Columbus City Schools
Sedimentary Rocks
Turn your class discussion of rock formation from ho-hum to holy hornfels! Junior geologists gain experience in identifying rock types and rock origins, with an emphasis in hypothesizing the environment needed to form certain rocks. The...
Teach Engineering
Ranking the Rocks for Desired Properties
Math rocks! Cavern design teams determine the rankings of rock types based upon desirability points. The points are connected to the properties of the rocks and their usefulness in building a cavern.
University of New Orleans
Rock Cycle and Rocks Lab
Science rocks! Explore three types of rocks and the rock cycle with an igneous rocks experiment. Pupils discuss textures, composition, and learn how melts are formed from the Earth's crust. They weigh materials using a scientific scale...
Curated OER
Volcanoes: Fifth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Fifth graders explore volcanoes and the rocks they produce using the Internet. The lab portion of the lesson prompts young scientists to compare and describe igneous rocks. Next, they critique a pair or more of books on volcanoes in...
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Rocks and Minerals in Our Lives
Young geologists discover the important role that rocks and minerals play in our everyday lives through this series of hands-on activities. Starting off with a lesson that defines the difference between plants, animals, and minerals,...
Curated OER
Rocks
Students examine and classify various types of rocks. In this rock identification instructional activity, students complete a KWL chart about rocks and then read Let's Go Rock Collecting. Students go on a walk to collect rocks and then...
Curated OER
Rocks and Soils
Students compare the properties of rocks and relate these properties to their use. They perform a virtual experiment to describe and group rocks on the basis of their characteristics.
Curated OER
Observing Rocks
Fifth graders explore the various properties of earth and rocks. They play "Twenty Questions" with the teacher, and analyze a rock using a magnifying glass. They record their rock observations and list the differences between the wet...
Curated OER
Schoolyard Geology
Students learn that a rock's properties tell stories about where it came from and where it has been. The lesson plan illustrates how to make geologic observations and gives background about the important properties of rocks to observe....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Ranking the Rocks
Student teams assign importance factors, called "desirability points," the rock properties found in the previous lesson/activity in order to mathematically determine the overall best rocks for building caverns within. They learn the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Asteroid Impact
Asteroid Impact is an 8-10 class long (350-450 min) earth science curricular unit where student teams are posed with the scenario that an asteroid will impact earth. They must design the location and size of underground caverns to save...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Rocks, Rocks Everywhere
Second graders will sort rocks based upon color, hardness, texture, layering, and particle size.,
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Rock Chart [Pdf]
A rock chart the describes the texture, appearance, characteristics, type, and where each is formed.