Michigan is special for many reasons we're the only state that touches four of the Great Lakes we're the only state that has the upper and lower Peninsula and Michigan is home to the first national Lake Shore never heard of a national Lake Shore you're in the right place hi everyone I'm Miss Rogers one of my favorite places to visit is a beautiful area in the upper peninsula called pictured rocks National Lake Shore a national Lake Shore is is a special area of land that's protected by the government because it has natural features that need to be preserved this all falls under the National Park Service at the US Department of the interior in 1961 Senator Philip Hart introduced a bill to preserve or save pictured rocks because of the area's natural beauty and unique rock formations in 1966 president lynon V Johnson signed the bill that creat at the pictured rocks National Lake Shore becoming the first national Lake Shore in the entire USA I'm so glad the park will be protected for generations to come because the views there are breathtaking and there's so much to do we'll learn a lot about the Picture Rocks Lakeshore today but how can we organize connect remember and better understand new ideas and vocabulary of about the Lakeshore well one way to do this is to create and use a semantic map a semantic map is a special drawing that helps you see how different ideas or words are connected it shows how things relate to each other so you can understand and remember them better semantic maps are particularly helpful when studying stories and articles to show you how it works let's use a couple of paragraphs about out you guessed it pictured rocks National Lakeshore before we begin reading let's preview some vocabulary words Cliffs are high walls made of rock that can be found on the edges of oceans lakes or mountains vast means something that's really really big or wide like it goes on forever for instance an ocean is vast because it covers a huge area marveling means looking at something with amazement because it's really cool sandunes are big Hills made of sand they form when the wind blows sand into a pile and sometimes sandun get so big you can actually climb them now that we're clear on important vocabulary let's get into our reading Picture Rocks National lak Shore is a special place located along along the southern shore of Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula it stretches over 40 miles and is part of the largest and deepest of the Great Lakes Lake Superior this park is named for its colorful Sandstone Cliffs which rise up to 200 ft above the lake these Cliffs are famous for their stunning colors which come from the minerals in the Rock but pictured Rock's National Lakeshore is more than just Cliffs the Park also has beautiful beaches sand Dooms waterfalls and forests these natural features make it a great place for outdoor activities like hiking swimming and exploring you can walk along quiet trails through the forest visit a historic Lighthouse or take a boat tour to see the cliffs up close the beaches are filled with interesting rocks like agot Jasper and quartz that you can search for as you stroll along the Shore pictured rocks National Lake Shore is a remote and peaceful place perfect for anyone who loves nature whether you're standing on the beach looking out at the vast Lake hiking through the woods or marveling at the Towering Cliffs pictured rocks National Lakeshore is a place you won't forget what's the overall topic or central idea of this text yes pictured rocks National Lake Shore let's write that in the center of our map now I'm going to draw some branches to connect the central idea to subtopics that were in the article while I read the passage I noticed three subtopics natural features activities and location so I'll add those at the end of the branches I say subtopic because these are not the main focus of the reading instead they are smaller topics that are connected to the main idea let's go back to natural features and add in more branches with details or examples connected to this subtopic do you remember any of the named natural features you'll find at pictured rocks yes there are Cliffs beaches waterfalls and forests next let's look at the activities subtopic what are some activities people like to do at pictured rocks yes let's add hiking swimming exploring and Boat Tours now let's talk about location pictured rocks is located along Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula which are important details to remember and just like that we've created a semantic map of pictured rocks National Lakeshore will this help you you better remember important information about pictured rocks National Lake Shore a semantic map is a great tool to help you remember what you've learned and to help you better understand what you read try creating your own next time you read about an in topic maybe about another beautiful location in Michigan