Cornell University
Exploring Rocks and Minerals
Investigate the properties of rocks and minerals through a rockin' hands-on activity. Learners test rocks for various properties and, using a guide, attempt to identify different samples. They use various properties including hardness,...
Curated OER
4.2: Exploring Rocks
Students collect and look at rocks and write down information about them in science notebooks. They make comparisons and sort the rocks according to their properties, and then discuss their findings with their classmates and put them on...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Rockin' Rock Cycle- Igneous Rock
Fifth graders recall prior knowledge about rocks. In this igneous rock lesson, learners work in cooperative groups to perform experiments to classify the properties of igneous rock. They write a detailed paragraph and illustrate the rock...
Curated OER
Rocks
Students examine and classify various types of rocks. In this rock identification lesson, students complete a KWL chart about rocks and then read Let's Go Rock Collecting. Students go on a walk to collect rocks and then...
Curated OER
Exploring Rocks
Students collect and examine rocks. They record information about the rocks they have collected in their notebooks. They compare and contrast different rocks and complete a class chart at the end of the lesson.
Curated OER
Pebbles, Sand and Silt -- Categorizing Fiction and Informational Books
Primary readers complete the activities in a Pebbles, Sand and Silt FOSS kit. As a class, they are given a group of rocks and they are to categorize them based on their activities in the FOSS kit. They use this information and apply it...
Curated OER
Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources: Mining in B.C.
Students explore energy by categorizing rocks. In this British Columbia geology lesson, students define many different vocabulary terms associated with mining such as sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Students utilize sample rock...
Curated OER
Wonder Underground
Students classify and record objects they find "underground." In this observation instructional activity, students dig into bins filled with soil and encounter various objects such as bark, twigs, etc. Students classify their findings.
Cornell University
Classification
Explore the scientific method of classification. An interactive activity asks learners to create a classification system for a group of objects and develop a flow chart to communicate their systems. In addition, individuals use a...
Curated OER
Shells on the Mountain Top?
Learners work in groups to remove fossils from sediments, classifying as many organisms and parts of organisms as possible into major groups. They study the data from each formation and make conclusions about the types of organisms and...
Curated OER
Classification and Attributes
Students classify objects based on their attributes. They explain how archaeologists use classification to help answer research questions.
Curated OER
Matter Matters: Solids, Liquids and Gases
Scientists participate in a variety of hands-on experiments in this ten-day unit on the three states of matter. Lessons incorporate literature, a-v materials, and poetry to help students differentiate between solids, liquids and gases.
Curated OER
Human or Natural?
Students explore nature by participating in a class lab activity. In this human vs. nature lesson plan, students examine a group of items in their classroom and discuss whether they were created naturally or have been altered or created...
Curated OER
Go Glacier Go!
Students create a model of a glacier and observe how it moves. In this landforms instructional activity, students learn what a glacier is, build a model glacier and observe how it moves in a manner that more closely resembles a liquid...