Curriculum Area 1000: Natural Resources
Activity 1000B: Rock Collections
Designed by Jerry Piche, modified from Rebecca Olien's Rock On
(Olien, Rebecca. (1998). Walk This Way: Classroom Hikes to Learning.
Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH.)
Objectives:
1. Investigate and display rocks from the local area
2. Compare colors and textures of rocks in order to sort them
Materials needed:
- Pieces of cardboard approximately 2 ft X 2 ft
- Glue (liquid glue works better than paste or stick glue for this)
- A mild liquid soap (dish soap works well)
Instructions:
- Take students on a hike through a gravel pit or along a dirt road.
- Have students collect rocks of different colors, shapes and textures. Tell them
that the rocks need to be "golf ball" size or smaller.
- Back at the school, use the soap to clean the rocks of dirt and debris.
- Tell the students to sort their collections based upon either luster (amount of
sparkle and shine it has), streaking ability (does it leave a colored mark on the
sidewalk) or smell (when striking a hard surface does the stone smell). These
are all ways of categorizing rocks.
- Attach the rocks to the cardboard using the glue to create a display of their
rock collection.
Questions for Study:
- Where do rocks come from?
- Are rocks being formed today?