Topic: Rocks- Exploratory Lesson
Standards:
2.S.1.S.1 Make observations, record and interpret data.
2.S.1.6.2 Make
observations
2.S.1.6.4 Communicate observations
2.S.2.1.1 List properties
of an object
Objectives: Students
will be able to organize the rocks they are given into categories they decide. Students will be able to learn how geologists
classify rocks.
Materials Needed: Rocks, bowl, nail, water
Gain Attention: Pull out a box that says Top Secret Science
Fun. Tell the students that today we are
all going to be geologists. (Sometimes it’s fun if you wear a lab coat. The
kids love it – Just saying)
Prior Knowledge: Ask
the students the question, “What is a geologist?”
Teacher Input: Tell
the students that a geologist is someone who studies the earth. Part of their studies is rocks. They have to
sort and identify types of rocks. They
do this by looking closely at the rocks and then putting them into categories
(you might have to remind some students what categories are). Ask the students, “What are some categories
you think geologists sort rocks? What
are the characteristics they look for?”
Write the ideas from the students on the board.
Group Organization:
Have the student work at their tables in groups of 3 or 4.
Activity One: Have the students take the ten or more rocks
that are on their table and sort them by color, size, shape, texture, or
whatever they want to do to put their rocks into categories. Walk around and observe how they sorted their
rocks. Challenge them to think of more
ways to sort their rocks (I promise they will accept the challenge). Pick a table or pair to share how they
organized their rocks. Have the children
rotate a couple (2 or 3) times so that the students can practice sorting with a
variety of rocks. Have the children go
back to their seats for more instruction.
Teacher Input: Have the guess the students guess the
different ways that geologist classify their rocks. Give them hints until they get them all. The 7 ways are:
1. Weight
2. Size:
3. Hardness
4. Texture
5. Density
6. Shiny or Dull
7. Color
At this point, you have two options.
OPTION 1:
The first option is while they are guessing the 7 ways
geologist categorize rocks, talk about each one and show examples.
Color: Show two rocks that have different color.
Size: How big is the rock?
The size of a marble? A baseball?
Hardness: Take two rocks (soft and hard) and run a nail
across it. Show that with a softer rock
you can see the nail mark. With a harder
rock, you cannot see the nail mark at all.
Texture: Show a smooth rock and a bumpy rock
Density: I had a bowl of water. I had a regular rock and put it in
water. Obviously it sank to the
bottom. Then I took pumice and I put it
into water and it floated. For my 2nd
graders I made it easy and said density was just testing the ability of the
rock to float or not.
Shiny or Dull: Show a dull and shiny rock.
Weight: I had the
students come and feel the difference of weight between pumice (or a rock
similar to the weight of pumice) and a regular sedimentary rock. I made sure that pumice and the other rock
were similar in size. This showed the
students that even though they might be the same size, they could weigh
differently.
OPTION 2:
For this option, we briefly
talked about each of the characteristics.
Then, we had 7 stations already set up in the room. Each student was able to choose a rock. Next, test and record each of the 7 categories. Have the students record their rock color, if
it was able to leave a mark when scratched by a nail, if it could float,
etc. The students were given 10 minutes
to complete this activity.
Closure: Ask the
students if they can name all 7 ways geologists classify rocks. Ask them if they were geologists would they
add anything else to list of ways to classify rocks?
Note: With Option 1, the lesson will take 30 minutes. With Option 2, the lesson will take 40
minutes.
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