Rocks and Minerals
Lesson 3
Learning More About Rocks
Students explore the properties of rocks including igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic rocks and the rock cycle.
3. Lesson set up and Management
GLE 1.3.5 Understand that fossils provide evidence of plants, animals and environments that existed long ago.
(2) Identify a fossil in a rock
(5) Know that fossils provide evidence about plants and animals that lived long ago and the nature of the environment at the time.
(5) Observe and describe a fossil in a rock.
GLE 2.1.1 Understand how to ask a question about objects, organisms and events in the environment. (345) Asks questions about objects, organisms and events based on observations of the natural world.
- Students will learn that rocks are formed in different ways.
- Students will learn that rocks are continually changing.
3. Lesson set up and Management
Materials:
- Use the same procedure for set up as you did in Lesson 2.
Student Management:
- For students having difficulty sorting their rocks into Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic categories, provide a Geologist Rock Grouping mat.
- PROCEDURE #4
- After reading the selection it might be helpful to start a Rocks and Minerals word bank, recording and discussing the key vocabulary from the selection they read for easy reference.
Writing Support:
- Students will use their science notebooks to record new ideas and questions they have about rocks after this lesson.
- Have students write an adventure narrative for their Pet Rock from lesson 1 sharing how their rock went about some change. They should incorporate some of their science learning into this.
Reading Support:
- Student Books have a reading selection titled, "Rocks – Here, There, Everywhere." One option is to have students partner read each section, recording in their notebooks information that explains key words. Pull the class together to discuss what they learned.
- Read "Rock Around the Rock Cycle" on page 3 of Kids Discover ROCKS (the reading supplement to the kit) at the end of the lesson.
- Read Rock Collecting by Roam Gans.
Math Support:
- Create a timeline for your pet rock story.