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    Rivers

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    June is National Rivers Month. A river is a natural flow of water (usually freshwater) towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. They are an important part of our ecosystem as a source of water, food, transportation, defense, energy, and recreation. Learn more at this week’s selection of sites.

    		Rivers Resource Handout for Classroom or Homeschool: Just $2.00

    American Rivers: Discover Your River5 stars

    Learn about rivers with this collection of educational articles from American Rivers, a non-profit advocacy group. Topics include the water cycle, vernal pools, what makes a river, water conservation, migratory fish, and why rivers flood. "Rivers and creeks flood when pulses of rainfall and/or snowmelt move downstream. This causes water to overtop the channel's banks and spill onto the neighboring floodplain."



    Fact Monster: Principal Rivers of the World4 stars

    The Fact Monster almanac lists the fifty-five biggest rivers in the world, with links to additional articles about most of them. The Nile (the longest river in the world) tops the list with a length of 4,180 miles, and the Tigris is the shortest river on the list, with a length of 1,180 miles. A separate Rivers of the United States page annotates rivers 350 miles or longer, but is listed alphabetically, not by length.

    Missouri Botanical Garden: Rivers and Streams5 stars

    "From outer-space, the earth looks like it is covered with veins and arteries, similar to our bodies. The earth's arteries, however, are really a vast web of rivers and streams that channel water across the planet, from mountains to oceans." This excellent lesson for middle and high-school students covers watersheds, surface runoff, water pollution, how streams become rivers, river zones, river creatures (such as the Arrau River turtle) and hydroelectric power (dams).

    University of Illinois Extension: The All-Star River Explorers5 stars

    "Rivers are an essential part of our world. Since the beginning of time, people have traveled on them and built cities along them. Rivers have provided food as well as a source of commerce and entertainment for centuries." This multimedia exploration for third- through fifth-grade students, introduces river basics, describes their importance, and includes a section on river explorers such as Henry Hudson, and Lewis and Clark. There is a Teacher's Guide that outlines classroom activities, and a River Resource page with additional site recommendations.

    USGS: Water Science for Schools: Rivers and Streams5 stars

    This informative site for high-school students is part of the U.S. Geological Survey's Water Science for Schools project. It includes a water science glossary, hyperlinks to related pages, and a chart showing the comparative lengths of the world's major rivers. "A river is nothing more than surface water finding its way over land from a higher altitude to a lower altitude, all due to gravity. When rain falls on the land, it either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff, which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the seas."

    		Rivers Resource Handout for Classroom or Homeschool: Just $2.00



    Honorable Mentions

    The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!

    National Wild and Scenic Rivers System

    National Geographic: Rivers of the Americas

    Longest and Biggest Rivers

    Our Watershed Atlas


    Cite This Page

    Feldman, Barbara. "Rivers." Surfnetkids. Feldman Publishing. 4 Jun. 2019. Web. 16 Feb. 2025. <https://www.surfnetkids.com/resources/rivers/ >.


    About This Page

    By . Originally published June 4, 2019. Last modified June 23, 2020.

    Filed Under: Earth Sciences, Science

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