I have not been online in a bit. I have been sick on and off for the past few weeks, but today I was feeling better, and decided to have some science fun with the kids in school today. As always, anything that allows us to incorporate food into our lessons is a huge score!
We started the lesson by reviewing some of the CC Science memory work from the last couple of weeks. I had the kids answer the questions, “What are some parts of the earth?”, and “What are some types of rock?”. We then re-read passages from two of our library books to elaborate on the memory work. We used Geology by Frank H. T. Rhodes and the Earth from the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books Series by Susanna Van Rose.
The activity ideas for the day were found on this great blog, Beakers and Bumblebees Blog: a Journey through fifth grade Science class! As always I used whatever we had on hand at home. First we created an edible model of the layers of the earth using the cut off bottom of a cake ice cream cone, cake frosting, chocolate syrup, and a hard candy. The cone was our crust. The frosting was our mantle. The syrup was our liquid outer core, and we used a lemonhead breath mint as our hard inner core. We read and talked about the hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere while we ate our models.
Next we sang the song we found on the blog and started working on making our rocks.
We will we will rock you!
we will we will rock you!
Volcanos erupt with lava so hot
it cools and hardens and its igneous rock cuz
rocks can change…all over this place…
they weather, and melt, and get rearranged!
We will we will rock you!
we will we will rock you!
Rock gets weathered into tiny tiny rocks
layers and layers get piled on top
it gets compacted, its elementary
this rock will become sedimentary
we will we will rock you
we will we will rock you!
Any type of rock under heat and pressure
becomes metamorphic and that’s for sure
cuz rocks can change, all over this place..
they weather, and melt and get rearranged
we will we will rock you
we will we will rock you!
The kids loved the song!
First, we made metamorphic rocks by using the heat and pressure from our hands to change snickers bars into deliciously rearranged rocks. We placed the candies into Ziploc bags and then smashed away.
Next, we used a candle to demonstrate how igneous rocks are formed. We compared the melted and cooled wax to the lava that flows from volcanoes to create igneous rocks. We then melted our own chocolate “rocks”, you may call them chips, and allowed them to “flow” over waxed paper and cool. My son said it was the best rocks he had ever tasted. There’s something special about a dark chocolate igneous rock. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture. I think I was a little too messy by that point or fighting the littlest to let the chocolate cool. I know there was an incident with the candle. You’ll have to trust me.
We ended the lesson by making our edible version of sedimentary rocks. We began by taking a few cookie “rocks” and ” weathering” them until we were left with crumbs. By weathering I mean dropping them and banging them against things. Isn’t that what the wind does? We poured those into ramekins. We found more sand in the form of brown sugar and layered that on top. Next a few larger rocks that resembled dark chocolate chips. For the final layer of rocks we used mini marshmallows. We read about fossils and their deposits in sedimentary rocks and used butter as our oil deposits created by those dead animals. We placed the ramekins in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes and allowed them to cool. After lunch we unearthed our sedimentary rocks for a crunchy dessert.
Thank goodness we had a really light breakfast this morning because we pretty much ate nothing but sugar the first half of the day. Had I planned better, I would have spaced those out over a few days. There is certainly something to be said for feeling better and being out of bed! And yes, I know this was crazy to take on my first day back. I’m paying for it now, because I’m exhausted. Good night!
hill love 