Kristen Pizzolo and Paige Ennis
Natural Resources and Landforms Unit
Lesson #6
Lesson Plan Format
School of Education
The College of New Jersey
1. Title or Topic of the Lesson and Grade Level:
● Rocks and Soil
● 2nd grade
2. Lesson Essential Question(s):
● How are rocks, soils, and minerals different from one another?
● What are the properties of rocks, soils, and minerals?
3. Standards:
● 5.4.P.C.1 - Explore and describe characteristics of and concepts about soil,
rocks, water, and air.
● 5.4.2.C.1 - Describe Earth materials using appropriate terms, such as
hard, soft, dry, wet, heavy, and light.
4. A. Learning Objectives and Assessments: Write a sentence for each of
your desired learning outcomes. These must be written in observable terms and
be assessable. These must also correlate to the NJCCC Standards addressed
above.
B. Assessments: Describe the assessments you will use to measure student
progress towards or success in attaining the learning objectives. You may
include homework assignments.
Learning Objectives
Assessments
Students will be able to observe the
differences in minerals and rocks.
Students will write a report on their
rock using their “My Rock Report”
worksheet.
Students will be able to observe and
manipulate clay, soil and, humus.
Teachers will walk around and
observe that students are using lab
tools correctly and ask questions
about the soils.
5. Materials:
● Clay
● Humus
● Sand
● Rocks
● Trays
● “My Rock Report” worksheet
● “Comparing the Characteristics of Clay, Humus and Sand” worksheet
6. Pre-lesson assignments and/or prior knowledge:
● To access prior knowledge, ask students to think of a place they may have been
that’s rocky, sandy, or contains soil. Have the students share their experiences
and have them describe the rocks and soil.
7. Lesson Beginning:
● Have students examine different types of rocks and soil. Ask, “Where might you
find rocks and soil like these?”
● Have students make a T-chart with rocks and soil written at the top. Have them
list characteristics that show how rocks are different from soil.
● Tell the students they are going to be reading about rocks and soil.
8. Instructional Plan:
● Explain to the students that rocks are natural resources that can have many
shapes, sizes, and colors.
● Explain that sand is made up of tiny pieces of rock broken off of larger rocks by
wind, rain, and ice. Also explain that rocks are made of minerals. Examples of
minerals are quartz, copper, gold, and silver.
● Then, explain to students how soil is a natural resource. Soil is a mixture of
sand, clay, and humus. Soils can be different and plants need the right kind of
soil to grow.
● After learning about rocks and soils, the students will do an experiment with the
components of soil (clay, sand, and humus).
● The students will be broken into groups of four and given three cups: one of clay,
one of sand, and one of humus.
● Students will also be given a worksheet called “Comparing the Characteristics of
Humus, Clay, and Sand.” The worksheet asks students to compare the color,
particle size, feel, smell, and ability to hold together in a ball between the three
soil components.
o Differentiation:
● ESL Learners: the teacher will translate clay (barro), sand (arena),
soil (tierra)
o Questions:
● What is the difference between sand and humus?
● What are the differences in color?
● What do they smell like?
● What makes each soil different from each other?
● Are you able to pack the clay, sand, or humus into a ball?
● How do the clay, sand, and humus feel?
o Classroom Management:
● The teachers will assign jobs to the students before beginning the
experiment. One student will be in charge of getting the materials needed
for the experiment, one student will be in charge of getting four
worksheets for their group members, one student will be in charge of
cleaning up the materials and putting them away, and one student will be
in charge of cleaning the desks.
● Students will stay in groups while conducting the experiment. If students
start wandering from their groups or fighting over materials they will be not
be able to participate in the experiment. They must sit at their desk and
watch quietly.
● Before beginning the experiment, the teachers will demonstrate how to be
a “good scientist” so that the students know how to handle all of the
materials during the experiment.
o Transitions:
● Before moving from the usual rows to science groups, the teachers will
explain that anyone who can not control themselves during the experiment
will be sent to sit at a different table and can only watch and not
participate.
● Students will have assigned jobs to collect and clean up supplies.
● All experiment groups must be clean and have their supplies put away
before they can return to their original desks.
9. Closure:
● Students will return to their usual seats and share what they learned about rocks,
minerals and soils.
● Teachers will ask comprehension questions and follow up questions to students.