Elementary School Science

Input:
What is the most important content in this lesson?
To reach this lesson’s objective, students need to understand:

• There are three types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

• How each rock is formed/ where the rock comes from.

• The role of a geologist.

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How will the learning of this content be facilitated?

• The teacher will begin the class by handing out the “What I Know About Rocks & Minerals” introductory worksheet. The students will write down everything they know about rocks and minerals. The students will have about 10 minutes to complete the worksheet. Once the students have completed the worksheet, the teacher should review. The worksheets should be collected and kept with the teacher until the final lesson of the unit.

**If the teacher prefers, a poster or bulletin board can be made with some of the responses the students wrote. Throughout the unit, the teacher could go to the poster or bulletin board and discuss the responses that are associated with the lesson that had just been presented**

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• Next, the teacher should introduce the “Rocks & Minerals” Science Journals. Each student will get a journal that they will work in throughout the entire unit. The teacher should review the journals with the students, allowing them to look through the journal for about a minute or two. The teacher should also review the unit outline, which is on page 2 of the journal.

 

• After the journal is reviewed, the teacher should begin the lesson and show the video “Rocks & Minerals” (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEg_XuCMD2s). The video is about 4 minutes long and discusses the three types of rocks and how each rock is formed. After the video, begin a discussion with the students about the content presented.

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• Next, the teacher will begin presenting the information on rocks and minerals. If it is possible, project each page of the teacher’s copy of the “Rocks & Minerals” Science Journal worksheet onto the board using a projector or put into a PowerPoint document and project.  The teacher’s copy of the journal has certain words/phrases that are bolded red and highlighted. It is important the teacher explain to the students those words/phrases are to be highlighted in their (students) journal. For this lesson, the teacher should review these pages:

• Vocabulary

**The teacher should review all of the vocabulary words with the students. If the teacher prefers, a word wall can be made**

• Introduction to Rocks and Minerals

• Igneous Rocks

• “Guess the Rock” Activity

**The teacher should show the students picture of the rock, but cover up the names on the teacher copy. The students should use the chart on the previous page to help them determine the name of each rock**

• Sedimentary Rocks

• “Guess the Rock” Activity

**The teacher should show the students picture of the rock, but cover up the names on the teacher copy. The students should use the chart on the previous page to help them determine the name of each rock**

• Metamorphic Rocks

• Metamorphic Rocks- how one rock becomes another.

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• After the journals have been presented, the students will participate in the experiment “Looking at Mock Rocks”. The students should break into groups of three; the teacher should tell the students that these will be their science groups for all of the experiments in the entire unit.  The teacher should tell the students that they will act like “geologists” (review the term again if needed).  The teacher should talk a little bit about geologists and what they do. The teacher should also review characteristics (size, shape, color, weight).  The teacher will instruct the students to go to page 11 in their journals; review the instructions. Each student should be given the following items:

• Mock rock

• Magnifying glass

• Nail

• Real rock

• Goggles (optional, but suggested)

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• The students will break apart their mock rock with a nail and look at the pieces with their magnifying glass. The students will then record their observations on their sheet. Once the students have broken apart their mock rock, they will compare it with a real rock. Allow the students to work for about 15 minutes. Reconvene and discuss the experiment when the students are finished. Ask the following questions:

  • What kind of important information did you include on your observation sheet?

  • How is a mock rock different from a real rock?

  • How would you study a real rock?

  • What type of information did the magnifying glass provide?

  • What is the difference between a mock rock and a real rock?

  • What do you think the difference is between a rock and a mineral?

**An extension to this activity is to line the rocks up on a table. Give each student one of their peer’s observation sheets. Have the students go around and see if they can identify the rock from the observations**

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Closure

• After the experiment is over, the students should reconvene and the teacher should discuss the activities. The teacher should review the vocabulary words with the students and also discuss any topics from the “What I Know About Rocks & Minerals” worksheet.

• The students will then fill out the “What I Learned About Rocks & Minerals” lesson assessment.