Rocks and Minerals Unit Plan
Day One – “Take a Closer Look”- Core Academy lesson –
Hand out Take a Closer Look handout, and have students construct the wheel. Ask them to line up the words with their definitions by moving the wheel. After they have become familiar with the words on the wheels, and their definitions, pass out blank copies of the Rock Formation handouts. In pairs or small groups, have them lightly write in the vocab words where they think they go on the diagram. Make sure they talk about why they think that they go in that place. Display a large copy of the handout on the board, and after everyone has had a chance to fill in their words, work on the class copy together. Have students place a vocabulary word on the diagram and explain why they think it should go there. Students can move words as they see fit, continuing to defend their placements. Go over the proper placements after the words have been placed.
Day Two – Read TRB3 chapter on Rocks and Minerals, leaving out the part on soil for now. Read as a class, and highlight the important parts of each paragraph.
Day Three – Introduce the Rock Cycle, and the three types of rocks. Present the rock cycle, explaining how things work with the words they learned the first day. On their Rock Formation pages, have them identify which rock is being formed in what area of their diagrams, and which words go with which process.
Day Four – Create Rock Types Book. On the first two pages, have them paste copies of the “Rock Cycle Song” and “What’s this Rock: Reference Sheet.” Sing the Rock Cycle Song together, and being each class from now on by singing the song. The first rock to learn in Igneous Rock. Talk about how this rock is the first rock to form, and all the other rocks then come from it. Create the diagrams showing the two kinds of Igneous rock families, the Granite and the Basalt families. Using the page “What’s this rock – cards,” have students identify the rocks that are Igneous rocks, and glue them to the page beneath their pictures. (If rock samples are available, have them look at the Igneous rocks, compare them with their cards, and identify each kind of rock.)
Day Five – Sedimentary rocks – Add diagrams of sedimentary rocks to Rock Types book, and identify rocks with cards. Have students get in groups of three or four, each with their own color of crayon and two small squares of waxed paper. Have each flake a bit of their color on to one square of wax paper of each person in their group. Cover the waxed paper with the second square, and place a dictionary on top. Push down on the dictionary for some time. Look at what has happened to the crayon shavings. Have them record what they observe. Keep both the waxed paper bundles and the observation sheets until tomorrow.
Day Six – Metamorphic rocks – Add diagram of metamorphic rocks to Rock Types book, and give them an extra copy of the Igneous and Sedimentary rocks to show what they start out as, then what they become through metamorphasis. Take the waxed paper bundles from yesterday, and heat them under an iron to show what heat and pressure does to sedimentary rocks. Have them record their observation of the changes, and turn in their observation sheet.
Day Seven – Play the Rock Cycle Game (from Utah Museum of Natural History website).
Day Eight – Have the students get in groups, and work with the rock kits to identify the rocks in each box using a dichotomous key.
Day Nine – Minerals introduction – “What’s it made of?” and “Mineral Products from A to Z”, both from Common Ground lesson plans.
Day Ten – Minerals Concept Map, and Minerals in the classroom. Have them complete “From the Mine to your School” as homework.
Day Eleven – Introduce the idea of crystal shapes, and the tests we do on minerals to identify them. Hand out copies of “Just the Facts/ Properties of Minerals: The Streak Test” so that they can understand the tests, and get an idea about what they will be looking for. Have them complete “Properties of Minerals :The Hardness Test” for homework.
Day Twelve – Allow them to perform the test on the minerals of Utah, and identify the minerals from the sheet.
Day Thirteen – Review for test
Day Fourteen – Test