Edible Rocks

This past week we learned about the 3 types of rocks and how they are formed. We learned a song about the Rock Cycle and made some yummy edible rocks as models of the different types of rocks. For our igneous rocks, which are formed when molten rock cools and hardens, we microwaved chocolate until it melted and then each student got a sample that they watched cool and harden. For our metamorphic rocks, which are formed when heat and pressure are applied, we stacked 3 starbursts and used our hands to apply heat and pressure, causing the 3 starbursts to combine as 1 "rock". Last, for our sedimentary rocks, we used graham crackers as our layers of sediment and layered them using icing as our clay that holds the sediment together. We had a lot of fun with this activity and enjoyed eating our tasty creations!

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Science ROCKS!

Our first two weeks of science have been full of hands-on exploration of different minerals. As we have been learning about “what good scientists do”, we have also been using our observation skills to collect important data about different minerals by observing their physical properties using hand lenses. Our first exploration allowed us the use of hand lenses to observe actual minerals in our classroom- we identified their color, streak, luster, and hardness. We found that some minerals seem exactly alike, except for 1 property. Next week we'll continue this exploration and follow up with a fun online simulation on the gizmos website!