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Earth and Space Science

Three types of Rocks--Igneous, Metamorphic, Sedimentary and Minerals

Author Post
Bridgette Fagala Bridgette Fagala 255 Points

Does anyone have any fun ideas on how to teach the three types of rocks and minerals to 4th graders?
Jennifer Bacon Jennifer Bacon 410 Points

Hey,
I am a pre-service teacher and for one of my lesson plans I did it on minerals. A very cool opening activity for minerals is to use the mineral magnetite. For my opening activity, I purchased a mineral kit off amazon. It was only about 10 dollars. In that kit, one of the minerals in it is magnetite. First, I let the children be able to observe the minerals and write down the difference they see as far as color, shape, size, and texture. After, to spike their interest, I started off by saying that one of the rocks are very special and different from the others. I wrote the name on the board and had the students use the root word inside of it to try to figure out why it's different from the others. Hopefully, they guessed it correct and I go on to explain that there was one rock in there that is attracted to a magnet and had them guess which one and explain why they think it was it. After, we experimented with each rock each group thought was the one until we found the match. I never had the pleasure to implement this with students since it was for a class and my classmates were my students, but I believe that it would be an awesome idea to get their curiosity going and them excited about the topic. Its many different ways to implement this and change the type of activity to students needs and abilities.
I hope this helps!
-Jen

*Here is the link to amazon where I purchased the kit I used*
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQ5BG6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Marissa Gnau Marissa Gnau 350 Points

Hello!

I know you posted this over a year ago, but I just stumbled upon it. I am a pre-service teacher and in my student teaching placement my cooperating teacher and I came up with a song that goes along the tune to 'We Will Rock You' and my students LOVE it! They are 6th graders, and I still catch them singing it in the hallways. It is a great way to reach students who don't typically learn from taking notes. You can personalize it to meet the needs of your students, and it is a fun thing you can do together as a class!
Shalen Boyer Shalen Boyer 5910 Points

I usually teach rocks and minerals as two seperate units.  Otherwise, students tend to use the terms interchangably.  For rocks I do a 'great rock hunt' where students use a dichotomous key and find the rock that matches it. I purchased the rock samples from a geologist out in California.  His student sample sizes are huge!  Use the link below to access his site.  If he doesn't have what you are looking for posted to his site,email him as he may have it in storage. 

Geologic Specimen Supply

 For the three rock types I have students fold a 11 x 17 inch sheet of paper into thirds, label each section (Sedimentary, Igneous, Metamorphic) and then cut out the clues listed on the attached spreadsheet.  They then must place in the clues under the appropriate heading. 
John Giacobbe John Giacobbe 521 Points

this is great! thanks for sharing...
Jennifer Bacon Jennifer Bacon 410 Points

Hey,

I am a pre-service teacher and for one of my lesson plans I did it on minerals. A very cool opening activity for minerals is to use the mineral magnetite. For my opening activity, I purchased a mineral kit off amazon. It was only about 10 dollars. In that kit, one of the minerals in it is magnetite. First, I let the children be able to observe the minerals and write down the difference they see as far as color, shape, size, and texture. After, to spike their interest, I started off by saying that one of the rocks are very special and different from the others. I wrote the name on the board and had the students use the root word inside of it to try to figure out why it's different from the others. Hopefully, they guessed it correct and I go on to explain that there was one rock in there that is attracted to a magnet and had them guess which one and explain why they think it was it. After, we experimented with each rock each group thought was the one until we found the match. I never had the pleasure to implement this with students since it was for a class and my classmates were my students, but I believe that it would be an awesome idea to get their curiosity going and them excited about the topic. Its many different ways to implement this and change the type of activity to students needs and abilities.

I hope this helps!

-Jen

 

*Here is the link to amazon where I purchased the kit I used*

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQ5BG6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 
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