National Park Service
Rock Ranking
Junior geologists sort rocks and soil. They separate a sample of river gravel by size, shape, color, and other characteristics. To include Common Core standards, you could have little ones graph the number of particles in each sample.
Curated OER
Environmental Studies: The Environment Rocks!
Rock exploration, so exciting! After reading the book Everybody Needs a Rock, the class makes sandwiches to better understand that the Earth is made in layers. They then use a description of the 3 types of rock to conduct an observation...
Discovery Education
Weathering Cubes
Weathering is not necessarily a result of the weather. Scholars conduct an experiment to explore the effect of surface area and volume on the weathering process. They create their own sugar cube rocks using the same number of cubes—but...
Curated OER
Weathering
Second graders explore weathering and how the water cycle plays a part in weathering. In this weathering instructional activity, 2nd graders put gravel and sugar cubes in a jar and shake, simulating weathering. Students use the...
Curated OER
Let's Take a Rock Apart!
Learners examine a crushed rock and sort the minerals they find in that rock by color and other properties.
Project SMART
Rocks and Minerals: Touch the Earth
Students complete a unit of lessons on rocks and minerals. They conduct research, write e-mail questions to geologists, write daily journal entries, label maps demonstrating types of rocks/minerals found, and create a web page that...
Curated OER
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Students compare the weathering of different-sized materials. Comparisons are made and data analyzed to reach conclusions about the process of weathering. Applications can be made for the higher grades.
Curated OER
Let's Take a Rock Apart
Young scholars take a crushed rock and sort the remains of the rock minerals into different categories based on the different properties. In this sorting lesson plan, students learn what makes up a rock and how to sort something into...
Curated OER
Nebraska's Wild Weather
Pupils examine the weather in Nebraska. Using this information, they describe the cause and effect relationships in the environment based on these changes in weather. They write various types of poems with weather themes and share them...
Curated OER
Interdisciplinary Task: Weather
Students design a chart to use to record the weather for five days. They then build an anemometer to record wind speed and discover why they are used for this purpose.
Curated OER
What's Under My Feet?
Students choose one rock from a collection of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. They use multiple resources to create an informational brochure highlighting their rock. The brochures are combined into a class rock museum to be...
Curated OER
Talking Rocks
Artists imitate the symbols used by tribes of the Southwest or use their own word pictures that communicate something about themselves. This lesson is a perfect blend of visual art and social studies. Students create a beautiful piece of...
PEGAMES.org
RPS evolution
Stuck inside on a rainy day for PE? Try a fun game that will get your little learners moving around inside during wet weather. The game involves moving like various animals and peer interaction through games of rock-paper-scissors.
PEGAMES.org
Duck Duels
If you're stuck inside on a rainy day for PE, or just want to give your class a body break, try out this fun game involving quick mental math and movement. Waddling around the classroom as ducks, learners compete in math duels, trying to...
Curated OER
A Rocky Situation
Second graders conduct experiments with rocks to observe weathering. They read books, examine websites and watch a video to examine how rocks break down into soil.
Curated OER
Erosion
Students examine soil erosion and what causes it. In this soil lesson students complete several experiments on soil erosion and the weathering process.
Curated OER
Microbes in Long Island Sound
Students discover the harm and benefits of microbes. In this biology lesson, students explore water, nitrogen and carbon cycles. They investigate the factors affecting bacteria growth.
Curated OER
What Is Clay?
This resource could come in handy the next time you feel like teaching about clay. Basic sculpting techniques, vocabulary, and history of clay are outlined in this informative resource. Use prior to teaching an art project involving...
Curated OER
SOIL
Second graders name the various materials that comprise soil, including weathered rock and other organic matter; and explain that soils differ in their color, texture, capacity to retain water, and ability to support the growth of many...
Curated OER
Soil
Second graders name the various materials that comprise soil, including weathered rock and other organic matter. They explain that soils differ in their color, texture, capacity to retain water, and ability to support the growth of many...
Curated OER
Understanding Wind Direction And Making A Wind Vane
Students construct a wind vane while learning the functionality of its parts and the effects that wind has on the weather. They study the four directions and indicate them by looking at their wind vanes.
Curated OER
Authentic Pilgrim Boys and Girls
Students synthesize their historical knowledge of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock by looking at period paintings of Albert Beirstadt and Pierre Renoir, enabling them to depict in a performance for their parents, the original dress...
Growing Classroom
Space Travelers
Groups of three scientists from the rocky planet Zog investigate the composition of soil so that they can take the information back to their home, create soil there, and begin to grow food.
National Park Service
Living & Non-Living Interactions
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in learning about the...