Mt Rushmore Student Activity

A Learning On-Line Learning Activity by Howard Taylor

Mt. Rushmore Learning Activity: Student Guide

Mt. Rushmore

Student Jobs

If you are just doing these for fun, make them fun. Put all your finished products into a Mt. Rushmore Scrapbook. Print off a few pictures from the Internet to make your scrapbook really COOL!

If this is for school, your teacher will let you know which ones to do. Maybe you can do some with a friend or classmate. They can still be fun.

This site will give a lot of answers
For more information click here

Read a biography of Gutzon Borglum. Why do you think he chose to do four presidents instead of another theme? What was the original theme requested?	Read about Borglum's Hall of Records , built behind the heads into the mountain. What happened to that Hall? What kind of things was Borglum wanting to put into the big rock cave room? Make a cross-section diagram (or print one from the Internet) describing this mysterious Mt. Rushmore feature.

Draw and color your own "picture" or portrait of Mt. Rushmore with many details	Write a persuasive one-page paper convincing Gutzon Borglum to use each of the Presidents (he ended up using). Why do think each one was so important to be on this rock mountain?

Make up a 10 slide Power Point presentation telling the story of the building of Mt. Rushmore. Use Internet or scanned pictures to make your Power Point beautiful. Include brief text boxes to tell about each picture.	Create a Mt. Rushmore Historical Timeline displaying the years it took Borglum to finish Mt. Rushmore , including the dedication dates and details of each "head" .

Create a table or Excel Spreadsheet listing statistics of the huge sculptures (size of head features (eyes, noses, ears, mouth, lips, and other things you can think of, as well as the type of granite it was carved into	Write an expository one page paper to describe how "dynamite" was used to carve the Presidential heads (Men and Mountain), and how Borglum and his crew was able to work on the steep mountain side. .

*Plan out your own Memorial mountain-side sculpture. You can use writing (narrative style), a colorful art work (picture or sculpture).* *Consider these when planning your own GIANT MEMORIAL:* Who will be honored ? How Many will be honored? Why will they be honored? How long will it take you to carve it? How will you carve into the granite? What are you going to name your GIANT carved memorial? and How much will it cost to make it? .	Take a rest and do some "FUN" Mt. Rushmore things. After all this work, you ought to be a specialist in GIANT MEMORIALS. Go to one of our other "Patriotic Activities" and learn to do something else. You never know, it might just be that you might become a Gutzon Borglum! What do you think of that? .

Return to Mt. Rushmore Learning Activity Page

Return to Learning On-Line Learning Activity Page