Why is this so hard? Making a lesson around Rocks and Minerals.

[Emagine]

I could bang my head on the wall. I am good with ideas. I am creative in how I teach my kids. I can think outside the box. The problem is I need that box to get me going. Seems I can modify anything and make it us. Now that I have collected tons of things to do for Rocks, Gems and Minerals I am stumped all because I do not have a premade lesson plan to tweak.

 

My boys wanted to do this. I have the DVD. I bought a cool Rock game, books from the library. Planned a gem mining trips and so on. How do I do anything with the items I have? Should I find a unit study? Just watch the DVD and read the books..etc...

[Hunter]

The two things that get me stuck are having too many resources and resources that have little connection to daily life.

 

Pull out 3 things that are babyish and ordinary looking. Put the rest away for now.

[Arcadia]

How about

 

1) watch the dvd and write any questions that your boys have during watching

 

2) try to find answers to those questions in the books from the library

 

3) play the rock game you bought

 

4) go on the gem mining trip with cameras, magnifier, journal (or anything to write on)

 

My boys did rock and minerals last year and they collect rocks everytime we go to the beach.

[lorisuewho]

If you have the money, you could just buy a unit to tweak. I believe AIMS has one. I personally really like the tweak.

[mommyshanti]

Start with reading one of the books from library, from there it might lead to a a video or experiment,ect. You just gotta dive in sometimes:)

[QuirkyKidAcademy]

I am soooo the same way! When you figure it out, please tell us what you did. Good luck!

[abba12]

Do you have anyone who can put together a tentative plan that you can then modify? If they give you the framework, you can then modify it as you see fit. I love putting those sorts of things together, I suppose if you're really stuck you could message me and I could try put a basic lesson plan together for you though it's harder without the resources on-hand.

[MomatHWTK]

Do a search for "rocks and minerals" unit studies or lesson plans.

 

Here's a very detailed study:

http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/geologyUnit.html

 

Easier one:

http://www.rocksandminerals4u.com/lesson_plans.html

Edited September 19, 2012 by MomatHWTK

[Lily_Grace]

There's a book out called Geology Rocks! It is all activities for earth science, containing things like rock tic-tac-toe, mineral tests, looking for "stars", and learning about how different rocks and minerals make up the earth. Check to see if your library has it. It's a great jumpstart to using all those materials you already own and continuing where the book leaves off.

[Wheres Toto]

I have Rock and Mineral lesson plans on my blog. My usual method for any lesson plans is to start each days session with a reading, discussion or video. Then we do the experiment/activity and then may finish up with another reading but I'll often do the second reading while they are doing the activity since it can be hard to get them back to listening after they've been doing something active and I don't want to have to cut them short to "finish".

 

I do try to break up my large plan into logical divisions and finish one division each day we do science (I do the same for history). So Rocks & Minerals was divided into: Inside the Earth, Rocks are Made of Minerals (difference between a rock and mineral), Identifying Minerals, The Rock Cycle and three types of rocks.

 

The book Geology Rocks is a good one.

[Farrar]

Go outside. Find rocks. Use a guide to try and identify them. :D

[Jess4879]

I am the same way. We used a lapbook from here: http://www.handsofachild.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=rocks&order=relevance&dir=desc We have used several of their lapbooks and I love them. They are so easy to add/remove things and the kids love them.

[Emagine]

Going to google the lapbooks. It is funny in a way, something so simple I can not do. ha!

 

The Geo Rocks Book, I have it. I spent some time last night reading it and trying to bainstorm. We have a pretty good rock collection as it goes which is what lead to this.

 

I think boys and rocks just go hand in hand :)

[Critterfixer]

We studied one rock at a time and then pulled the rock from our box to look at it and make notes on what we observed about it. I also had the boys memorize composition of certain rocks that I felt were important, and we tried to find pictures of areas that were abundant in those rocks or minerals and located them on the map or globe. I also tried to make sure they had an understanding of how those rocks or minerals are mined and used when I could. We used library books to supplement when it came to things like volcanoes, earthquakes, etc. And I used videos a lot for volcanoes because you just have to see those. I used the library for that. We also used the library videos to see places where certain geological features are the main attraction, or played an important role in their ecology (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Rift Valley.)

And we collected lots, and lots and lots of rocks and fossils. (I used to collect rocks myself, and was able to use a lot of my own collection in addiction to the rock collection I purchased.)

 

We had two field trips during our geology study-we dug for quartz crystals and visited the Hot Springs. It got too hot this summer, so our third trip we will take this fall sometime: we are going to go dig for diamonds.

In short, it was one of our most enjoyable science periods so far. (Although Astronomy is not far behind--we are really enjoying it so far!)

 

I didn't care for Geology Rocks. Didn't care for the layout or the cartoon look of it.

 

Disclaimer_ I am not a geologist and knew next to nothing about rocks when we started. I'm quite sure I made plenty of mistakes. We had a ton of fun and learned a lot anyway.

[thebacabunch]

I loveROcks and Minerals kit from science in a nutshell. We do it every few years and the kids always love it.

[NittanyJen]

The Happy Scientist has unit studies on Rocks and Minerals available. You can subscribe to his entire site for $20 for the year. His videos are a ton of fun-- my kids love them.

[jar7709]

OP, sounds like you have lots of good stuff already, and people have given you a lot of good recommendations. But imo, you've got what you need already--a few good resources and the interest--so just jump in! :) True, I am a geologist, so I might be biased. My kids are up to their ears in rocks and minerals just from living in this house, and geology lessons just 'happen' around here. That said introductory geology/rocks/minerals is not that difficult and they don't call college intro classes 'rocks for jocks' for nothing. ;) You can't go too far wrong if even the only thing your kids remember is that rocks can be igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary, the basics of the rock cycle, and that something like quartz is really common but not as hard as diamond. Take your kids on a few field trips and have fun!

 

(If you are still intimidated and want a specific scope/sequence using what you already have to work with, feel free to pm me :) )

[Guest loripedford]

I bought the R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey - Earth & Science curriculum to go along with our Middle Ages History. It covers lots more than just Minerals and Rocks, but it may be helpful for you.

 

http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=84