This was a science intense week! The upper grades had geology class on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Friday they helped teacher David and I teach the material that they have learned in the past two weeks to the lower grades.
On Monday we reviewed the plate tectonics worksheet, and talked about the rock cycle. We did an activity using crayons to illustrate the rock cycle. Students were separated in three groups, each group had 3 crayons of one specific color. The crayons represent different types of rock. Students were told to shave the crayons, and I asked them what part of the rock cycle this action was representing. It was clear that all students knew that the shaving was representing erosion. The next step was to place the crayons' shavings on a piece of aluminum foil - one color at a time, and one layer on top of the other. This resulted in the formation of a sedimentary rock. After all students had a chance to take a look at our model of sedimentary rocks, I closed the aluminum foil, and asked each student to apply pressure to the package. Metamorphic rocks are created when other types of rocks are exposed to heat and pressure. After examining our crayon metamorphic rock, we went to the kitchen and placed our foil in boiling water for about 10 minutes. The melted crayons were allowed to dry until the next day. The boiling part of this project simulates the formation of igneous rocks.
On Tuesday we took a look at the cooled igneous rock, and then we tried a slightly different approach to make fossils (mold and cast) with clay and plaster. I brought small paper cups to the classroom, and asked the kids to make smooth balls of clay to place inside the cups. They placed the clay inside the cup, flattened the top, and applied a small amount of Vaseline on the surface. Each student chose a small plastic animal, and pushed it on the surface of the clay to make a mold. When they were done with their molds, I poured platser in the cup until it was almost filled and the plaster was left to dry. After this project, students were divided into two groups (one group was responsible for preparing posters and presentations for the first and second graders, and the other group was responsible for preparing posters and presentations for the third and fourth graders).
On Wednesday we checked on the fossils and were happy to find out that we were successful with our second approach. I presented a mini lecture on glaciers that covered the following topics:
- What are glaciers? How are they formed and how do they move?
- How can glaciers shape landscapes? My focus was on plucking, abrasion, and moraine formation.
Students seemed to be very interested in this subject! Most of them didn't know much about glaciers, and they showed a lot of interest in the topic. After my presentation, the two groups prepared a glacier to be used in Friday's geology session, and they had approximately 45 minutes to work on their posters and practice the presentations.
On Friday we had a geology session for the whole school in the morning. There were four half-hour activities. Teacher David helped the older kids work with the first and second graders, and I helped those that were working with the third and fourth graders. You can find a summary of what we did on David's blog (http://grainworldsand.blogspot.com/). I was really happy to see, and hear from David, how the upper graders were knowledgeable about the geological concepts being covered. The students who were working with me in Brittany's class did an EXCELLENT job answering questions and presenting their posters. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to talk to the 5-7th graders about how to present the information and introduce the activities, so David and I ended up doing most of the talking.
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