4th grade Rock Project:
Assignment: Fourth grade students are learning about earth structures. Specifically, students have learned about the three classifications of rocks: Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Please work with your child to create one of the types of “rocks”. Be creative!! It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, but please have fun. For example, to represent a sedimentary rock, you can press different colored starbursts together to show the sediments and layers in a sedimentary rock. Another example could be taking broken crayons and melting them together to illustrate how an igneous rock is cooled down magma. Another example might be smashing chocolate candies together and then heating them with a hair dryer to demonstrate how metamorphic rock is formed - through high temperature and pressure, deep inside the earth. Look on Pinterest or google for more examples. Below is a description of each type of rock to help you with ideas. The point is to work with your child to create a “rock” that will help them remember how it was formed. Your child should be able to share their “rock” with the class (rubric below).
Types of Rocks:
Sedimentary Rock: formed when small particles of minerals, sand, and soil (called sediments) settle on the bottom of lakes or oceans. The weight and pressure pushes down on these sediments over very long periods and slowly turns them into sedimentary rocks. Limestone and sandstone are common sedimentary rocks.
Metamorphic Rock: formed when other rocks are changed by high temperature and high pressure deep inside the Earth. An example of metamorphic rock is marble.
Igneous Rock: formed from molten lava that cools and hardens when it is exposed to the cooler temperatures of earth’s surface. Magma is melted rock that is found beneath the earth’s crust. Magma either escapes though the lava tubes and side vents of a volcano or intrudes into rock formations. Examples of igneous rocks are granite, basalt, and obsidian.
Assignment: Fourth grade students are learning about earth structures. Specifically, students have learned about the three classifications of rocks: Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Please work with your child to create one of the types of “rocks”. Be creative!! It can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, but please have fun. For example, to represent a sedimentary rock, you can press different colored starbursts together to show the sediments and layers in a sedimentary rock. Another example could be taking broken crayons and melting them together to illustrate how an igneous rock is cooled down magma. Another example might be smashing chocolate candies together and then heating them with a hair dryer to demonstrate how metamorphic rock is formed - through high temperature and pressure, deep inside the earth. Look on Pinterest or google for more examples. Below is a description of each type of rock to help you with ideas. The point is to work with your child to create a “rock” that will help them remember how it was formed. Your child should be able to share their “rock” with the class (rubric below).
Types of Rocks:
Sedimentary Rock: formed when small particles of minerals, sand, and soil (called sediments) settle on the bottom of lakes or oceans. The weight and pressure pushes down on these sediments over very long periods and slowly turns them into sedimentary rocks. Limestone and sandstone are common sedimentary rocks.
Metamorphic Rock: formed when other rocks are changed by high temperature and high pressure deep inside the Earth. An example of metamorphic rock is marble.
Igneous Rock: formed from molten lava that cools and hardens when it is exposed to the cooler temperatures of earth’s surface. Magma is melted rock that is found beneath the earth’s crust. Magma either escapes though the lava tubes and side vents of a volcano or intrudes into rock formations. Examples of igneous rocks are granite, basalt, and obsidian.
Here are some examples: