Rocks-Soil and Literacy

Rock Hunt/My Rock Story Name: Sarah Weinstein Date: October 20, 2011 Grade Level/Subject: 3rd grade/Rocks
and Soil unit (incorporating literacy) Prerequisite Knowledge: Students will have previous experience with rocks and soil from the past lessons in this same unit. Students must understand that rocks are made up of minerals that occur naturally in our earths crust. Students must know that all rocks are different from one another in hardness, color, shape, size, luster, texture, etc. Approximate Time: 90 minutes Student Objectives/Student Outcomes: -Students will acquire background knowledge of rocks, how they are formed and how they are used. -Students will collect and examine rocks and record information about the rock. -Students will make predictions, through writing, on how their rocks were formed, where they came from, etc. -Students will classify their rock after extensive observation and prediction. Illinois Standards: -11.A.1b Develop questions on scientific topics. -11A.2b Collect data for investigations using scientific process skills including observing, estimating and measuring. -12.E.2a Identify and explain natural cycles of the Earths land, water and atmospheric systems - 3.A.2 Write paragraphs that include a variety of sentence types; appropriate use of eight parts of speech and accurate spelling, capitalization and punctuation. Materials/Resources/Technology: -Each student will have 3-4 rocks in which they collected -Ziploc bag -Science notebook -Hand lens -The book, Lets Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans -Hand outs on rock types (obtain from websites below): - http://jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/AskGeoMan/geoQuerry13.html - http://www.geography4kids.com/files/earth_rocktypes.html - http://www.rocks-rock.com/rock-types.html - http://www.rocksforkids.com/RFK/howrocks.html Implementation:
Opening of lesson: (Objectives, hook, behavior expectations) -Start by reading the book Lets Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans to get them interested in collecting rocks they will do soon after. The book will explain that rocks are one of the oldest things on earth, that they are easy to find, that they are a big part of earth, and all of the different kinds of rocks. The book provides kid-friendly information on rocks and is a broad base of general rock knowledge. Allow time for critical thinking questions after reading the book. Have a pre-made question on the flip chart made to make students critically think about the book we have read. Create a question like, what are the main characteristics of a rock? Provide clues from the text to support your answer. You can use any question that allows students to think critically and use textual evidence. When students raise their hands to volunteer an answer, make sure they are using a word that can be backed up with evidence from the book. If they give the word hard say to that student, where in the book does it tell you that rocks are hard? How do you know? This will teach them comprehension and help them learn how to comprehend books and literature. Procedures: -Start the rock exploration by taking the class outside (with their notebooks) to the playground, field or yard around the school where they can find rocks. Tell students to collect 4-6 interesting and differentlooking rocks to bring in to study. If this is not possible, assign as homework (a day prior to this lesson) and have them bring in rocks from home. Make sure to bring extra rocks in case students can't find them at home or school. Once the rocks are collected, divide students into groups and pass out hand lenses to each student/group. Instruct students to look carefully at each of their rocks and that they should think about how each rock looks and feels. Then have students pick out a favorite rock from the ones they collected to record observations on. Students should then take out their science journals and title the next clean page "Rock Observations." Have students draw a picture of the rock in their science journal on the top of the page and have them think of words to describe their rock to record under their pictures. Give them ideas of how to find descriptive words by looking with their eyes, feeling the rocks, studying it under a microscope, testing the hardness, etc. Explain to students, "when scientists record their observations and findings they need to be as descriptive as possible, so that when they go back to their journals they will remember what they were thinking/feeling at that time. Using descriptive words allow scientists to have a record of their findings for as long as possible." Summary/Closing: To summarize the lesson, have each group go over the characteristics of rock they discovered. Have them teach the rest of the class about their rock and what they found out about their rock. Students will recognize that not two rocks are exactly the same and there are many different types of rocks out there. Explain to students that they will continue to observe their rock in the upcoming lessons. Student Assessment: -Assess student journals by looking at observations and how detailed/descriptive the students were. While reading the book aloud the class, formally assess students by seeing how often students are participating, if they are paying attention and contributing to the class discussion afterward. When students are outside on their rock hunt, make sure students are acting appropriately and not goofing off or playing just because they are outside.

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Rock Hunt/My Rock Story Name: Sarah Weinstein Date: October 20, 2011 Grade Level/Subject: 3rd grade/Rocks

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