Candy Rocks!

I got a call on Sunday evening from the lady that coordinates our Monday co-op.  She asked if I would mind filling in for the regular teacher, who was dealing with some health issues with her dad, and would be unable to plan for our class. Well, what could I say? "Of course, I'd be happy to help!" 

Truth was, at that very moment I started to feel the panic rising up inside. I know it sounds ridiculous....it's a class of 3rd - 5th graders. Nothing too scary, right?!! But I just can't help it. I have a fear of speaking in front of a group. 

Don't get me wrong, I was willing and happy to help, but at the same time I knew I was, once again, going to have to face this unexplainable fear of public speaking. In these situations, it always helps if I thoroughly know the information that I'm going to have to be standing up talking about. This class is all about Earth Science. Huh, not exactly a strong suit for me! I love science and find it extremely fascinating, but I haven't done much yet with Zac on geology. Biology, Human Science, Physical Sciences...any of these would have been a little better, but ROCKS??? What do I know about rocks? 

Thank goodness for friends! I mean that in all seriousness. I love my friends and so appreciate that at any moment I can call one of them and they'll stop whatever it is they are doing to try to help me out. They are the best. Well, it just so happens that one of my good friends has a degree in....lol, I know so little about science that I don't even know what to call her degree! But let's just say - the girl knows her rocks!!!

She was full of lots of ideas to get me going, and with the help of the her and the internet I was able to learn enough about the Rock Cycle and Sedimentary rocks that I felt like I could stand up in front of the class and with a reasonable sense of confidence, keep them interested and learning.

This was my lesson:

I started by reviewing the three types of rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, describing each one and how the rock cycle effects each of them in different ways. 

Then we watched a short video called Junior Geologist: Rocks and Minerals  that I downloaded from Discovery Learning. I threw in the video, because I figured by this time in the class I might need a breathing break, because I tend to hold my breath when I'm terrified. Sad, but true!

(FYI: If you live in the state of Georgia and are a teacher/homeschool teacher, you can contact the Georgia Public Broadcasting office at jpasley@GPB.org, and request a subscription to Discovery Learning. It's completely free and they have thousands of streaming videos to select from that cover just about any topic for any grade. It is a great resource.)

After the video we worked on a mini booklet page from our Considering God's Creation science book. This gave us a chance to further review the 3 different types of rock and visually see how the rock cycle works.

Finally, the part that the kids were really looking forward to - because my son knew my plans and he sort of spread the news quickly - time to bring out the candy!!!  My thinking here was that no matter how badly I was doing, the kids would all forget about it once they got a chance to eat some candy. Smart, huh?

No, really the idea came from my super smart, creative teacher friend, and the fact that our class was on Halloween made here idea even cooler. She suggested gathering together different types of candy that would replicate the different sizes of particles, called clastics, that are used to classify the different types of Sedimentary rocks. So, for instance, a silt or clay particle was represented by the powdery sugar in a Pixie Stix and in Wonka Fun Dip , and I used candy sprinkles to represent sandstone, and for the pebbles, cobbles and boulders that are found in conglomerate rocks, I used Nerds, Reese's Pieces, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. I also found some candy called Rock Candy in the specialty aisle at Walmart, and it looked so much like real rocks that I couldn't resist throwing in some of those too.

I used a snack size Ziploc bag for each student and added a small handful of each of these different types of candy. In addition, I also added some sprinkles that looked like little fish and dinosaurs to represent fossils that are found in the layers of sedimentary rock. After giving each student a Ziploc bag and a single cupcake liner (for observing their "rock" samples more closely), I would call out one of the different types of Sedimentary rocks and ask the students to look through their bag of "rocks" to find the one that most closely fits that description. I asked them to put one "rock" in their cupcake liner so that I could come around and see what they had selected and I gave a few of them the chance to tell the class why they had chosen that particular piece of candy.

This was the sheet from Considering God's Creation that we used to help them classify their "rocks".

By this time our one hour class was almost over and the kids and I were having so much fun that I had forgotten to be scared. Of course, the kids were thrilled that they could take their "rocks" home to eat and I was thrilled that I had faced my fears and learned a lot about rocks all at the same time. 

God is good and faithful and full of mercy! Thankfully,even in my weakness he can shine.

 Blessing to you all,

~ Vicki ~