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I am a new 2nd grade teacher here in Hawaii and am wanting to create an upcoming unit about rocks. With Hawaii being so unique does anyone have some ideas on how to get this unit started? Any great "hooks" or any great ideas unique to Hawaii?

Hi Melelani,
I know some of the teachers in Hawaii will jump on this and give you lots of great ideas. I live in Illinois, but can share with you a discussion thread here in the Learning Center that will get you started with ideas. It is called Earth Science: Rocks and Minerals and a lot of great resources are shared including Internet links,information about SciPacks, SciGuides, and articles. The Learning Center also has a collection of lesson plans and resources bundled together in it's Rocks: Elementary Collection.
Please do share what you decide to do and let us know what your 2nd graders enjoyed the most.
Carolyn

I am a 4th grade teacher in Hawaii, but I am not sure I can be of any help here. Trying to get students hooked into a lesson on rocks... I guess it depends on what it is you are really trying to get them to learn. If you are looking at lava, we have pahoehoe lava and a`a lava. Pahoehoe being the smoother lava (like Pele's hair in artists' paintings) and a`a (like the sound of it) being the sharper rougher lava. There may be a legend out there that talks about these differences. There is also Pele's hair (thin strands of lava) and Pele's tears (small molten bits). If lava is not the angle you were going for, you may want to introduce different stone tools Hawaiians made or maybe even petroglyphs. Hawaiians used stones to pound their poi, as part of their fishing lures, as ulu maika (a bowling like sport), for konane (Hawaiian checkers), for their fishpond walls, stone adzes etc. Certain rocks were used for certain things depending on its qualities. Or like I mentioned petroglyphs were carved in rocks. Hope this helps at least a little.

Great post Denise about tying in the ancient Hawaiian culture with the teaching of rocks. I would definitely like to try and use that to teach my fourth graders. I have lots of mo'olelos to share about Pele and I could tie in the types of rocks and then link it to fast processes that change the shape of the earth. Great idea! I can integrate my science with my social studies (Hawaiian studies) and then share the legends with the science! - Ryan

So far you've gotten some great advice from other teachers in Hawaii. I taught second grade and one of the best science inquiry units we did were on rocks. My hook was the assignment of bringing in a rock from outside. I went over boundaries and how they couldn't dig for any rocks. It had to be a loose rock they could easily carry into the class. They could only bring in rocks no other visitors (bugs or dirt). Then we sorted the rocks in different ways. Then we came up with an problem for our scientific process. What was the hardest rock? We came up with how to find it and the procedures we would follow. We used the rocks to hit each other and if they crumbled that rock was weaker. It wasn't very technical but it got every student's curiosity going. They were excited and brought in rocks and other things for a while.

Hi Melelani! This sounds like so much fun! We have quite an array of rocks here on the Big Island, even though it is basically volcanic. When I was doing a soil study with 1st graders during my student teaching, I had my friend that works at West Hawaii Concrete visit class with various rock samples. She brought "blue rock" from the quarry which went from 2 inch gravel size to fine ground blue rock. She also brought black and red cinder also ground up to different degrees. Her presentation included an array of soil samples and an explanation of the benefits of each type. It was fun for the students to see, touch, and feel the samples. At the 4th/5th grade level, another teacher used "lava bombs", a'a (sharp rock), and pahoehoe (smooth rock) samples in her integrated Earth Science and Hawaiian Culture class. I would probably extend that lesson to include olivines, "Pele's hair" and "Pele's tears". Olivines are the small green gem-looking rocks that you find embedded in the igneous rocks around the island. I believe that when this is aged, it is called "peridot". "Pele's hair is fine strands of lava that cooled suddenly. "Pele's tears" are droplets of lava that cooled suddenly. These can be found on walking trails in the newer land of the Big Island. I'm not sure if you can use this information, but I am so excited about your unit on Hawaiian Rocks. I wish I could give you samples! I hope your lessons go well.

First of all, I cannot thank everyone enough for all of the great ideas and such quick responses! I love all the ideas and am going to somehow plan on using all of them in my unit. I love the idea of the students bringing in the rocks from around the community, which I think that I may use as my opening hook. In addition, I loved the idea of inviting someone from the business aspect as a guest speaker. Finally, I am very excited to incorporate some mo'olelo with this unit. I can't believe that I forgot about it. Speaking of the mo'olelo, know of some mo'olelo on youtube or that were on Oceanic to help supplement this unit? I will keep everyone posted on what my unit eventually looks like. Also, a mahalo to pointing me in the right directions to other threads, SciPacks and SciGuides. I am very new to NSTA and am still trying to get use to the layout of the website. Mahalo Nui Loa!!

Wow! I am impressed with all of the great feedback everyone had to offer. I currently teach third grade, but taught second last year. I did a basic unit on rocks. The lesson involved the three types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. We read books, watched videos, and found samples (most I ordered from catalogs). I wish I had everyone's suggestions when I was teaching this lesson. It is so important for the lesson relate to the students' lives. Students will be engaged by researching the types of rocks found around their home and sharing the mo`olelo. Hopefully, this lesson would help the students appreciate the rare and unique place they live in.

Hi there, tying rocks to Hawaiiana reminded me of something I learned from a Place based literature course I took this summer through the Kamehameha Schools. Ka'ena Point has a pohaku (rock) that is sacred the Hawaiian people. This is the jumping off point from which spirits leave the physical world into the spiritual one. There has been tons of controversy because they decided to build a fence around ka'ena point to protect the birds. Well the fence cuts off the rock and so is said to block the spirits from transitioning. There are many "mo'olelo" of stories of this rock. Geology could be a great tie into language arts (reading and creating of stories), political action, and Hawaiiana. Maybe I can play on this in my lesson plan for earth science!

Also...taking a field trip there would be great, can discuss also the sanctuary for the birds. I have the name and number of the lady who was the face of advocacy for the pohaku, who is willing to do field trips in this area. Her family is from this area and she has many mo'olelo to tell about the area. I'm not sure if I should post her number on a bulletin board like this...

I was in 2nd grade 3 years ago. I'm now teaching 5th & 6th. I think I held on to our Science Day "rock" worksheets. The teachers on teh grade level split into groups of 2 and specialized in a topic. Our topic was "rocks". My partner's husband was a geology professor at the University of HI, so he brought in all the rocks, etc., and then some. The kids loved it. They got to touch and feel everything in the exhibit. Hands on is always good. The worksheet was a little difficult. I'd modify it if I did this topic again.

If I locate the worksheet, I'll scan and upload it here:)

I am from Hawaii and back in my student teaching days my mentor did an activity with modeling rocks, but it's not an activity that is specific to teaching in Hawaii. He gave students, in groups, Hershey bars, and had them 'make' metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks. The igneous was formed from pressure, metamorphic they could do that by using a hot plate, and sedimentary they just had to cut up the chocolate. As an observer of this lesson, it was nice to see students having fun but also being engaged. My mentor went around to each group and asked them to explain which of their models were examples of each rock type.

Hi everyone, I am a new 4th grade teacher and am wondering if teaching about rocks is tied in to teaching about fossils? To those experienced teachers out there, what have you taught?

I can't believe the quick response to this post, I almost feel like I have nothing to add. However, I did want to say that I teach 8th graders in Hawaii and when I show them samples from far off places they are like tourists, asking to take out their phones so that they can take pictures of/with the rocks. This opens up a great discussion on why tourists think our rocks are so neat and the differences between Granite vs Basalt and Continental Crust vs Oceanic Crust. So if you can get your hands on some samples its a great way to get them interested.

Someone also mentioned using chocolate, which I do too, to model the rock cycle but can't seem to find the worksheet I created. Please note the processes in that post were mixed up: Melting would be for Igneous, heat and pressure would be for metamorphic (I have students wrap up their chocolate and sit on it for this one:)
Since I'm always on the lookout for new ideas these are some other 'rocky' recipes, I've found...

Visual Lesson on Lava Spares No Calories By KENNETH CHANG

Attachments

Minerals_Make_Rocks.pdf (0.04 Mb)

Thanks for the link and post, Tabitha. I am now totally convinced that my classroom will have to do the chocolate bar experience. At 2nd grade they will get a total kick out of sitting on the "rock" and it will be a great opportunity for them to understand pressure.

I love you teachers in Hawaii! You bring so much great information about your state to the discussion threads, thank you!!!
Janice,
Welcome to the discussion thread! Best wishes for a great year! I did an advanced search in the NLC using the word 'fossil' and filtering it for e-journal articles. 40 articles popped up. Here are a couple that I think you will find helpful for use in your fourth grade classroom:
Layer Cake Earth
Digging the Past
Let us know what you think.
Carolyn

Melelani, If you're going to do the Chocolate Rocks lab use more than one kind of chocolate and have students start off by identifying what kind of "rock" they are starting off with. For example, Hershey's Cookies N Cream can be Granite, Hershey's Milk/Dark Chocolate can be Basalt, those Air Delight's can represent Scoria, etc. Last year, a student brought in a Wonka Bar that had white choc. swirled into milk choc. and it was a great Metamorphic example. Some students bring baking chips, instead of candy bars which is kind of a time saver because it is already broken up into "sediment". Start by having students taste their chocolate, and have them taste a piece each time they make a new "rock", this should be part of their observations. For each step below, make sure that they understand the process that they are representing and the rock that they are forming. Have students work on wax paper or foil. 1. Break up chocolate into pieces. This represents weathering or erosion; the pieces=sediment. 2. Deposit "sediment" in layers. This is deposition. Wrap-up chocolate in wax paper and place in a zip-lock. 3. Drop/stack books on chocolate. This is compaction (Sci. textbooks/dictionaries work best:) 4. Unwrap "Sedimentary Rock" and record observations. 5. Re-wrap Chocolate and sit on bag for 10 minutes. This represents heat and pressure deep underground. Note: While students are sitting this is a great time to answer questions, show a video clip on the rock cycle or talk about why geologist need to use models like this one. 6. Unwrap "Metamorphic Rock" and record observations. 7. Have students break off a piece of their Metamorphic rock and wrap it in baking parchment and bake or microwave for a minute. I've also had students wrap in foil in put it on a hot plate before. You could also have everyone throw in a piece of their chocolate and melt it altogether. Bottom line you want melted liquid chocolate = Lava if its exposed or magma if its completely wrapped. 8. Refrigerate or freeze melted chocolate, when its hard you have an "Igneous Rock" record your observations. 9. Conclusion: Answer the following questions below... (w/Elementary students I would do this as class) 1. How has your rock changed? 2. Draw a picture representation of steps 1-8. This is a simple Rock Cycle diagram. 3. How does this model of the Rock Cycle compare to the Rock Cycle? 4. What changes would you make to this model and why? 5. The Law of Conservation of Mass/Matter simply states that Matter cannot be created or destroyed it can only change. How does this relate to the Rock Cycle? ...Oh my, this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought. Well I guess I have the base to my Rock Cycle lesson plan:) And maybe I can get some feedback on it...Please?

WOW!!! What awesome ideas. Love the idea of using chocolate in the classroom to help with understanding the different types of rocks and using it to create a deeper understanding of land formations. I teach 4th grade special education inclusion. These lessons will be awesome as it is engaging, interactive and kinesthetic. Mahalo for the ideas. Keep it coming.

Thanks Tabitha! I was wondering how to make the chocolate thing work. My third graders will LOVE this activity. I also have tons of rocks all around my house and classroom (which I didn't realize until after the rocks sciguide) that I will have the kids classify after the chocolate activity.

Revisited posts and saw that Melelani still didn't get any mo'olelo (stories) about rocks, so I thought I'd share this. This is not a usual teaching of rocks, but if you plan to integrate Hawaiian culture in with Science, then it might work for you. My uncle-in-law was the Executive Producer of this video. I used it last year and integrated it with our cycles of matter unit. The kids loved it. It's about Pele, the Hawaiian goddess, who, it is believed, created the island chain. Here is the link: http://vimeo.com/39803104

Melelani et al., Rock activities are one of my favorite lessons to teach all year. I'm excited to try the chocolate rock. What I've done in the past (but NOT the past 2 years), was a layered sort which can actually incorporate some of the rock materials that students bring in. Getting a clear rectangular box (those shoe-box types with lids or the 1000mL volume cubes with lid), you could have students pour in dirt, sand, "rocks", and other earth materials before conducting a shake and layer activity. Hmm...I think I've done it with a mason jar in the past. The layers of sediments will settle in this clear container and you would have created a sedimentary rock. (It's like the real version of the chocolate rock!). If you're going to keep up with the candy themes of rocks, air heads work well for layering (then melting for metamorphic rock 10-15 secs in microwave). You could even pour the shell chocolate over ice to mimic lava flows. Be careful to remind students that it is only a model--that can feed into misconceptions.

Wow, is right! I am doing a unit on rocks with my 4th graders in Hawaii and you all just gave me a bunch of ideas to incorporate into my lesson! We just went to Bishop Museum and looked at the various types of lava and they are going to write their own myths about Pele's hair, tears, etc. after hearing various mo'olelo. I am definitely going to use the Chocolate Rocks lab idea. The kids really enjoyed bringing in their own rock samples for our classroom lab, that was a good hook. We are also going to find a rock sample and send it to NASA's Rock Around the World program where they will analyze it and tell where it comes from. Getting the kids interested in rocks has never been this easy thanks to all of these ideas! Mahalo all!

I can't remember if I got this idea from a SciPack or SciGuide but I remember reading about it a couple of months ago on this site. A teacher kept a rock collection in her classroom that was constantly added to as the year went on. When students went on a trip, they would bring back a rock from wherever they visited. They even got students' families involved and whenever an aunt or uncle would travel, they would bring a rock back to add to the collection. When a rock was added to the collection, the class would identify the type of rock and record where the rock was found. I think this would be a great on-going hook to a rock unit.

Hi, Hi everyone, Thank you so much for all the fascinating ideas - I learned so much from you all. I'm also a 2nd grade teacher in Hawaii and we do a unit on rocks as well. Not sure which island Melanie is on but here on Oahu we take the kids to the Lucoral Museum every year. It's a funky little place in Waikiki. It is mostly a jewelry establishment but the owner has a huge collection of all kinds of rocks, many of which are semi-precious and often used for decorative works. The wall of the inner courtyard of the place is made of large pieces of quartz (different kinds & colors of quartz) and she has large jade statues inside the "museum". The children are allowed to hold and experience some really unusual pieces from a great variety of earth material. She also has fossilized dinosaur poop, which the kids just love to see and handle, and other fossilized pieces. She also prepares tables of rock beads so each student can make a bracelet. It's a really interesting place and a great companion to other classroom lessons. If you're on Oahu, I highly recommend it as a field trip. Best, Saba

Mahalo to everyone for more terrific ideas! Tabitha - Thank you for posting such a detailed post! My students are going to love this activity. (I'm going to love eating it too!) Joy - I can not thank you enough for the video. I had been searching for a mo'olelo video, but didn't have much luck finding one. Paula - I was so excited to see your suggestion for the field trip. I will get on it this week for us to visit there. Again, I will be sure to post my general lesson unit when it is finalized. It is the next unit coming up after fall break. I will try and post it prior if anyone else is looking to use it for the upcoming quarter. Mahalo again for all the great posts!

Here's another mo'olelo the two sisters can be visited today...
Pu’uokapolei AKA Pukaua

If a traveler should go by the government road to Waianae, after leaving the village of gold, Honouliuli, he will first come to the plain of Puu-ainako and when that is passed, Ke-one-ae. Then there is a straight climb up to Puu-o-Kapolei and there look seaward from the government road to a small hill, that is Puu-Kapolei. ...You go down some small inclines, then to a plain. This plain is Pukaua and on the mauka side of the road, you will see a large rock standing on the plain...There were two supernatural old women or rather peculiar women with strange powers and Puukaua belonged to them. While they were down fishing at Kualaka‘i [near Barbers Point] in the evening, they caught these things, ‘a‘ama crabs, pipipi shellfish, and whatever they could get with their hands. As they were returning to the plain from the shore and thinking of getting home while it was yet dark, they failed for they met a one-eyed person [bad omen]. It became light as they came near to the plain, so that passing people were distinguishable. They were still below the road and became frightened lest they be seen by men. They began to run - running, leaping, falling, sprawling, rising up and running on, without a thought of the ‘a‘ama crabs and seaweeds that dropped on the way, so long as they would reach the upper side of the road. They did not go far for by then it was broad daylight. One woman said to the other, “Let us hide lest people see us,” and so they hid. Their bodies turned into stone and that is one of the famous things on this plain to this day, the stone body. This is the end of these strange women. When one visits the plain, it will do no harm to glance on the upper side of the road and see them standing on the plain. [Ka Loea Kalai‘aina, January 13, 1900, translation in Sterling and Summers 1978:39]

There are also the birthing stones, the crouching lion and the pregnant women.

I love all the ideas about teaching about rocks in Hawaii!!! I am trying to think of a way to incorporate this idea into my math class. I was thinking about giving my students an overview of different types of rocks and then have my students bring rocks in from around their environment. I want them to make predictions about the density of each and then use water displacement to calculate the actual density. Still working out the details at the moment. Any suggestions? Has anyone here done something similar?

As promised, I said that I would post my thoughts for my rock unit. Listed below is my general thoughts for this unit. To all of the Hawaii Teachers out there, please do not forget about Discovery Education. From this website I have found a PowerPoint on rocks with the short video clips linked inside. In addition, this PowerPoint has an entire journal packet, activity mats, and lesson plans also included. In addition to what I am doing in the classroom, our Kumu has adjusted her lesson plans to cover volcanoes this quarter to compliment our rock unit. My plans for this upcoming unit are as follows... 1. Students create a Bubble Thinking Map documenting their prior knowledge about rocks. 2. Using the knowledge from the Bubble Maps, as a class we will create a Tree Thinking Map of the different properties of rocks (color, luster, hardness, etc.) Begin PowerPoint - Anticipation set with riddles of what are made of rocks (ie chalk, roads, lava). 3. Start Powerpoint - Lesson 1 - introduction to what rocks are and to geologists. Students create a web of new information about rocks and create a list of what rocks are made of. 4. Lesson 2 - Students bring in 4 rocks. After watching a video students will compare and contrast their rocks using either a Venn diagram or a Double Bubble Map. 5. Lesson 3 - Collect data on rocks collected. Complete chart on luster, texture, color, and hardness of rock. 6. Lesson 4 - Weight rocks and order by weight. Group rocks by size. 7. Lesson 5 - Identify the three types of rocks (mo'olelo video mentioned above, chocolate lab) 8. Lesson 6 - Comparing your rocks to those in books, websites, or teacher's rock specimens 9. Assessment - creation of a Missing Rock Poster - students are to pick a rock, draw a picture, describe their rock using the different properties Hope this helps! Again, most of these ideas were from the PowerPoint by Stacy Hurney, which I got from Discovery Education. Mahalo again for everyone's ideas! Melelani

ooh shanae, I like that idea. Study mass. Can you post a lesson plan, resources if you go forward with that lesson plan? This would be perfect for what were doing right now with scientific process. I remember a long long time ago a friend of mine doing a lesson with measuring tape and comparing circumference of each rounded shape. Can we work area in there too? Maybe trace the rock on graph paper and then see how much area it takes up? How to count half squares etc.

Hi Melelani -

A fun idea to add to your unit on Rocks in Hawaii would be to share the lastest exciting news from the Mars Curiosity Rover about how Mars rocks were found to be very similar to Hawaiian basalt rocks.

See this article - Mars Like Hawaii? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121030154244.htm

The Curiosity Rover site at NASA website has fascinating resources.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

Kids love space exploration and the tie-ins to earth geology are amazing!


Dorothy

Thanks Dorothy! I will be sure to share it! How exciting!

Melelani, People have really stepped up and given you (and all of us) some great ideas! I wanted to add that you can take a trip to a recycling center and relate the rock cycle to the glass recycling process as they did in the Rock Sci pac. I don't know where your center is at on Oahu, but on the big island I have worked closely with Recycle Hawaii and they will help arrange educational field trips, etc...They were really helpful, and there is nothing like seeing the process in person. Try contacting Recycle Hawaii at www.recyclehawaii.org and see what they can help you arrange! The kids love the cullet and always comment on how beautiful it is.