Land and Water

Lesson 5
Examining Earth Materials

Students will observe and record the properties of four different earth materials; gravel, sand, clay and humus while dry and while wet.

1. Grade Level Expectations:

SYSTEMS GLE 1.1.1 Understand how to use properties to sort natural and manufactured materials and objects.

SYSTEMS GLE 1.1.5 Understand physical properties of Earth materials, including rocks, soil, water, and air.

2. Concepts

3. Lesson set up and Management

Materials:

Do not have the students carry the ½ filled cup of water on the lid with the other materials. Have the student return and get the water or have another student bring the cup with water.
Make sure that the students put the different earth materials into the water cup in order suggested in the directions; first-gravel, second-sand, third-clay, last-humus.

Student Management:

Have the students write the word "properties" on top of the column above the word "Appearance" on Record Sheet 5-A.
When students observe the different earth materials dry and in the water, they frequently want to use the words, "looks like dirt." Students need to use a variety of words to describe the materials.

4. Teacher Tips

Focus on the vocabulary term "properties." Properties are usually described using the five senses (however, in science we rarely taste things).
Glue Record Sheet 5-A into the science notebooks.
Consider doing steps 1-4 on student pages "Student Instructions for Examining Earth Materials" as a center. Have the students record on the Record Sheet 5-A the dry observations of each of the 4 materials. Then do the "wet" steps (5-10) during science class.
When doing Final Activity 2 – applying the properties of the earth materials to what happened to the stream table on Lesson 4 – make sure students use their observational data from Lesson 4 and observational data from Record Sheet 5-A questions 1-4.

5. Literacy Support

Writing Support:

Brainstorm a variety of adjectives that could be used to describe the different earth materials.

Reading Support:

When comparing and contrasting the different soil components, focus on having the students finish the contrasting statements on the data page or as they describe the properties to the class to be recorded on the "Soil Properties" table in Final Activities 1. Example: Gravel is bigger than a grain of sand.
Read-aloud reading opportunity: The Story of Dunes: Sand on the Move by Roy Gallant. Chapter 1 (pages 7-12) of this book does a great job of telling how a rock becomes sand. It also tells about how the sand can reach the sea. Use after doing the activities in Lesson 5.
Independent reading opportunity: Restless Earth: Mountains by Terry Jennings. The sections in this book entitled, "“Rivers at Work" (Lesson 5) and "Glaciers" (Lesson 7) would be an excellent independent reading activity for students. The way the authors focus on the different earth materials would reinforce Lesson 5.

Math Support:

Have a few students use a graduated cylinder to carefully measure the quantities of earth materials and water into the cups for practice using a volumetric measuring tool and visualizing volume.

Last updated 05/14/2007