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Grade Level: Kindergarten
Objective:
Students will develop a rock word web during a large group discussion.
Using the categories generated during that discussion, student will sort
their rock samples accordingly.
State Goals Met In This Lesson:
- State Goal 11: Understand the processes of scientific inquiry
and technological design to investigate questions, conduct experiments,
and to solve problems.
- Learning Standard 11A: Know and apply the concepts, principles,
and processes of scientific inquiry.
- Benchmark 11.A.1f: Compare observations of individuals and
group results.
- State Goal 13: Understand the relationship among science, technology
and society in historical and contemporary contexts.
- Learning Standard 13A: Know and apply the accepted practices
of science.
- Benchmark 13A.1a: Use basic safety practices
Background:
This lesson was introduced by reading the book, Let's Go Collecting
Rocks, in the previous lesson, "Collecting Rocks." It is
a super introduction to a unit on rocks and minerals. While not containing
a lot of in depth information, it provides a broad base of general rock
and mineral knowledge such as how different rocks are formed, uses of
rocks, and how to start your own rock collection. Students will need to
be instructed in the proper care and handling rocks for safety reasons.
Materials:
Teacher:
- Let's Go Rock Collecting, by Roma Gans
- Large piece of butcher paper for word web
- Markers
- Yarn to make sorting circles (4 - 1 foot pieces per group)
Students:
- Three rock samples collected as homework the night before
Procedure:
- Gather students for a group discussion about how the rocks they collected
are alike and how they are different. This discussion should lead you
into the making of your word web.
- The word web may look something like the following:
After completing the word web, have students break into groups of four
students. Give four pieces of yarn to each group. The yarn should be
looped into sorting circles. You may not need all four circles for each
category. Suggestion: If using yarn would be distracting for your students,
you can opt to use small 6” paper plates instead. They move with
ease.
- Each student will sort the rocks that they collected the night before.
They will sort the rocks by the categories in the rock word web, i.e.,
smooth or rough, shiny or dull, etc. Suggestion: Take the Word Web topics,
e.g.,
size, shape, texture, etc., and put each of these words on a piece of
construction paper. Place the first word on the chalkboard and discuss
it.
You can even demonstrate at a table how to sort according to that
attribute. You might want to have the students sort by each attribute
together and then when everyone is finished, move on to the next
attribute.
- Students should explain their decisions about how they classified
their rocks to the rest of the group, for example, "I put this
rock in this circle because it is smooth."
- Collect the rocks at the end of this activity to be used in the next
lesson about the uses of rocks, both past and present.
Extensions:
Extension activities for this lesson can be related to the fact that rocks
are formed in different ways, thus making rocks different from each other.
The following activities will help students see how different rocks are
formed.
- Make a Volcano
http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow1/oct98/index2.html
- Make a fossil
http://www.rogersgroupinc.com/ourcommunities/rockology/fossils.htm
- Grow crystals
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/rocks.htm
As an extension to procedure 3 above, have the students use magnifying
glasses, tape measures, and rulers for exploring and investigating one
another’s rocks.
Language Experience extension: Give each student a piece of paper with
the words: “A rock can be _____________.” (A 5X7 sheet works
well.) Ask each student to draw and color one of the rocks they brought
in (or that someone else brought in), find a word on the word web to describe
that rock, and print that word in the space provided. You can collect
all of the papers and read them to the class. You can make a book cover
and compile all of their pages into a class book. Have the class decide
on the title for the book.
Let the students listen to “Rock Music” after this lesson
is completed.
Assessment:
Teacher observation during the sorting activity will be a large part of
this assessment. Can the students accurately sort the rocks into the correct
categories? Can they explain the reasoning behind their decisions? Participation
in the word web creation could also play a role in assessing student understanding
of sorting and classifying.
Resources:
Print Resources:
- Gans, Roma. Let's Go Rock Collecting. Illustrated by Holly
Keller. HarperCollins Publishers. New York, 1997.
Internet Resources:
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