“Know – Understand – Do” Organizer
Course: Science
Grade(s): 6th
Topic: Rocks and Minerals Unit
School/District: RECA/Glynn County
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Which Standards are students learning in this unit?
S6E5. Students will investigate the scientific view of how the earth’s surface is formed
b. Investigate the contribution of minerals to rock composition
c. Classify rocks by their process of formation
d. Describe processes that change rocks
g. Describe how fossils show evidence of the changing surface and climate of the Earth.
By the end of this unit, students will be able to…….
Know
Most minerals are made out of
two or more elements, and
rocks are made out of two or
more minerals.
Understand
The test used to identify
minerals Mohs Hardness
Scale, cleavage, fracture,
streak, and color
Do
Perform a mineral
identification lab following
correct procedures when using
the lab tools and kits.
Many materials used by
people come from rocks and
minerals.
Rocks can be distinguished
into many different types,
based on their origins and
compositions.
Complete a rock cycle webquest using technology to
retrieve scientific information
about rocks and minerals,
create a file, and save in an
electronic file (H drive).
The processes by which rocks
change in the rock cycle.
Rocks are classified based on
how they formed and their
mineral composition.
Sedimentary rocks are formed
by the ongoing deposition of
rocks and other sediments that
compacted and cemented
together in a process known as
lithification.
Fossils, the remains of
organisms preserved in
All three types of rocks can
change into another type of
rock in the rock cycle.
Rocks and minerals are not the
same thing; rocks are
composed of minerals which
are naturally formed, solid,
inorganic, and existing
chemical compounds.
At separate stations in the lab,
students will identify igneous,
sedimentary, and metamorphic
rocks using visual
observations.
Create rock cycle posters.
Rocks and minerals are
naturally occurring substances
that are usually crystalline and
solid.
Compare and contrast
intrusive and extrusive
igneous rocks on a Venn
sedimentary rocks, are part of
the evidence scientists use to
infer changing conditions at
the Earth’s surface.
Through time, rocks at the
Earth’s surface weather,
forming sediments that are
buried, then compacted,
heated, and often recrystallized into new rock.
The remains and evidence of
plants and animals that once
lived on Earth are called fossils.
The Law of Superposition
Paleontologists are scientists
who studies fossils.
Fossil evidence is used for the
theory of plate tectonics.
.
Diagram.
Almost every product we use
in daily life contains minerals
that have to be mined.
Make direct measurements of
mass and volume to determine
the density of rocks in the lab.
Rocks can be distinguished
into many different types,
based on their origins and
compositions.
Draw a visual representation on
the types of rocks that contain
fossils. Explain why this is so.
Fossils are generally most
abundant in marine sedimentary
rocks. Fossils generally are not
found in igneous and
metamorphic rocks.
Fossils are the preserved
remains of past life on Earth.
Fossils are found in rocks
deposited in the environment in
which they lived.
Fossil preservation depends on
properties of organic matter and
environment of deposition.
Fossils may be used to interpret
earth history of plate
movement, past environmental
conditions, and history of life
on earth.
Use a visual representation to
predict the climate when the
fossil organism was alive and
the environmental conditions
that existed.
.