our week of um.... geology

I was browsing the Utah Education Curriculum website, checking out where I needed to focus Katherine and I came across something about rocks and dirt. I thought it was hi-lar-i-ous. Rocks? Dirt? Part of the state curriculum. hahahaha. Then I post it on facebook thinking it's all so funny and someone labels it for me: geology. FAIL. But moving past that... I created a bit of a unit for the week. Katherine was super excited - especially when she got to smash up rocks to make dirt. But what really caught me off guard was how stoked Joel was! I ended up making him his own little book too! Such a cutie.

I (as teacher) started by checking out several books from the local (tiny) library to give me some guidance and ideas. 

I had her start by going into the yard and finding a rock that would be her favorite. Then she drew a picture in her Rock Book.

One of our first activities was to go outside and collect various types of dirt. Honestly, I was nervous that we wouldn’t find the target amount of 4. But there were plenty to go around! (Look at teacher bein' teached!) We glued samples in the squares and discussed what makes dirt different. We smashed rocks into dirt. Katie was amazed to learn that rocks can make dirt. We (uh, I do me “we”) learned about “ORGANIC MATTER” and how that contributes to soil as well. Joel had a great time with the gluing and smashing.

check out those great samples!

We (well, this time I mean Katie) also dug a hole and put the dirt in one of Aaron’s sacred peanut butter jars (the man likes to drink out of them and that’s fine but he insists on having at least 2 AND THEY TAKE UP SO MUCH SPACE!) (still, I swear I would have used something else if I’d had a suitable container). Then we filled the other half with water and shook it up. Then swung it back and forth. Oh, I guess we put the cover on after adding the water - don't forget that part. Over the next several days we watched as the debris settled and layers formed. We talked about this and Katie drew a picture of her observations in her Rock Book (which she noted is just like what Sid the Science Kid [PBS] does!).

I also (kind of forced since she was a taaaaad tired that day and becomes leeeeess cooperative with tired) had Katie flip through a book with beautiful photos of rocks, gems, land forms. We discussed what she saw and I pointed out some of my favorite stones; including the ones on my engagement ring, just to drive it home a bit. I didn’t think she needed to read about all of those. I just wanted her to see how diverse and wonderful these creations are. I wanted her to get a feel for what is out there and how cool this world really is. Grumpy at the beginning but impressed by the end, I think it was a success.