Rocks and Minerals

Hello Families!

This week we started our new science unit on Earth Materials. For the next two months, we will be focusing on different types of rocks and minerals found in and around the Earth. This unit is lots of fun and really engaging! The students love making "Mock Rocks" and discovering more about the world they live in.

Although the Earth Materials unit is really enjoyable, it can also be really challenging. To make this unit as productive as possible, I am sending your families a few links to some fantastic science websites. Please take some time throughout these next two months to explore these websites and help your child build upon his or her knowledge of the science content.

Thank you for your support, and as always, if you have any questions about what is happening in third grade, please do not hesitate to send me an email!

Cool Science Lab
Cool science is a website created by another teacher. He provides his audience with a variety of activities for four different science units. We will only use the information for Rocks and Minerals, but feel free to access the other content areas for further science fun. I like the Rocks and Minerals links that this teacher provides because many of the links are for quizzes. These are a great way for your child to review the key concepts of different rocks and minerals before our final assessment in February.

FOSS Science
I love this website! At Woodridge Elementary, our science content comes from FOSS. This website has a database of every rock and mineral we will cover during the course of this unit. There is a link to specific vocabulary terms that your student will be learning, as well as links for pictures, videos, and audio stories to support your student's in class learning. One of my favorite features of this website is the Ask a Scientist link. This link poses a variety of questions that children have about rocks and minerals, and they are answered by real life scientists. Please take some time and explore this website with your student!

Island Trees
This website offers you and your family links to a variety of learning activities for multiple science contents. There are links for Rocks and Minerals, but also for the two other science kits we use - the Human Body and Ecosystems. For this unit, I recommend the Minerals and Gemstones A-Z, Rocks and Minerals - Smithsonian, and Rocks for Kids.