Curated OER
Rock On! Featuring the Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Trio!
Get your classroom rocking with this four-lesson earth science unit. Through a series of shared reading activities and hands-on investigations, young geologists learn about the three types of rocks and the unique properties of each.
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Rocks and Minerals in Our Lives
Young geologists discover the important role that rocks and minerals play in our everyday lives through this series of hands-on activities. Starting off with a lesson that defines the difference between plants, animals, and...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Rocks & Minerals
Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Volcanoes!
Give young geologists an up close and personal look at volcanoes with a series of hands-on earth science lessons. Whether they are investigating the properties of igneous rocks, building their own volcanoes, or making...
Cal Recycle
Conserving Natural Resources
Trying to plan an engaging elementary science unit on natural resources? Conserve your energy! This five-part series of lessons and hands-on activities has exactly what you need to teach young scholars about the importance of conservation.
Core Knowledge Foundation
The History of the Earth Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
A read-aloud anthology focuses on Earth's history. Over three weeks, young scholars listen to and discuss stories about the layers of the Earth, minerals, fossils, different kinds of rocks, and dinosaurs. After the lesson's text, each...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: Fifth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Fifth graders continue their investigation of the plate tectonics cycle with an exploration of the movement of Earth's crust. During the lab, young geologists conduct an experiment to discover the result of different types of...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics: Fourth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
The pre-lab portion of the lesson introduces emerging geologists to the various layers that make up Earth. After completing a sheet on the identification of the layers, class members simulate plate boundaries and their...
Curated OER
Volcanoes: Third Grade Lessons Plans and Activities
Discover how rocks are formed from volcanoes during a geology pre-lab activity. Third graders describe the volcanic rock samples and creating a model of Mt. Lassen, located in California. The lesson culminates in...
Chymist
Testing the Waters
Should you trust the water you drink every day? The hands-on activity has scholars test water from different sources for contaminants. Pupils perform chemical testing and make conclusions about pH, hardness, iron, chlorine, lead,...
Vision Learning
Visionlearning: Earth Science: Minerals Ii: Properties
Instructional module focusing on the physical properties of minerals. Discussion includes the identifying characteristics such as color, hardness, luster, crystal forms, density, and cleavage. Site also includes an interactive practice...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Mineral Formation
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Learn about the process of mineral formation.
Vision Learning
Visionlearning: Earth Science: Rocks and Minerals: Defining Minerals
Instructional module focusing on minerals. Discussion includes chemical composition, chemical structure, and the formation process. The site also includes an interactive practice quiz and links relating to the topic.
Vision Learning
Visionlearning: Earth Science: Minerals Iii: The Silicates
Instructional module focusing on the Silicate minerals. Discussion includes the most common minerals on Earth such as quartz, feldspar, mica, amphibole, pyroxene, and olivine. Site also includes an interactive practice quiz and links...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Mineral Formation
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How minerals form.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Mineral Groups
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How to classify different types of minerals.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Mineral Identification
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Classifying minerals based on physical characteristics.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Mineral Groups
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How to classify different types of minerals.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Mineral Identification
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Classifying minerals based on physical characteristics.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Minerals
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Defines the properties of a mineral.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Minerals
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Defines the properties of a mineral.
Vision Learning
Visionlearning: Earth Science: The Nitrogen Cycle: Of Microbes and Men
Instructional module focusing on the nitrogen cycle. Discussion includes the requirement of nitrogen by all organisms, the five processes in the nitrogen cycle, and how humans impact this cycle. The site also includes an interactive...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Finding and Mining Ores
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Identifies some of the valuable minerals and metals, and how they are located, mined, and refined.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Radiometric Dating
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Elaborates on radioactive decay as a tool for determining the age of certain minerals and other materials, including the limits of the technique.