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Dr. Bob has provided all these awesome posts about rocks and we hope they have been helpful for families/teachers in this time of quarantine. It's been fun! Now we are trying to determine if we have come to a natural stopping point, or if some of you would like us to continue? If you would like to see more, please drop us a little comment!  If not, it's been a real pleasure and we thank you for being a part of QuaranTime. Stay safe and happy!

A Little Review

As a review, some of the open-ended questions that you could ask the children are: What do you know about rocks? Where do you find rocks? What happens when rocks get wet? How can rocks move? What do we use rocks for? (You can use one or all of these questions, depending on the variety of responses that your children share). Record all that they know about rocks on the chart. Tell the children that they have been Geologists this week – people who study rocks.

Read: Everybody Needs A Rock by Byrd Baylor  If you don't have a copy at home, you can watch it being read on YouTube here

Counting Rocks

Collect 12 rocks. All must be different.

Go through the following sorts:

1. Make a pile then count them.
2. Line them up from biggest to smallest then recount.
3. Line them up from smallest to biggest then count them again.
4. Make two piles with the same number of rocks. Count the number in each pile. Then recount the total for the two piles.
5. Make three piles with the same number of rocks. Then count them.
6. Make 4 piles. Then count them.
7. Make 5 piles. How many in each pile?
8. Consider introducing even and odd numbers. Which piles from #7 have an even number of rocks? Which have an odd number of rocks?

If you want to work the counting routine a bit differently, print the counting process page in the Printable section on the HOME page.  

Then, do some sorting by rock properties or characteristics. Examples: color, shape, rough/smooth 

Count the number of rocks in each group.

Combine sets of rocks to have more variety. You might take all the rocks and make piles of 10, 20, 30, etc. and compare the size of the piles. Write down the numbers each time you do an activity so the kids see the numbers written.

Studying Moving Rocks

How do rocks move down a ramp? Find a board or piece of strong cardboard, and you can make a ramp or slide to see what happens when rocks are placed on that ramp. They may roll, slide on, or not move down the ramp. Gravity is the force that causes everything to move down on earth. When something does not move easily, friction is the cause. That usually happens with rough rocks.

This giant rock is being pulled up a ramp!