Geology and Currency Explorations
/This week students had a chance to examine and share their currencies from all over the world! Students noticed interesting similarities and differences. Our currency examination led to more research questions, such as "who was Queen Elizabeth II and why is she on so much money?” “Why is Ben Franklin on our money?” Why does this money have a hole in it?” When we go to the library next week we are planning to check out some books to help us answer some of our questions.
This week we started learning about how different rocks form. We learned about sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Students organized into three small groups, with each group being responsible for researching and presenting about their assigned type of rock. Students created posters in order to teach others about their type of rock. Their posters included diagrams, interesting facts, examples of that specific type of rock, and information about how that type of rock forms. Students shared their posters with the group and were able to practice their presentation skills. Landon’s grandpa brought in some examples of sedimentary rocks and showed us how to use rock excavating tools to find fossils in shale. He even showed us a Trilobite fossil that is millions of years old! This week students also learned how to conduct an interview. They read books about rocks and formed additional questions that they wanted answered. They interviewed Dr. Wolfe to get answers to their technical geology questions. This week we also examined a rock tumbling contraption. We discussed the mechanisms of the machine and made predications about what would happen if we tumbled rocks in the tumbler for 24 days! Then we picked some rocks and started our rock tumbling experiment. Students also completed a Venn diagram to highlight the differences between a life cycle and the rock cycle. We will continue to learn about the rock cycle and about specific minerals next week. Student engineers and artists created new rock structures in our block area.
One of our highlights this week was welcoming a new student to our classroom community. We are so glad you are here, Finn! We also delivered canned foods to the Boxer Food Share, continued working our graphic novels, read with Shark buddies, met Juliana’s uncle from Chicago, and learned more about a Japanese celebration called Hina Matsuri, or Girl’s Day. Have a wonderful weekend!
