Rock Analysts!

The 2nd graders learned about the minerals that make up granite on Friday! We know that two or more minerals make up a rock, so we crushed a block of granite to get a closer look at the minerals that comprised it! Before splitting our sample, we first viewed the minerals we were about to see in isolation. These minerals included feldspar, quartz, biotite and muscovite. Once we crushed the sample, the children received fragments of it in their small groups. They looked carefully at the pieces in front of them with a magnifying glass to identify the minerals that we discussed. Then, they had to decide which mineral they saw the most of and which they saw the least of inside their group's sample. I'm amazed at how well the children were able to manipulate their new learning! After this portion of the lesson, the groups were given 4 samples of a combination rocks and minerals. The children looked carefully at each sample to decipher if each one was a rock or a mineral! They are doing such a great job of applying their learning in these hands-on explorations!