Old Dominion University Darden College of Education

Instructional Lesson Plan

Overview
Lesson Plan Overview

Date: 11-27-18

Lesson Title: An Introduction to the Rock Cycle, Pt. 1

Lesson Author: Alyana Lara

Grade Level: 4th Grade

Subject Area: Science and Language Arts

Time Allotted for Lesson: One 30-45 minute session

Short Description of Lesson

In this lesson, the students will be introduced to the rock cycle and the three different types
of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. This lesson will start with a quick
inquiry-based discussion on what rocks are, where they come from, and what they are
made of. After this, they will be watching an introductory video on the rock cycle. The
students will be tasked with creating an informational poster that will be presented to the
class after they have been separated into 3 groups (each group for each type of rock). Each
poster/presentation will be about each of the different types of rocks in the rock cycle. For
the poster they will be utilizing various nonfiction, online resources to get their information.

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Standards
Lesson Plan Standards

Science
*Note: These SOLs are from 2010. Due to the new implementation and revisions of the science SOLs,
5th grade SOLs are in place.

5.7 The student will investigate and understand how Earth’s surface is constantly changing. Key
concepts include
a) identification of rock types;
b) the rock cycle and how transformations between rocks occur;
f) weathering, erosion, and deposition

SCI.4.3 The student will understand how Earth’s surface is constantly changing.

SCI.4.3.1 Identify rock types using a rock classification key. (SOL 5.7a)

SCI.4.3.2 Describe the major processes and rock types involved in the rock cycle. (SOL 5.7b)

Language Arts

4.6 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction texts.
a) Use text structures, such as type, headings, and graphics, to predict and categorize
information in both print and digital texts.
d) Identify the main idea.
e) Summarize supporting details.
g) Distinguish between cause and effect.
h) Distinguish between fact and opinion.
j) Identify new information gained from reading.
k) Use reading strategies throughout the reading process to monitor comprehension.

Instructional Objectives
Instructional Objectives

Science

5.7 In order to meet this standard, it is expected that students will

 draw and label the rock cycle and describe the major processes and rock types involved.
 compare and contrast the origin of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
 identify rock samples (granite, gneiss, slate, limestone, shale, sandstone, and coal), using a
rock classification key.

Language Arts

4.6 To be successful with this standard, students are expected to

 use text features, such as special type styles (e.g., boldfaced, italics) and color, captions
under pictures and graphics, and headings of sections and chapters, to predict and categorize
information in both print and digital texts.
 understand how written text and accompanying illustrations connect to convey meaning (e.g.,
charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations).
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 identify the main idea and supporting details within a selection summarizing the text by using
tools such as graphic organizers, outlining, and notes.
 make simple inferences, using information from the text.
 identify cause and effect relationships.
 distinguish between fact and opinion. apply prior knowledge to make predictions and to
describe the relationship between content and previously learned concepts.
 identify new information learned from reading.
 become aware of when they do not understand (e.g., by reflecting upon and articulating what
exactly is causing difficulty).

Focus
Enduring Understandings

Science

5.7 All students should understand that

 Rocks have properties that can be observed, tested, and described. Composition, grain size
and textural features, color, and the presence of fossils help with identification. Classification
keys (5.1) can aid this process.
 Rocks move and change over time due to heat and pressure within Earth and due to
weathering, erosion, and deposition at the surface. These and other processes constantly
change rock from one type to another.
 Depending on how rocks are formed, they are classified as sedimentary (layers of sediment
cemented together), igneous (melted and cooled, e.g., lava and magma), and metamorphic
(changed by heat and pressure).

Language Arts

4.6 All students should

 summarize key details of informational texts, connecting new information to prior knowledge.
 identify and use text structures, such as headings, paragraphs, and format, to preview a text
and make predictions in order to comprehend.
 actively ask questions, visualize, make connections, and predict as they read.

Essential Questions

 How are rocks different from each other?

 Why are rocks important historically?
 To what extent can rocks be classified?
 What can rocks tell you about the Earth?
 How might you prove that a rock is different from a mineral?

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Procedures
Lesson Set

To get the students interested in the lesson, we will start with a short inquiry session that
will get students to think about the rocks that they see around them. This will be
performed under a combination of whole and small group settings. After this, a short Bill
Nye video will be shown about the rock cycle to get them more interested.

Rationale

The rock cycle is important because it can tell scientists (like geologists) how the Earth
works and why it works the way it does. Rocks can tell us about the history of the
planet, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural occurrences that
happens in and on the surface of the Earth. Rocks are also made of minerals, and some
of those minerals are beneficial to us for our health (such as halite, or table salt) or for
industry (such as graphite, used for pencil “lead”).

Techniques and Activities

1. Inquiry Questions (whole class and amongst small groups):

- ask students what they know about rocks
- where they come from and where they see them
- how they are formed
- why they are important

2. Introduce rock cycle through a video (less than 5 minutes)

Bill Nye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsIHV__voMk
After video, ask them what they thought was interesting about rocks based on the video
(get at least 3 student responses).

3. Make 3 groups of about 6-7 students for each different type of rock in the rock cycle
(Homeroom: 21-22 students; Switch: 19 students)

4. Issue each person’s duties in the group:

Leader: Makes sure everyone is on task, in charge of materials, checks the time
Speaker(s): Present the poster to the whole class
Researchers: Researchers will be using their chrome books to look through resources and
provide information to the group
Secretary: In charge of writing the information down in neat, legible handwriting
Artist(s): Draws the diagrams and rocks with labels

5. Give students about 20 minutes to create poster

Criteria for each poster:
- Fold poster into 4 equal parts
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- Square 1: Definition of group of rocks
- Square 2: Where rock is made (diagram possibly?)
- Square 3: Interesting facts about group of rocks
- Square 4: Drawings of the rocks with the names
Online resources for each rock type:
- Igneous: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/igneous-rocks/
- Sedimentary: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/types-of-sedimentary-rocks/
- Metamorphic: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/metamorphic-rocks/

6. Share each poster with the whole class, after each poster is presented, use 3-2-1
strategy: 3 things they learned, 2 things that they found interesting, and 1 question they
still have about the specific rock. Each group that isn’t presenting will do a 3-2-1 (one
post-it note for each student) and present what they have written after all presentations
have concluded.

Lesson Closure

To end the lesson, the teacher will draw a diagram of the rock cycle on the board. As a whole
class, the students will be asked which part of the diagram belongs to which part of the rock
cycle (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic). Once that is completed, each group will be
asked to read their questions that they had from their 3-2-1 to the whole class and whoever
the student helper of the day is, they can look up the information using
https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/ to look for the answer if it’s available. The teacher
will bring her own Earth Science textbook just in case for any references that may be
needed to answer questions.

Assessment/Evaluation

Since this lesson is an introduction to the rock cycle, there will be no summative
assessments. The inquiry-based discussion at the beginning of the lesson is a diagnostic
assessment to see what the students already know. The 3-2-1 strategy at the end of the
lesson is a formative assessment, which will be utilized to check for the students’
understanding of the content and will also give the cooperating teacher a glimpse of what
the students already know and didn’t know. Feedback to students will be given verbally,
along with notes that will be written on post-it notes and placed on each group’s poster.

Student Products

As a result of this lesson, students will have made a group poster about their specific type of
rock. For the whole class, each student will be able to understand that the rock cycle and how
each rock is formed, the definitions of the rocks, what they look like, and a couple of
interesting facts they found. The students will have also produced a 3-2-1 worksheet to check
for their understanding of the content.

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Supplemental Activities: Extension and Remediation

Extensions:
If there are students who grasp the content and have a full understanding of the rock
cycle, they can research minerals, which make up rocks. They can have the choice to look
up any mineral of their choice from this list: diamond, graphite, halite, and talc. For each
mineral, they can look for information on four different physical properties of the mineral:
color (the outside of the mineral), streak (the color it leaves behind when scratched on a
porcelain plate) the luster (metallic or non-metallic), and their uses in the real world. If
students want more information on minerals, they can go to this link
(https://geology.com/minerals/what-is-a-mineral.shtml) if they want more general
information on minerals.
Resource links:
Diamond- https://geology.com/minerals/diamond.shtml
Graphite- https://geology.com/minerals/graphite.shtml
Halite- https://geology.com/minerals/halite.shtml
Talc- https://geology.com/minerals/talc.shtml

Remediation:
For students who aren’t quite understanding the concepts of the rock cycle, this very short
webpage (https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/rock-cycle/) has a few short descriptions
of the rock cycle with video resources on the bottom of the page. These video resources
include the Bill Nye video that is shown at the beginning of this lesson, along with a rock
cycle song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7xFfezsJ1s), and a short informational
video by the Free School (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGK1KkLjdQY). All of these
videos act as a type of review that of the content we discussed earlier in the lesson.

Adaptations for Diverse Special Learners

Learners with Disabilities:

For those learners with disabilities, accessibility features in the technology they’re using (such
as their chrome books and the Smart Board) will be utilized to accommodate for each
student’s specific needs. Some of the accessibility features included in the chrome books
include changing the size of the cursor, adjusting the zoom and font settings, as well as the
ability to use their headphones on their computers. Due to the heavy use of computers in the
classroom, these students can be the researchers in their groups.

ESL Students:
For ESL students, translations of the webpages can be provided using the Google Chrome’s
ability to translate pages for students, if needed. An ESL specialist can also come in to assist
the students with translations and bring in resources that might be more useful and easier to
understand for the ESL student. To help further reinforce the ideas in the lesson, a variety of
visuals and diagrams can be used to help the student understand the concepts better.

Gifted Learners:
For gifted learners, the extensions listed in the “Extension and Remediation” section of the
lesson will be utilized for them to use. They are also more than welcome to explore the Kids
Geology website, specifically the tab named “Rocks, Landforms, and Layers of the Earth” and
click any of the tabs on the left-hand side of the webpage to view other topics related to
rocks, the rock cycle, and minerals.

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Differentiated Instruction

To address each student’s learning needs, there will be different roles that each student in
the group will be undertaking (leader, speaker, researcher, artist, secretary). Each group
member will evenly contribute to the group project and are responsible for their assigned
task. Also, this lesson explores several other ways of learning such as providing videos,
using inquiry, and utilizing visuals using the technology available in the school and
classroom.

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Resources
Materials and Additional Resources

 Small poster board

 Pencils
 Colored Pencils/Crayons/Markers
 Smart Board
 Chrome Books (laptop computers)
 Post-it notes
 Headphones (for any videos in the links)

Web and Attachment Resources

 Bill Nye Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsIHV__voMk
 Kids Geology: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/
 Igneous: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/igneous-rocks/
 Sedimentary: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/types-of-sedimentary-
rocks/
 Metamorphic: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/metamorphic-rocks/
 Extension Link: https://geology.com/minerals/what-is-a-mineral.shtml
 Diamond: https://geology.com/minerals/diamond.shtml
 Graphite: https://geology.com/minerals/graphite.shtml
 Halite: https://geology.com/minerals/halite.shtml
 Talc: https://geology.com/minerals/talc.shtml
 Rock Cycle: https://kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/rock-cycle/
 The Rock Cycle Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7xFfezsJ1s
 Free School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGK1KkLjdQY

Reflection and Reaction

Personal Impact on Student Learning

Provide a well written in-depth summary of your personal impact on

student learning. Provide information on what worked and did not
work. What would you do differently?

I think that the students really enjoyed the lesson because they weren’t stationary,
and they also got to watch a Bill Nye video that pertained to the subject. The students were
also able to work in different groups instead of the groups that the students already sat
with. One of the biggest improvements that could have been made would be the timing,
because I thought that 30-45 minutes would be enough, however the students took over
an hour to finish the entire lesson. The students also had a math test to do that day and
some of them took awhile to finish, so that also contributed to some of the lack of time it
took to do the lesson. I had two different classes to teach this to because my cooperating
teacher team teaches with another language arts teacher.
The first class (Mrs. Wilson’s homeroom) had a bigger group of students with 20
students in attendance, so I had two groups of seven and one group of six for the activity.
Content-wise, the students really enjoyed it and it showed when I asked them reflective
questions. They were more than willing to thoughtfully answer the questions I asked of
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them. Some of the things that played a big factor in the delay of the student’s work besides
the time was some of the bickering between students. Most of it was due to getting roles
that they either didn’t want to do or weren’t good at doing. For example, one of the
students ended up crying at the end of the lesson because I had her in the “speaker”
position, and I was told by Mrs. Wilson that she usually likes getting positions that require
everyone to pay attention to her in the moment. She felt left out of the process of making
the actual poster (she was in one of the groups of 7) so she shut down and didn’t
contribute to the group as much as the others did until she got up to present.
The second class had 18 students present, so I was able to split the groups evenly
into six. I decided that for this group, I would omit the roles because of the bickering I saw
in the first group that caused them to fall behind. I also felt that with this class I did a
better lesson in because the group was smaller, and also because I was able to see what
things worked and didn’t work out. In this class, the students had the same reaction to the
lesson itself; they enjoyed the content and were giving thoughtful responses. Because we
switched classes late and the math test was being administered, we didn’t finish the poster,
but the students were able to get halfway through them in 15 minutes compared to Mrs.
Wilson’s homeroom, who made it halfway through the poster after about 20-25 minutes.

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