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Sorting Rocks
Students devise a rock word web and sort rocks by applying the categories they discuss.
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Rocks, Rocks & More Rocks
Second graders work together to examine different types of rocks. They sort rocks according to their characteristics and properties.
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Mighty Minerals
Students investigate the physical and chemical characteristics of minerals. They make a list of the uses of minerals found in Illinois. They write a report individually based on their observations.
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Making Rocks
Students use their imaginations in order to journey to the center of the earth to find different types of minerals. They create minerals using playdough and create scientific drawings of them. Finally, students create a map to locate the...
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What on Earth is in the Earth?
Students explore the physical properties of sand, soil, and rocks and sort, classify, compare, and contrast the materials found in the soil. The differences between the living and non-living parts of the soil is discussed.
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Good Vibrations Remote Sensing data Collection: Thermal Emission Spectrometer
The Mars Global Surveyor spent two years creating a mineral map of the planet Mars using thermal emission spectrometry. To help young astronomers understand this remote sensing instrument, have them simulate how data is collected and...
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The Rock and Fossil Record
Go deep in your paleontology unit with this spectacular set of slides! It introduces viewers to the types of fossils, a few famous fossils, and the geologic eras. This is done with easy-to-read text, diagrams, photos, and even videos.
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Erosion And the Cycling of Rocks And Minerals
Students investigate the concept of erosion by water in a problem solving activity. In small groups, they are assigned either sand, potting soil or rocks to construct a mountain that will hold up to a sprinkler can of water dripping on...
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Let's Take a Rock Apart
Students take a crushed rock and sort the remains of the rock minerals into different categories based on the different properties. In this sorting lesson plan, students learn what makes up a rock and how to sort something into categories.
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Minerals and Rocks
Students identify and interpret various minerals and discover how to identify and classify them. They identify and discuss how people describe objects and how scientists describe objects. From there, students look at a set of common...
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Fairly Simple Rock Identification
Students study ways in which to identify rocks. They complete a number of activities that introduce them to various ways of identifying minerals in rocks.
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Introduction to Minerals
Young scholars discuss rocks and other earth materials made up of minerals. They identify minerals by means of their more obvious physical properties such as hardness, luster, color, streak, cleavage and fracture. They arrange a given...
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Geology- Gemstones, Fossils and Rocks Quiz
In this earth science quiz worksheet, students answer 10 fill-in-the-blank questions about gemstones, fossils, and rocks. They see pictures of rocks, minerals, and a dinosaur fossil on the page. They check their answers with the word...
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Rock Cycle SIOP Unit
Students collect rocks, identify them, classify them, investigate their properties, and more. In this rocks lesson plan, students also experiment with soil and erosion and weather.
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Mystery Minerals
In this science worksheet, students complete a chart of mineral properties. Minerals are listed by number, and students perform various tests to determine luster, hardness, color, streak color, fracture type and cleavage type. They use a...
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Mineral Mania
In this mineral worksheet, students visit http://sciencespot.net and answer 90 questions about mineral uses, mineral groups, fireworks, and minerals found around the home.
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Sedimentary Rocks- Formation and Types
In this sedimentary rocks resource worksheet, students follow the guide for reading this informational text. They read about the formation of sedimentary rocks, and the three major types of sedimentary rocks.
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Igneous Rocks
Students perform experiments in which they grow crystals. They draw pictures of where each type of rock originates from. They also identify igneous rocks by using a chart.
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Rock Crystallization
Students determine the differences between the crystallization of igneous and metamorphic rocks. They examine both liquid state and solid state crystallization.
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Mineral Properties
In this earth science worksheet, students look at the properties that are common to identifying minerals and the types of observations one can make.
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Internet Minerals Scavenger Hunt
In this minerals scavenger hunt worksheet, students research on the Internet 10 different types of minerals found. First, they read each questions and determine what they will search for using the Internet. Then, students write their...
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Rocks in our Backyard
Students examine igneous and sedimentary rocks. They observe and identify geological formations in their community, analyze igneous and sedimentary geological layers using a geological map, and use GPS to locate geological formations.
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Rock Hounds at Heart
Second graders read "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" by iam Steig and practice describing rocks using different physical properties. They make observations and develop and describe categories such as texture, color, density, hardness, etc.
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Exploring Rocks
Students recognize differences in the size, shape, texture, and color of different rocks. In this rocks lesson plan, students also learn and repeat back how a volcano erupts and make one out of a toilet paper tube.