Rocks ROCK!

 

Hey Science Friends,

We have been having tons of fun investigating the natural world. I think the highlight this week was a visit from Mr. V from Real School Gardens. We always look forward to his visits with us. We were excited this time around because we knew we were going to talk...ROCKS! And we have been waiting several months to kick off this unit and we were lucky enough to kick it off with Mr. V.

 



 

So here we go getting ready for our scientists meeting. We always start with a meeting and we love it when we are outside. With our Science Notebooks in hand and pencils sharpened we are ready to go!

 

 

 

 

We sure knew what we were in for when we saw this. Yep, we are going to sort rocks by properties and I just bet we can add a few more categories to that. We are kind of good at that if I say so myself. I think we are super sorters by now.

 

 

We start our lesson with three simple rocks. Just playground rocks. At first glance nothing really that special...until you take a closer look! Scientists look and look again and discuss what they find. And when we discuss our findings and take a closer look, we begin to see the differences in even playground rocks.

 

 

We begin sorting and I think even Mr. V was impressed at how fast we can sort. We decided to sort big and small rocks.

 

 

I wonder how many rocks we sorted?

 

 

Great idea... we needed an organized method for counting our rocks. I guess our counting strategy worked and it helped make counting easier and accurate.

 

 

And we found more ways to sort our playground rocks.

 

 

And we start to realize that someone is not adding to our sort... It's ok, we know everybody needs a rock and sometimes, just sometimes, it is hard to let go of that special rock if even for a minute...

 

 

You sure didn't see me letting go of my tiger stripe rock!  

 

 

We add lots to our Science Notebooks for our rock sort. And then we were off for more investigations.

 

 

 

 

We found some pretty big, rough rocks and we had to get a good feel of those. And then we realize it is time for our field investigations to end. It is amazing how time passes by so quickly when you are in the moment and we all sure were. We learned that rocks can be sorted by their properties and we learned that even playground rocks have different properties when you take a closer look. And some of us learned that it is hard to let go of a favorite rock. I am like that too! I even bet Mr. V has a favorite rock in his pocket!

 

 

So Mr. V we wanted to post this video for you. We thank you for teaching us to be better scientists and how to explore the natural world and for teaching us to see the beauty in our world in our garden. Best wishes to you as you continue to inspire science teachers and help develop young scientists...especially the small ones.