Rockin'
With the Rock Cycle Unit
SD Content Standard Goals:
Goal
1 - NATURE OF SCIENCE
Students will explore, evaluate, and
communicate personal and scientific investigations to understand the
nature of science.
Indicator 1: Understand the nature, value, and application of
scientific knowledge.
a.
describe how scientific investigations creates new knowledge
c. explain
how science is both a body of knowledge and an investigative process.
Indicator 2: Demonstrate understanding and use a variety of
processes for scientific investigations.
Benchmarks:
a.
engage in various systematic scientific investigations.
b. explain
the reasons for and expectations of scientific investigations.
c. demonstrate
safety when engaged in scientific activity.
Other
Content Standards:
Third Grade Nature of Science Standards
Goal 1: Indicator 1,2: Benchmarks a,c: a,b:
1. Students will use investigations in science to serve different
purposes. (example: exploring the world)
2. Students will explore characteristics of scientific ways of thinking.
3. Students will understand that science involves asking and answering
questions and comparing the results to what is already known.
4. Students will communicate results of scientific experiments.
5. Students will recognize variables in the outcome of events.
6. Students will use appropriate scientific equipment for investigations.
7. Students will use proper safety procedures in all investigations.
Third Grade Physical Science Standard
Goal 2:
Indicator 3: Benchmarks a:b:c:
3. Students will explain the cause and effect of motion.
Third Grade Reading Standards.
Goal 1: Indicator 1,2: Benchmarks c,b:
2. Students will demonstrate literal, interpretive, and/or critical
comprehension by answering
various how, why, and what-if questions.
3. Students will make predictions about information/events in text, reread
to extend initial impressions, and use prior knowledge to confirm or
reject predictions.
4. Students will distinguish between cause and effect, fact and opinion,
and main idea and supporting details in expository text.
Third Grade Writing Standards.
Goal 2: Indicator 1, 2, 3, 4: Benchmarks a, b, c: a: b: b:
1. Students will use vocabulary appropriate for the content.
2. Students will organize and write about information according to topic.
2. Students will compose written work which has appropriate organizations
and focus.
2. Students will edit final copies for capitalization and punctuation.
3. Students will write to share information or inform a specific audience.
4. Students will write to explain what is known about selected topics in
various content areas.
4. Students will use various types of technology for sharing, revising,
and editing written work.
5. Students will use complete sentences in writing.
Third Grade Listening and viewing Standards.
Goal 3:
Indicator 3: Benchmark b:
1. Listen and respond thoughtfully and respectfully to others.
2. Students will listen attentively by making eye contact and facing the
speaker.
11. Students will connect prior knowledge and experience to what is seen
or heard. Restate information in a logical and sequential order.
14. Students will categorize information according to specific topic or
subject.
Third Grade Speaking Standards.
Goal 4 Indicator 1,3: Benchmark 1
10. Students will organize and present ideas so that others can
understand the message create visual aids to use in oral
presentations.
Enduring Understanding: The earth is changing all the time. Change takes place over time.
Essential
Questions to Guide this Unit and Focus Teaching and Learning:
1.
How does weathering affect the earth?
2.
How are weathering and erosion different?
3.
What are the layers of the earth?
4.
What are the parts of a volcano?
5.
What are the three types of rocks?
6.
How are igneous rocks formed?
7.
How are metamorphic rocks formed?
8.
How are sedimentary rocks formed?
9.
How does the rock cycle work?
10.
What is a cycle?
11.
What is the difference between magma and lava?
Knowledge:
1. Students
will know there is a difference between weathering and erosion.
2. Students will know the
earth has layers.
3. Students will know that a
volcano has different parts.
4. Students will know that
rocks exist in different forms.
5. Students will know that
rocks form in different ways.
6. Students will know that a
cycle is continuous and takes time.
7. Students will know there
is a difference between magma and lava.
Skills:
1. Students will be
able to explain the difference between weathering and erosion.
2. Students will be able to
name and label the four layers of the earth.
3. Students will be able to
name and label parts of a volcano.
4. Students will be able to
tell how igneous rocks are formed.
5. Students will be able to
tell how metamorphic rocks are formed.
6. Students will be able to
tell what three factors are needed to form metamorphic rocks.
7. Students will be able to
tell how sedimentary rocks are formed.
8. Students will be able to
conduct experiments and relate findings.
9. Students will be able to
explain what a cycle is and give examples.
10. Students will be able to create and present a unique project related
to our unit of study.
Assessment:
Tasks: The students will complete
worksheets, conduct experiments, relate findings of experiments, complete
center activities, investigate web sites, read books and complete
literature extension activities, create projects, and take a unit test.
Valid and Reliable Measures of Tasks:
teacher observation, oral discussion, written work, project completion,
rubrics, completion of K-W-L chart, and unit test.
Introduction to Unit:
-
Rock in a Bag Riddle: You need a rock in a paper bag so
students cannot see it. Read the following riddle: I can be hot, I can be
cold. Sometimes I’m light, sometimes hard to hold. You see me
everywhere, you use me everyday. I help you write, work, and play. What am
I? Students can then ask you questions to help them figure out what’s in
the bag. The questions should only be those to which you can answer yes or
no.
-
Introduce unit by telling students that the next unit will be about
the rock cycle.
-
Ask “Who can tell us what a cycle is?”
Guide students to the idea that a cycle is ongoing and does not
have one starting point or one stopping point. Ask for examples of cycles
(water cycle, seasons, calendar, etc.) Explain about the rock cycle being
ongoing, too.
-
Rocks Change Activity (lead in to next day): begin this
activity now.
Materials: 2 bars of soap, sponge.
Explain to students that rocks
change during the rock cycle due to a variety of reasons. Show students
one bar of soap and tell them that it represents a rock. Tell them that
you will be putting the soap in the sink and letting a steady stream of
water run over it while you go on to the next part of the lesson. Tell
them that when you return to the soap, they will have the opportunity to
notice the changes and then decide which part of the rock cycle the
experiment represents. Go on to K-W-L chart.
-
K-W-L chart (leave the L empty for end of unit)
-
Pass out rock cycle folders. These have a picture of the
rock cycle on the front and students will keep all work in it. (At end of
unit, book bind into a booklet.) Show picture of rock cycle and briefly go
through each step.
-
Read the story How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the
World by Faith McNulty
-
Complete the Rocks Change Activity:
Get the soap from the sink and let students observe the changes.
Have the second bar of soap next to it so the changes are obvious. As a
class, brainstorm the changes made to the soap and write on board. Ask,
Using the rock cycle diagram on your booklet to help you, which part of
the rock cycle did this experiment demonstrate?”
The answer is weathering and then discuss why.
Activities:
- Begin with weathering and erosion. You want the
students to gain the understanding
that there is a difference between the two and what the difference is.
Weathering is when rocks are broken into pieces due to wind, weather, and
temperature. Erosion occurs when the rock pieces are moved.
- Experiments:
- Sandpaper Drawing: Draw
pictures on sandpaper using colored chalk. Demonstrates
the effects of weathering.
- Wind and erosion: (Teacher can demonstrate whole class or
use as a center) You will need sand, something to put the sand in, a
straw, and safety goggles. Pour a small hill of sand. Use the straw to
blow on the sand to demonstrate wind. Ask, “What is happening to the
sand?” Discuss. Students
fill out activity reaction sheet.
- Water and erosion: (Teacher can demonstrate whole class or use
this as a center) You will need sand, something to put the sand in, and a
spray bottle with water. Spray the water on the sand hill to demonstrate
rain. Soon the sand will start to flow down the sand hill and settle at
the bottom. Ask; “What is happening to the sand?” Discuss. Students
fill out activity reaction sheet.
- Temperature change and weathering (homework activity): You will
need balloons (one per student) and activity reaction sheet to send home.
Students are instructed to take balloon home, fill with water, and put in
freezer over night. The next day take the frozen balloon from the freezer
and peel off the balloon. Pour warm water over the ice from the balloon.
Notice what happens to the ice as the water is poured over it. To better
demonstrate weathering, pour some food coloring over the ice and notice
how it seeps into the cracks. Fill out reaction sheet. (This could also be
a teacher-directed center.)
Transport and deposit: Transport is when streams and
rivers carry rock pieces. Deposit is when rivers and streams drop
sediments into valleys, beaches, and the ocean floor. The wind and
weathering experiment and water and weathering experiment can demonstrate
this, also.
Layers of the earth
Worksheets – use any worksheets you have or can find to
help teach this.
Hard boiled egg example (note that this show 3 layers instead of 4)
You will need one hard-boiled egg for each group, per child, or just one
for the teacher to demonstrate with. Explain that the outer shell
of the egg represents the crust of the earth (the part we stand
on). This is the thinnest layer. Now cut the egg in half. Show that the
inner white part represents the mantle of the earth (this is the thickest
layer). Show that the yellow yolk represents the core of the earth
(remember to tell them that there is also an inner core that is a solid
ball of iron).
Layers of earth
activity:
students will use the Draw/Paint tools or a software program of your
choosing to create a model of the earth’s layers, labeling the four
parts (crust, mantle, inner core, and outer core). Glue these onto colored
construction paper and display! This could be done in a computer lab whole
class or as a center idea.
Volcanoes
Worksheets – use any worksheets you have or can find to help
teach this.
Watch the video The Magic School Bus Blows its Top.
Students draw and label the parts of a volcano to include:
Magma chamber, vent, crust, mantle, crater, lava, magma
You can do this on
the computer like the earth’s layers activity or they can just draw on
white construction paper.
Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary Rocks
Worksheets
- Use any worksheets you have or can find to help teach this.
Link to PowerPoint Presentation
Field Trip to a geological museum if available or to a rock shop.
Guest speaker on rocks
Centers:
(some ideas)
a.)
Have examples of different kinds of igneous, metamorphic, and
sedimentary rocks. The students use different resource books to classify
each rock into igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary and complete a chart
showing their findings.
b.)
Read The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth. I have a packet
of
questions the students answer about the story as they read it. Students
could create an ABC book as an extension activity.
c.)
Draw a volcano and label the parts
d.)
Illustrate the rock cycle
e.)
Using rocks students brought from home, complete an investigation
sheet regarding the properties of the rock. Then they can use different
things to create a “pet rock”. These could include googley eyes, pipe
cleaners, paint, etc.
f.)
Write a story about a pet rock.
g.)
Word finds
h.)
Web sites
www.brainpop.com
(Good for Rock Cycle and Volcanoes)
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002289/index.html
http://volcano.und.edu/vw.html
http://sln.fi.edu/fellows/payton/rocks/index2.html
Homework Project:
After I have started teaching about the different types of rocks, I
assign a homework project. I go over this with the students in class and
also send home a letter for the parents. The students fill in the due date
on the letter as we go through the assignment. I give 4 choices to pick
from.
*Build a volcano.
Bring it to class along with the necessary supplies to make it erupt.
*Create an ABC picture/word book about the rock cycle trying to come up
with at least one rock cycle word for each letter.
You will need a page for every letter of the alphabet. There must be a picture and definition with each word.
Write the word on the page. Write the definition for the word and draw and
color a picture for each word. X, Y, and Z can be left blank.
*Make a model of the 4 layers of the earth. Make sure the following layers
are
labeled on your model: crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core.
*Research a famous volcano from somewhere in the world and give a report
along with a visual presentation of some sort. Be prepared to show on a
map where your volcano is located. Some choices are: Mount St. Helens,
Paracutin, Mount Kilauea (in Hawaii), and Copahue. There are many, many
others to choose from.
*Link to Rubric for Homework
Project
Destinations in Science Published
by Addison-Wesley
Earth by Barbara
Taylor
Extraordinary Volcanoes by
Jackie Gaff
Planet Earth by Ian
James
Rocks and Minerals by
Anna Claybourne
Rocks and Minerals by
Illa Podenorf
Rocks and Minerals at
Your Fingertips by Judy Nayer
Rocks & Soil Thematic
Unit by Janet A. Hale
Usborne Encyclopedia of
Planet Earth by Claybourne, Doherty, and Treays
Volcanoes by Lily
Wood
www.brainpop.com
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002289/index.html
http://volcano.und.edu/vw.html
http://volcano.und.edu/vw.html
