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Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Rocks and Processes of the Rock Cycle

For Students 5th - 8th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Instructional videos, grade-level texts, interactive activities, and quick assessments about rocks and processes of the rock cycle.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating the Rock Cycle Through Writing and Illustrating

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
For this writing and illustrating activity, students will be able to follow a simple rock cycle to follow the life of "Rocky the Rock". After investigating the rock cycle, students will then be able to illustrate the rock cycle, along...
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Activity
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigations Based on the Rock Cycle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this lab investigation, students will study different types of rocks and formulate questions about the conditions under which they formed. This lab requires students to use the concepts learned about the rock cycle to develop a...
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Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Rock Cycle

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Through five lessons, students are introduced to all facets of the rock cycle. Topics include rock and mineral types, material stresses and weathering, geologic time and fossil formation, the Earth's crust and tectonic plates, and soil...
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Model the Rock Cycle With Crayons

For Students 3rd - 5th
Use crayons to model the rock cycle in this fun activity! You will make colorful sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous "rocks" from crayon shavings.
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Activity
American Geosciences Institute

American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Chocolate Rock Cycle

For Students K - 1st
Students use chocolate in this activity to model sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks, mimicking what happens during transformations in the rock cycle.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: The Rock Cycle: A Hands on Simulation

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students simulate the rock cycle by manipulating wax crayons to represent different forms of rocks. Students will learn the vocabulary of rocks and the formation of the rock cycle.
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Rock Jeopardy!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students reinforce their understanding of rocks, the rock cycle, and geotechnical engineering by playing a trivia game. They work in groups to prepare Jeopardy-type trivia questions (answers) and compete against each other to demonstrate...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Earth History: Crayon Rock Cycle

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Introduce to the students the three main types of rocks and the processes that form them. Wax crayons are eroded into sediment, compacted into sedimentary rock, partially melted and pressed into metamorphic rock, and finally melted and...
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Lesson Plan
University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas Mc Donald Observatory: Rock Cycle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
This activity combines the concept of Earth's rock cycle with the characteristics of other planets in the solar system.
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Website
Utah Education Network

Uen: Themepark: Cycles

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This is a large collection of resources on cycles of nature and the Earth. There is a constant exchange of the elements between air, earth, water, plants, and animals. Most biological processes wind up back where they started. These...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating Minnesota Rocks: The Properties of North Shore Rocks

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students will investigate rocks from the North Shore of Minnesota. Students will begin by forming questions that they have about the rocks. They will use observation skills to identify attributes of the rocks. The students will use...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Mn Step: Rock Cycle Skit

For Teachers 6th - 8th
After learning about and researching the rock cycle, students create a skit about it that must include relevant vocabulary words. The final skits are videotaped.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Exploring Rocks: Rock Identification and the Rock Cycle

For Teachers K - 1st
In this earth science activity, young scholars informally investigate unknown rocks. After their investigation time they share what they have learned about their rocks.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Collecting and Identifying Rocks

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students investigate rocks in an outdoor field trip, and then place them into groups by characteristics. The different groups could be the size, shape, color, and texture of the rocks. After classifying, students are introduced to the...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating the Rate of Weathering on Various Rock Types.

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this Earth Science field investigation, students will make observations of the rock above and below the Minneopa State Park waterfalls. Students will then make observations of gravestones at Minneopa Cemetery. Through these...
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Lesson Plan
American Geosciences Institute

American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: The Human Rock Cycle

For Teachers K - 1st
Students act out a type of rock, igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic, for others to guess.
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Baseball Rocks!

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Through videoconferencing, two classes battle out their knowledge of rocks and minerals and the rock cycle by playing baseball. Each class completes a unit on rocks, minerals, and the rock cycle which includes gathering facts from print...
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Lesson Plan
ArtsNow

Arts Now Learning: Magic Rocks [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
In this lesson, students work in groups with each acting as a predator, prey, or family member in a particular habitat. They present their habitat performance to the class and students identify the habitat and animal relationships. Then,...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating Rock Layers and Fossils to Infer Past

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity is an inquiry-based field investigation of the sedimentary geology of Lilydale Regional Park's brickyards area, a bluff and slope location near St. Paul Minnesota's Harriet Island and Cherokee Heights Park. Learners...
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Interactive
New York Times

New York Times: Crossword Puzzle: Rocks and Minerals

For Students 9th - 10th
Here is an interactive and printable crossword puzzle developed by the New York Times Learning Network. The theme of this puzzle is Rocks and Minerals.
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Soapy Stress

For Teachers 9th - 10th
To experience the three types of material stress related to rocks - tensional, compressional and shear - students break bars of soap using only their hands. They apply force created by the muscles in their own hands to put pressure on...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating the Minnesota River's Glacial History Near Henderson, Mn.

For Teachers 6th - 8th
While visiting three separate sites in or near the Minnesota River valley, students will question the deposition environment of rock types found and the creation of the valley itself. Students will discover find types of rock found far...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Tunnel Through!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students apply their knowledge about mountains and rocks to transportation engineering, with the task of developing a model mountain tunnel that simulates the principles behind real-life engineering design. Student teams design and...