This fossil class didn't include dinosaurs. I talked about fossils in North Carolina and prehistoric mammals. I have a great book with drawings of prehistoric mammals. I had a great book with pictures of Wooly Mammoths, Giant Sloths, Sabertooths, and more. I used Play Doug and small animal figures to show how the mold and cast type fossils are made. The children took turns pushing the animals into the "mud" to see what imprint or mold they would make. I used playfoam to demonstate replacement fossils. I made a bone shape and explained how water would wash away bit by bit leaving minerals behind. This is why their are many different colors of fossils. I showed the chidren my collection of petrified would that is many colored. The kids then identified some of my fossil collection and told me if they were mold or replacement. We then talked about the wierd fossils like the frozen wooly mammoths found around the Artic Circle. I had frozen some small wooly mammoths in ice cubes and let each child try to free them with there warm hands and craft sticks.
I purchased a shark's tooth for each child and helped them make them into a necklace.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Rocks and Minerals
What is the difference between a rock and mineral. Rocks are composed of minerals. How do you tell the difference between the two? Rocks and minerals are made by the earth. Bricks, concrete and glass are man made and not considered a rock/mineral. I showed the children a crystal grown from a kit and they thought it was real but I explained it wasn't grown in the earth. I had a string of pearls and asked if they were minerals. NO, they grew inside of a oyster/clam. Minerals have never been alive. Rocks such as chalk, limestone, petrified wood were alive at one time. Minerals have the same crystal shape throughout them. Quartz always had a hexagonal crystal. Mica has a flat Crystal. Halite - cube. Rocks can have many crystals in them. Granite is a good example to see. It has quart, mica and feldspar normally.
We went through some tests to help identify minerals. First was using your tongue. I have a huge piece of halite that I licked and then bought a box of rock salt and gave everyone a piece to lick. I then explained that you shouldn't go around licking minerals. I should them a piece of lead and explained how some minerals were poisonous. Next test uses the nose, I passed around pieces of sulfur. I had the kids sniff it and they all said it smelled like smoke and I explained that they use it in matches. Sulphur burns with a purple flame, but if you light it do it outside or in good ventilation because it smells bad. The next test uses our fingernails as we do the scratch test. I gave each child a piece of talc and let them scratch it and make powder like baby powder. I then gave them a piece of quartz and had them try to scratch it, it's a 7 on the MOH's scale of hardness the talc is 1. Diamond is a 10 and could scratch quartz. The last test we did was using a magnet to check samples to identify iron.
There are 3 types of rocks, sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. I explained that sedimentary is layered like a sandwich. I had a piece of sandstone that they could see the layers throughout. Igneous is fire rock and is hardened magma or lava. We pretended that a candle was a rock that I melted and we said that the melting wax was the lava. When the wax hardened it became "igneous rock". Pumice and granite are good examples. Metamorphic is rock that has been changed by heat and pressure of having a mountain on it. I had a multicolored pack of modeling clay. I gave each student a small ball and told them that they were a mineral. A rainstorm came and washed the "minerals" into the lake, which was my palm. The water squeezed these together to form a sedimentary rock. I showed them what it looked like stuck together. If I melted our "rock" it would harden into an igneous rock. I told the students that they were mountains and was going to squeeze the sedimentary rock and make it metamorphic. We passed it around and squeezed and saw how it changed. I then showed them limestone and the marble that it would change too after millions of years of pressure.
I had buried small mineral samples in sand and the kids glued the to the appropriate square on card stock.
We went through some tests to help identify minerals. First was using your tongue. I have a huge piece of halite that I licked and then bought a box of rock salt and gave everyone a piece to lick. I then explained that you shouldn't go around licking minerals. I should them a piece of lead and explained how some minerals were poisonous. Next test uses the nose, I passed around pieces of sulfur. I had the kids sniff it and they all said it smelled like smoke and I explained that they use it in matches. Sulphur burns with a purple flame, but if you light it do it outside or in good ventilation because it smells bad. The next test uses our fingernails as we do the scratch test. I gave each child a piece of talc and let them scratch it and make powder like baby powder. I then gave them a piece of quartz and had them try to scratch it, it's a 7 on the MOH's scale of hardness the talc is 1. Diamond is a 10 and could scratch quartz. The last test we did was using a magnet to check samples to identify iron.
There are 3 types of rocks, sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. I explained that sedimentary is layered like a sandwich. I had a piece of sandstone that they could see the layers throughout. Igneous is fire rock and is hardened magma or lava. We pretended that a candle was a rock that I melted and we said that the melting wax was the lava. When the wax hardened it became "igneous rock". Pumice and granite are good examples. Metamorphic is rock that has been changed by heat and pressure of having a mountain on it. I had a multicolored pack of modeling clay. I gave each student a small ball and told them that they were a mineral. A rainstorm came and washed the "minerals" into the lake, which was my palm. The water squeezed these together to form a sedimentary rock. I showed them what it looked like stuck together. If I melted our "rock" it would harden into an igneous rock. I told the students that they were mountains and was going to squeeze the sedimentary rock and make it metamorphic. We passed it around and squeezed and saw how it changed. I then showed them limestone and the marble that it would change too after millions of years of pressure.
I had buried small mineral samples in sand and the kids glued the to the appropriate square on card stock.
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
The month of Geology is one of my favorite months to teach. I always start with the book HOW TO DIG A HOLE TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EARTH. I first explain that it is
impossible to dig through the earth. The book takes us through the layers of the earth. I use Playdough to build an earth. I use a magnet marble to act as the core. The core is silent iron and acts as to create a magnetic field in the earth. That's why a compass points north and why we have a north and south pole. The core is as hot as the surface of the sun and we pass it around and play hot potato. I then pass out pieces of yellow dough and have the kids put it around the core. This is the outer core. We placed on orange dough for the mantle (hot magma). We finished with flat pieces of brown dough to be the plates of the earth. When we finished I showed the kids where the pieces overlapped and made mountains and gaps where you can see the magma, where volcanoes form. I then cut the earth in half to show the kids the layers. I had a container of red jello which I called the magma and I floated graham crackers on top as plates. I showed them how the plates could float on this and cause earthquakes. I showed them a map of where the plate lines are and let the students see that we are in the middle of the plate and in a safe place. I had pairs of of wooden blocks with modeling clay on top. The children pulled on the blocks until the clay split causing an earthquake.
Volcanoes - I had drawings of shield, cone and strato volcanoes. I talked about the two types of lava, aa (slow, thick lava) pahohoe (fast, runny lava). We then looked a cross section of a volcano and looked at the parts. I then erupted one with baking soda, vinegar and soap. I also erupted one with ammonium dichromate. I burned it in a bottle cap on top of a volcano model. You can order the am. dichromate for around twelve dollars.
The students built clay volcanoes with a small test tube inside to take home.
impossible to dig through the earth. The book takes us through the layers of the earth. I use Playdough to build an earth. I use a magnet marble to act as the core. The core is silent iron and acts as to create a magnetic field in the earth. That's why a compass points north and why we have a north and south pole. The core is as hot as the surface of the sun and we pass it around and play hot potato. I then pass out pieces of yellow dough and have the kids put it around the core. This is the outer core. We placed on orange dough for the mantle (hot magma). We finished with flat pieces of brown dough to be the plates of the earth. When we finished I showed the kids where the pieces overlapped and made mountains and gaps where you can see the magma, where volcanoes form. I then cut the earth in half to show the kids the layers. I had a container of red jello which I called the magma and I floated graham crackers on top as plates. I showed them how the plates could float on this and cause earthquakes. I showed them a map of where the plate lines are and let the students see that we are in the middle of the plate and in a safe place. I had pairs of of wooden blocks with modeling clay on top. The children pulled on the blocks until the clay split causing an earthquake.
Volcanoes - I had drawings of shield, cone and strato volcanoes. I talked about the two types of lava, aa (slow, thick lava) pahohoe (fast, runny lava). We then looked a cross section of a volcano and looked at the parts. I then erupted one with baking soda, vinegar and soap. I also erupted one with ammonium dichromate. I burned it in a bottle cap on top of a volcano model. You can order the am. dichromate for around twelve dollars.
The students built clay volcanoes with a small test tube inside to take home.
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