Rockin' The Rock Cycle

Hey everyone!

This week we started our rocks and minerals unit. The first few days were just observing and writing down properties of the rocks. Friday we spent talking about the rock cycle. The book that I follow was, well, I'll be blunt. Boring. Blah.  I knew I needed to spice it up.

First I wrote a few songs about the rock cycle. It was a hit last time with rounding, that I know I am going to have to do it for every unit!


I started off my lesson having the kids draw the rock life cycle with me and I used my Rocks and Minerals Nonfiction pack to help too, with pictures.






Then I told my kids I was going to give a live demonstration of the rock cycle. They looked around, puzzled. One even raised his hand and said, "But Ms. T, you don't have a volcano in here to do igneous rocks!"

I turned on my doc cam and pulled out three different colored Starburst. Well then they were all asking if they get to eat candy lol.

I took the three "rocks" and cut them into sediment pieces. I stacked them on top of each other as best I could and smushed them. I asked the kids what just happened. They responded that the sediment had pressure and they were layered, making it sedimentary rock.

Here is a piece of sediment.


Moving on, I picked up the sedimentary rock and rolled it in my hands, giving it heat. Then I stuck it in a ziploc bag and then dropped a dictionary on it and pushed. The class gasped and giggled. I told them I gave it heat by rubbing it and then pressure with the dictionary. "Metamorphic rock!", they yelled out.


Knowing igneous rock was left, they were excited. I pulled out my candle warmer had on during their specials, which is right before science, and I had put a piece of foil with a previously made metamorphic starburst rock. It was now liquidy.  I told them that once it cools, it'll be a rock. "Igneous rock!" they yelled.

It was just starting to harden here. The kids liked the cracks in the "rock".


To finish off my lesson, I pulled out my white sunglasses (used in the rounding rap) and they started cheering. Quite honestly, I felt like a rockstar at that moment, performing for an audience of 27 lol. #teacherbydayrockstarbynight

I busted out rapping my rock cycle rap. With cheers of encore, I rapped again, with the assistance of my class. They even came up with some hand motions too! Little do they know, I have two more rock songs coming their way next week!


If you guys are interested this rap, don't you love  KG Fonts by the way?, well I edited it to show 1-5th grades in this pdf. Sorry kindergarten, you're probably not learning this anyway and it wouldn't rhyme!  

Here you go


"You're famous Ms. T and a little dorky," one student said, with a grin on his face. If being dorky helps at least one kiddo get the concept, I've done my job. #prouddork


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