Lesson Plan

Curriculum Standard: Students develop an understanding of the properties of Earth materials, objects in the sky, and changes in Earth and sky.

Objectives:
1. The students will recognize various rock types.
2. The students will differentiate between rock types.
3. The students will identify the characteristics used to categorize rocks.

Big Idea: Rocks are categorized into types by specific characteristics caused by their formation.

Preparations:
1. Introduce basic rock types and how they are formed.
2. Look up the National Geographic web site and show examples of each rock type.
3. Discuss the characteristics of each rock type.
4. Pass around actual examples of each rock type for students to view firsthand.

Guidance:
1. Ask each student to examine the rock he/she brought into class today.
2. As a whole group, divide the rocks into the basic rock categories.
3. Discuss why each rock was placed in the appropriate group.

Application:
1. Students will go outside in groups and collect rocks to add to the classroom
collection.
2. Students will examine the guidelines for properly storing a rock collection.

Assessment:
1. The teacher will observe the students as they work and use a check list to
verify understanding of the concepts involved in categorizing rocks.
2. The students will complete an exit slip listing two characteristics used for
identifying each of the three basic rock types.