R.2.1
Social Studies
4.G.2.1

Objective: Students will become familiar with names and stories of rivers in South Dakota.

Materials: 23 River Jugglers River Story Cards (1 per student), State of South Dakota 1:500,000
scale map, small ball such as tennis or ping pong balls (suggestion is to wad up a piece of paper
to use as a ball)

Background: South Dakota has a total of 10,298 miles of rivers and major streams. Many of
these waterbodies were named by the Native American population that inhabited the state.
Some were named by Canadian hunters and trappers. Some were named and then renamed by
the residents who lived around them.

Procedure:
Give each student a River Jugglers River Story Card. Note: if your class has more than 23
students, form several small groups of "twins" or "triplets" and give each group one River
Jugglers River Story Card.

Laminate the State of South Dakota 1:500,000 scale map.

Give each student an opportunity to find his/her river on the map.

Next, have students read over their story card. Have them find or make some type of identifier
that they can use when playing the game. For example, the student with "White River" may want
to make a white circle and place it on his/her shirt. The only stipulation to creating/displaying
"props" is that the name of the waterbody cannot be written on the identifier.

After students have made their "props", have them sit in a circle on the floor. Students then
introduce themselves as "Mike White River", "Katie Big Sioux River", etc. depending on the name
of their story card river. With twins and triplets, they can introduce themselves as "Mike and
Katie - we're the Elm River twins" or "Sam, Don and Bill Redwater River - we're triplet's". Make
sure that twins and triplets use the same props to identify themselves.

Begin the game by saying the person's name and waterbody as you toss him/her the ball. That
player tosses the ball to another player, calling out his/her name and waterbody.

Continue until everyone has had the ball at least once.

Now speed up. When this gets easy, add one or two more balls.

Extensions:
Have students carefully examine the map. Assign each student a county and have them make a
list of all the waterbodies in their county. Next have each student write and illustrate a
historical story about one of the waterbodies in their county. Encourage them to be very
creative. Share all the stories with the class and then with their parents at a parent-teacher
conference.