The Global Travel Agency's computer crashed, and students fix the mess by sorting 16 destination clues into four climate zones: polar, temperate, desert, and tropical. The cards mix places such as the Sahara Desert and New York with weather clues and nature facts such as snowy owls and toucans. Two reflection questions follow. The sheet meets NGSS 3-ESS2-2, and the answer key places every clue and gives sample replies.
3-ESS2-2
“Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.”
The full sort, where students combine place names such as Antarctica and the Amazon Rainforest with rainfall, temperature, and wildlife clues to build a picture of each zone.
Sixteen short clues sit in a table, including "Rarely above 0°F," "Under ten inches rain," "Hot days, cold nights," Amazon Rainforest, Antarctica, and deciduous forests.
Students move each clue into one of four columns headed Polar, Temperate, Desert, and Tropical. Each zone ends up with four items.
Question 1 asks which item was hardest to sort and why. Question 2 asks students to add one new animal, plant, or weather clue to each of the four climates.
Cut-and-sort activity
Print the clue table, cut it into cards, and let pairs argue over placement. "Hot days, cold nights" starts the best debates, because many students expect deserts to stay hot all day.
Geography tie-in
Pin a world map next to the finished sorts. Students find New York, the Sahara, the Amazon, and Antarctica and check that each place sits in a sensible climate band.
Early finishers
Question 2 has no fixed answer. Students who finish fast can add two items per zone instead of one, then test them on a partner.
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