Virginia Department of Education
Metamorphic Rocks
Rocks can bend? Pupils investigate how heat and pressure produce metamorphic rocks by modeling them using clay, and then categorize samples based on observable characteristics. The instructional activity ends with a metamorphic rock...
Virginia Department of Education
Three Types of Rocks
Rock out with the second installment of a five-part series on earth materials and processes. Your budding geologists make observations of given rock samples and posit classification systems for rocks. They then learn about the accepted...
Cornell University
Exploring Rocks and Minerals
Investigate the properties of rocks and minerals through a rockin' hands-on activity. Learners test rocks for various properties and, using a guide, attempt to identify different samples. They use various properties including hardness,...
Curated OER
4.2: Exploring Rocks
Young scholars collect and look at rocks and write down information about them in science notebooks. They make comparisons and sort the rocks according to their properties, and then discuss their findings with their classmates and put...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Rockin' Rock Cycle- Igneous Rock
Fifth graders recall prior knowledge about rocks. In this igneous rock lesson, learners work in cooperative groups to perform experiments to classify the properties of igneous rock. They write a detailed paragraph and illustrate the rock...
American Museum of Natural History
What is Earth?
Humans have only inhabited Earth for a short part of its existence. An online resource explains how scientists use clues from rocks and fossils to piece together information about Earth prior to humans. The online instruction includes...
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
Sedimentary Rocks
In this sedimentary rock worksheet, students answer 9 fill-in-the-blank questions and 8 matching questions regarding sedimentary rocks and their formation.
Curated OER
Exploring Rocks
Students collect and examine rocks. They record information about the rocks they have collected in their notebooks. They compare and contrast different rocks and complete a class chart at the end of the lesson plan.
Curated OER
The Rock Cycle
In this rock cycle instructional activity, students will review the characteristics of the three rock types: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. Students will also compare and contrast rocks and minerals. This instructional...
Curated OER
Pebbles, Sand and Silt -- Categorizing Fiction and Informational Books
Primary readers complete the activities in a Pebbles, Sand and Silt FOSS kit. As a class, they are given a group of rocks and they are to categorize them based on their activities in the FOSS kit. They use this information and apply it...
Curated OER
Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources: Mining in B.C.
Students explore energy by categorizing rocks. In this British Columbia geology lesson, students define many different vocabulary terms associated with mining such as sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Students utilize sample rock...
Curated OER
Rocks Unit
Students learn about all types of rocks through a unit study consisting of 6 days. They are doing activities such as illustrating rocks, answering questions on a worksheet, reading, and reviewing questions. After the end of each...
Curated OER
Rocks Word Search Puzzle
In this literacy worksheet, middle schoolers look for the words that are related to the concept that is reviewed in the sheet. They also acquire new vocabulary.
Science Friday
Fossil Detectives
What can this rock be? Pupils pretend to be paleontologists by sketching fossils and making predictions about their types. To determine whether they can identify the type of dinosaur, class members compare their observations and...
Curated OER
Earth's Surfaces
Students identify and define geology and earth surface vocaulary and their meanings to classify rocks and explore caves and their properties. Students find rocks and test them according to Moh's scale. They create a color coded earth...
Curated OER
I Am A Rock, I Am An Island: Describing Landforms and Bodies of Water
Students identify common landforms and bodies of water from descriptions of distinguishing features. In this landforms and bodies of water lesson plan, students describe the features they see in the pictures given to them.
Curated OER
Wonder Underground
Students classify and record objects they find "underground." In this observation lesson, students dig into bins filled with soil and encounter various objects such as bark, twigs, etc. Students classify their findings.
Cornell University
Classification
Explore the scientific method of classification. An interactive activity asks learners to create a classification system for a group of objects and develop a flow chart to communicate their systems. In addition, individuals use a...
It's About Time
Exploring Energy Resource Concepts
Please turn off the lights to conserve energy. Or not, after all energy is always conserved. This first lesson in an eight-part series includes three parts. Part A contains one hands-on activity and two inquiry-based experiments on heat...
Curated OER
Shells on the Mountain Top?
Students work in groups to remove fossils from sediments, classifying as many organisms and parts of organisms as possible into major groups. They study the data from each formation and make conclusions about the types of organisms and...
Curated OER
Classification and Attributes
Young scholars classify objects based on their attributes. They explain how archaeologists use classification to help answer research questions.
G. Turrell
Science Activity 2: Light & Sound
Little learners experiment with sunlight and map out how light travels. Using a mirror and slotted card, they find out about items that can reflect or absorb the light. They experiment with a variety of materials to find out how light...
Curated OER
Matter Matters: Solids, Liquids and Gases
Scientists participate in a variety of hands-on experiments in this ten-day unit on the three states of matter. Lessons incorporate literature, a-v materials, and poetry to help students differentiate between solids, liquids and gases.