Science: Exploring and Washing Rocks

Our first graders were given 6 rocks in a bag along with a magnifying glass.  They were asked to observe the rocks and choose some descriptive words to add to our word bank as well as find out how many different types of rocks are in your bag.  They did great!  They came up with a list of great words to describe the rocks:  smooth, dusty, rough, small, heavy, light and colorful.

The next day the students were given the same 6 rocks to wash.  They were asked to see what, if any, changes they observe when the rocks are in the water and after the rocks are cleaned.  They realized that the lava rock Scoria, which has many holes, made bubbles when put in the water.  They also were able to observe that the rocks showed more colors and darkened after being cleaned.