Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate: Aleyna Chipperfield Date: 2/21/24

Group Size: 19 Allotted Time: 30 minutes Grade Level: 2nd

Subject or Topic: How are river rocks the same as volcanic rocks?

Common Core/PA Standard(s)

1.E.2.1 Summarize the physical properties of Earth materials including rocks, minerals, soils
and water that make them useful in different ways.

Standard - CC.1.5.2.A - Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults in

small and larger groups.

Learning Targets/Objectives

- Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of river rock properties through
group discussion and creating a whole class anchor chart/web of knowledge
- Students will be able to communicate the similar properties between river rocks and
Igneous (volcanic) rocks through physical observation of both rocks and group rock
sorting.

Formative Assessment Approaches Evidence observation or method of collection

1. Whole group/small group questioning 1. Journal entry in science notebook

2. Anchor chart/web of knowledge on
properties of river rocks

Prerequisites
- Three types of Igneous rocks:
- Basalt, Scoria, Tuff
- Rocks can be described by their properties
- Process to describe by properties:
- identify the object
- observe and describe the color, shape, texture, size, etc.
- compare to other objects
- Different types of rocks al have their own different types of properties
- Smaller rocks (sand) results from the breaking (weathering) of larger rocks.
- Vocab:
- The Rock Cycle - A set of natural processes that form, break down, change,
and re-form rocks over time.
- Magma - hot liquefied, rock located deep below the Earth's surface
- Debris - the pieces of something broken down or destroyed
 - Crystallization - the process of formation of solid crystals from solution, melt
or by deposition directly from a gas phase
- Erosion - Water, wind, and other natural forces cause rocks and earth to wear
away. These forces also move bits of rock and earth to new places. This
movement changes the shape of the land.
- Submerged - to put underwater
- Natural Event - violent events that are outside the control of humans. They are
caused by the forces of nature
- What is the rock cycle?
- A set of natural processes that form, break down, change, and re-form rocks
over time.
- Temperature, pressure, and changes in environmental conditions at and beneath
Earth's surface drive the rock cycle.
- What are the three main types of rocks found through the rock cycle?
- Sedimentary Rocks - formed from pieces of other existing rock or organic
material.
- Metamorphic Rocks - rocks that have been changed from their original form
by immense heat or pressure.
- Igneous Rocks - formed when molten hot material cools and solidifies.
- What are the effects of rocks being put underwater?
- Bubbling (the more hoes in the rock the more bubbles)
- Rock dust or other sediment separating from the rock
- Color changing of rocks
- Different rocks react differently
- Water level rises and drops with/without the rocks inside
- How would rocks be put underwater in the real world?
- a rock could fall in a river, lake, stream, etc. by breaking off due to a natural
event (earthquake, volcanoes, tsunami’s, etc.)
- when a rock falls in water the same reactions from our small cups would occur
with larger rocks
- the larger the impact the more impactful the effects of rocks in water
will be.

New Key Vocabulary

- River Rocks - round, smooth rock naturally shaped by erosion or weather as in a river
or water setting
- Volcanic Rocks - rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano

Content/Facts
- What kinds of properties can be found on rocks?
- Color
- Size
- Texture
 - Density
- Shape
- Type of rock
- The sound of the rock
- Weight
- How might we use a rock's properties to figure out what kind of rock it is?
- Each rock goes through a process as it forms, which is exactly what informs
geologists on what types of rocks there are.
- The process is what gives each rock its properties
- The properties a rock has, visually and physically, are clues that tell exactly
what type of rock it is.

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies
- Ask “Yesterday, how did we experiment with rocks changing in different
environments?”
- Call on a few students to answer
- Have a whole group discussion to review our previous experiment putting different
types of rocks in water.
- Redirect students' attention to the front of the room and hold up a marker.
- Ask students “how would you describe this marker? What are some words you would
use to describe it?”
- Call on several students to give their observations
- Hold up a pencil in the other hand and ask students the same question
- call on several students to give their observations
- Hold up both objects next to one another and ask “Is there anything different you could
say about these two now that they are right next to one another? How are they the
same? Why are they different?”
- Tell students that today we are going to continue to be geologists and we will be doing
exactly what we just did with the marker and pencil but with new types of rocks!

Development/Teaching Approaches
- Bring students over to the carpet and grab the bag of river rocks.
- Tell students that this is another earth material.
- Call on a student to tell you what an earth material is
- Tell students that today we are going to once again work as geologists to take a closer
look at these new rocks we found, but first we are going to talk about some of the
things we should be looking for
- ask students “when i’m observing something and i'm looking at it from different angles
and under different angles, i’m looking at it’s _____ (‘what’)?”
- Call on a student (the answer is properties)
- Ask students what are some examples of properties that we used to describe the
Igneous rocks we worked with previously
- Call on a few students to share
 - Ask students to look at the bag of river rocks and talk to a neighbor about some of the
properties that we could use to describe them. (“what are some of the properties you
already notice about these rocks?”)
- Give students a minute or so to discuss
- Call on a few students to share aloud
- Write/add student’s responses to the anchor chart/web of knowledge
- After writing a few things on the web of knowledge tell students we will come back to
this web at the end and see if there is anything new we learned that we can add to it
after we look much closer at these new rocks!
- Tell students that now they will be going into their groups (rows) again to observe each
of the new rocks within their bags.
- Tell students that each group will be given two bags of the new rocks and two lenses.
They are to take turns using the lenses to look at their rocks and make sure everyone
gets a chance to use one.
- Tell students that they are to observe all of the rocks in their bags and take note in their
journals about the kinds of properties they are noticing with all these new rocks;
keeping in mind that they can reference the web that we started if they need a reminder
for some things to look out for.
- Give students about 10-15 minutes to conduct their observations and discuss with their
groups.
- Walk around and observe, discuss, and prompt questions to each group as they
work.
- If some groups finish earlier before most of the class is done, prompt them with
questions to get them talking to each other about how these rocks are similar to
the Igneous rocks we have looked at previously. How are their properties the
same? why?
- Dismiss students by group to bring their rocks and lenses to the front table and find a
spot on the floor at the front.
- Ask students about what they discovered; referencing the web we created
- Call on several students to answer
- Write/add any new response to the web
- If there is time left, ask students to think about how these rocks’ properties are similar
to the Igneous rocks we looked at previously and have them turn and talk to a neighbor.
- Give them 1-2 minutes to discuss and then call on several students to answer

Closure/Summarizing Strategies
- Once everything is cleaned up, call all students to return to their seats.
- Ask students to take a look at our web now after we have officially added to it after our
experiment today!
- Say “after just a little time, look how much we learned about our new rocks just by
looking at them!”
 - Tell students that this is something they can easily go home and continue to do or even
if they are out with their family somewhere. Rocks are all around us and they all are
just as unique as we are!
- Tell students that tomorrow we are going to be looking at these rocks again and using
their properties to find different ways to sort and look at them!

Accommodations/Differentiation
- This experiment could be done in partners, individually, or in a whole group using the
Doc Cam.
- This experiment could have taken place outside where students would work to find
some river rocks outside of the school to use to make their observations instead of the
bag of rocks provided in the materials kit.

Materials and Resources:

- Journal entry pages (20 copies)
- Composition books (each student has one)
- Anchor chart paper
- Bags of river rocks
- Magnifying glasses/lenses (2 for each group)