In this unit, students explore Earth's natural materials. They investigate how water moves and transforms huge rocks into the tiny grains of sand we find at the beach. They also learn to distinguish between natural Earth materials like metal, diamonds, and gold versus manmade materials like plastic.
In this lesson, students investigate the effects of rocks tumbling in a river. Based on their observations, they construct an explanation for why there is sand at a beach. In the activity, Rocking the River, students pretend to be a river and tear up pieces of construction paper to model what happens to rocks as they travel along the river.
We suggest students work in groups of four. Homeschool students can work alone.
Prepare “Paper Boulders”
Cut or tear each sheet of construction paper into about 12 pieces. We used a paper cutter to cut many sheets at the same time, making irregularly shaped pieces, but tearing or cutting with scissors will also work.
Each group (or single homeschool student) should start with 3 sheets worth of boulders (about 36). We recommend providing plenty of boulders at the beginning so that the students will still have large boulders at the end of the activity. That way, students will be able to see how the sizes of the rocks change as they move downstream.
Lesson 2: Oceans & Erosion
No materials required.
Lesson 3: Rocks & Metals
No materials required.
Lesson 4: Rocks, Minerals, & Gemstones
No materials required.
Lesson 5: Metals & Minerals
No materials required.
Lesson 6: Inventions & Materials
No materials required.
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