Geology Activities and Fireworks


March 6-10

Workshop Activities

1. Craft – Grow Crystals

2. Key Points – Identify Rocks

3. Collaborative – Experiment to discover how caves are made

4. Writing – Write about rocks

5. Math/Logic - Mining Math

6. Character Connection - Experience Stress with Earthquake Action

7. Big Activity - Create Stratigraphy

8. Movement - Play a Garbage Ball Game

Standard Disney Days Activities (from 2/22)

  1. Craft: Students write with invisible ink

  2. Main key Points - Elements - Students graph earth's elements

  3. Collaboration – lifting ice experiment

  4. Follow-up Activity – Identify types of rocks

  5. Chemical Reaction – Expose invisible words

  6. Hunt – Visit petrified tree

Weekly Disney Days

  • Geology can teach us about how the Earth became what it is today, as well as how to care for it.

  • Key Points: Stalagmites and stalactites, earthquakes, precious metals, dinosaur fossils, mountains, canyons, valleys, glaciers, waterfalls, underground rivers, formation of granite, petrified wood, Pangaea, scale, earth is made up of elements from space, 3 kinds of rocks, aquifers, how we use rocks

  • Make representations of Pangaea

  • Make a scale model

  • Create stalagtites and stalagmites

  • Identify the layers of the earth

  • Discuss the 3 kinds of Rock.

  • Look at the roots to the words of the different kinds of rocks.

  • Math Challenge: Using the Matterhorn, discuss the concept of "scale." Figure out your height in the same scale.

Minecraft Activities

  • Experience the rock cycle

  • Identify the Minecraft rocks that exist in real life

  • Experience how we use rocks

  • build challenge - carve something out of rock

Fireworks/Quests

  • Create a topographical map using paper mache for the mountain ranges.

  • Climb a hill or mountain near your home.

  • Pretend you are a newspaper reporter. Write a story as if you were reporting an Earthquake that had just occurred.

  • Assemble a 72-hour kit that your family can use in the event of a disaster.

  • Memorize the Rock Cycle song: http://simpson3rdgrade.weebly.com/uploads/5/5/2/0/55205461/rock_cycle_song.pdf

  • Sketch or paint diagrams of Pangaea, the layers inside the earth, the earth’s tectonic plates, and inside a volcano.

  • Do some earthquake puzzles:

  • http://www.edhelper.com/Earth_theme12.htm

  • http://www.thepotters.com/puzzles/kids/earthquakes.html

  • Investigate what types of rocks and rock formations are common in your area. Take photographs or draw pictures of nearby rock formations. Determine what kinds of rocks you have photographed or illustrated. See if you can figure out how those formations were most likely created. Write captions for your pictures. Compile your pictures and captions onto a poster or into a binder or use them to create a multimedia presentation.

  • Map out the ten largest earthquakes in the world.

  • Experience the rock cycle: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es0602/es0602page02.cfm

  • Read fiction or non-fiction about the earth.

  • Make a model volcano.

  • Go on a rock hunt. How many different kinds of rocks can you collect and identify? Start a rock collection.

  • Make a magazine about some of the most famous rocks in the world: Mount Rushmore; Ayer’s Rock; the Blarney Stone; the pyramids; the Parthenon; the Lincoln Memorial; Kabba; the Rosetta Stone; Plymouth Rock; and Carlsbad Caverns. On a map of the world, mark each stone’s location. Identify what type of rock each is composed of.

  • Do some earthquake math:

  • http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/beyond/articles/earthquakes/earthquakes.html

  • http://peer.berkeley.edu/education/files/USAToday_Earthquake.pdf

  • http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_sc/hst/HSTMW431.PDF

  • Read a book about gems or rocks:

  • http://atn-reading-lists.wikispaces.com/Gems

  • http://atn-reading-lists.wikispaces.com/Rocks

  • Track current earthquakes for one week by visiting https://earthquake.usgs.gov/ each day for a week. Make a diagram to show the results of your earthquake watch.

  • Determine what a rock, an element, a mineral and a gem are. How are they similar? How are they different?

  • Make a bumpersticker: “Living on Earth is expensive, but it includes a free trip around the sun.”

  • Watch for examples of different kinds of rocks used for practical purposes. Look at buildings and monuments for blocks of the igneous rock granite, the sedimentary rock sandstone (or brownstone), and the metamorphic rock slate. Look at museums and public buildings for examples of the metamorphic rock marble, used in many floors, monuments, and statues. Make a chart to record the kinds of rock you see, where you found them, and for what purposes they are used.

  • Make a crayon rock cycle: http://www.exo.net/~emuller/activities/Crayon-Rock-Cycle.pdf

  • Go to a gem and mineral show.

  • Make a model of our planet: http://web.archive.org/web/20040720160431/http://bj.canon.co.jp/download/papercraft/science/globe_e_ltr.pdf

  • Find out what's the best thing to do during an earthquake. Teach this to your family.

Featured Posts