Layers of the Earth
While learning about the layers of the Earth, my seventh grade students created model Earths last year. The model demonstrates that there are four main layers of the Earth: the crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core. The students enjoyed this mini-project because they absolutely loved to paint! The only materials that were needed for this project were Styrofoam balls, which I cut a slice out of prior to the activity, and paint. We used a separate paint color for each layer of the Earth to make it easy to differentiate between the different layers. This year, I will be using Styrofoam semi-circles, so I will not need to make any cuts. I will post pictures of these new models later next week. 

This picture shows the Earth's first layer, the crust. 

This picture shows the three inner layers: the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core.