Rock Camp Day 5

Today was culminating day; a day to review and share all that we have learned this week!  We spent a large amount of our center time today making posters to use at our culiminating activity.  The kids wrote and drew pictures about minerals, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.  They turned out great!  Some of the kids also enjoyed doing a survey of everyone's favorite gemstones.
 

After center time today, we read a story about a pirate and then went on a treasure hunt.  We reviewed things we learned about rocks throughout the treasure hunt.  At the end, the kids found a treasure chest full of rocks.  They each got to choose two new rocks for their collections.

We also got to have a guest speaker today!  My husband, Matt Duke, served an LDS mission in the Dominican Republic.  The Dominican Republic is home to a very rare gemstone called "Larimar."  In fact, this is the only place where larimar has ever been found.  Matt taught the kids a little about the Dominican Republic and larimar.  He brought some large samples of larimar for the kids to see and then gave each of them a small sample of larimar for their own collections.  They were pretty excited!  Here is a link with more information about larimar: The Story of Larimar--The Caribbean Gem

And finally, it was time for the culimnating activity!  Thank you parents for coming and seeing all the awesome things your kids learned this week.  I think they especially enjoyed sharing their rock collections with you.

Rock Camp Day 4

At centers today we painted rocks, made up our own rock graphs, made invitations for tomorrow's culminating activity, and panned for "gold" at the drama center. 

 The last type of rock we learned about today was metamorphic rock.  Metamorphic rocks are rocks that change form.  When rocks are subjected to extreme heat and temperature they can turn into new rocks.  To help the kids understand this concept we made "Metamorphic Bars" for our snack.  We started out layering lots of ingredients and then saw how they changed after being in the oven.

 Metamorphic Bars

1/2 cup (or one stick) of butter

2-3 packages of graham crackers (most regular sized boxes of graham crackers come with 4 packages inside)

1 12 oz bag of chocolate chips

1 12 oz bag of butterscotch chips

2 cups shredded coconut

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place the butter in a 9 x 13 pan.  Put the pan with the butter in the oven while it is preheating to melt the butter.  Crush the packages of graham crackers inside a large ziplock bag.  Once the butter is melted, pour the graham crackers on top of the butter.  Continue layering the ingredients one by one.  At the end, pour the sweetened condensed milk on top.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Today we also had a rock share day.  We had Carrie Collette, a former "Rockwell Rockhound", come and share her awesome rock collection with us.  Many of the kids also brought rocks from home to share.  

 

Rock Camp Day 3

Today we learned all about sedimentary rocks.  Sedimentary rocks are rocks that form from the Earth's sediment.  Sedimentary rocks are the rocks that contain fossils and dinosaur bones.

For centers today, we painted with watercolors and salt crystals, had a dinosaur dramatic play center, weighed rocks on the balance scale, wrote magic pebble stories, and tested the hardness of rocks.  It was a great center day!

During project work, the kids added sandstone and limestone to their rock collections.  They tested vinegar drops on their limestone to see if it would bubble.  The vinegar reacts with the calcite in the limestone causing a small bubbles of carbon dioxide.  We also made sedimentary rocks using dirt, rocks, and plaster of paris and we made fossils out of salt dough.

Rock Camp Day 2

Today was igneous rock day!   For centers, we tested several rocks in water to see which one would float.  Pumice, an igneous rock, is the only rock that can float!  We also drew chalk pictures, made jewel pattern block designs, did a volcano word search and poem, read books in the library and some of the kids continued playing in the jewelry store.

The highlight of the day, for sure, was making volcanoes.  We learned that igneous rocks are formed from molten magma inside the earth.  The easiest way for the kids to remember this was to build volcanoes!  So the kids were divided into four groups and each group built and exploded their volcanoes.

Volcano Recipe

4 cups flour

2 cups salt

1 1/2 cups water

1 T cooking oil

empty 16oz water bottle with the top cut off

white vinegar

a few drops of liquid dish soap

red and yellow food coloring

2 T baking soda

Make the salt dough with the first 4 ingredients.  Mix all 4 ingredients together.  You may need to add a little more water or a little more flour for the right consistency.  Place the empty water bottle in the middle of a tray or pan.  Using the salt dough, mold a volcano around the bottle.  Fill the water bottle about half-way full with vinegar.  Add 2-4 drops of food coloring.  Add a few drops of dish soap.  When you are ready for the volcano to errupt, add the 2 T of baking soda.  Look out!