Hi,
My name is Yael. I am 6 years old. I want to learn more about rocks. Can you please help me? I will read my comments, will you leave some for me? I want to learn with you.
By: Yael
Hi,
My name is Yael. I am 6 years old. I want to learn more about rocks. Can you please help me? I will read my comments, will you leave some for me? I want to learn with you.
By: Yael
Heat and pressure make metamorphic rocks. Try this: take two different colored Starburst candies. Unwrap them, and press them together, squeezing and pressing repeatedly for about 5 minutes. Did you get a different colored candy? This shows how metamorphic rock is formed! Enjoy learning about rocks!
Hi Yael,
I don’t know anything about rocks, but I would love to know what you learn!
I teach history and my favorite type of rock is Obsidian! It’s made from volcanic glass and is a type of igneous rock. I like it because people used it to make tools – arrow heads, knives, and axe heads! It shows us why the environment is important to humans! Check out the Wikipedia article on obsidian:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian
There’s also a great video about using obsidian blades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5pWGhmAcG4
Hi Yael,
There are three different kinds of rocks. Sedimentary rocks are made when layers of mud or silt sit for thousands of years. They’re the kind of rocks we find fossils in. They have straight lines in them.
Igneous rocks are formed under the earth’s crust where rocks are exposed to extreme heat and pressure and melt. They don’t have any lines on them.
Metamorphic rocks started as sedimentary rocks, but then got pushed really fat down where they heated up and turned soft like play doh, got mushed around a bit, then came back to the earth’s surface. They usually have wavy lines in them.
Wow, you have a lot of rocks! Are those rocks at your house or did you find photos of these rocks? I didn’t know that bull sharks could live in the lake! Did you know that New Hampshire is the Granite State? I used to live there and we would see lots of granite everywhere. Granite is used to make lots of things, like kitchen counters. It is made from underground magma – hot, melted rock. It’s easy to spot because you can see the different minerals, or crystals, in it without using a magnifying glass!
One other cool experiment to do with your mommy… get some crayons… Unwrap them from their paper and break them into 1 inch pieces… these are your Sedimentary rocks! Then tie them together with a string you’ve dipped in wax (and let dry). Then mix up some plaster of paris and pour it into a little paper cup. Tie the crayon bundle, hanging from a string, to a pencil. Use that to suspend the crayons in the plaster about halfway deep into the cup. After the plaster has dried and hardened, you’ve made a little volcano! You could boil the paster in a pot of boiling water and watch your crayon lava erupt! It will then cool into igneous rocks. So cool!
Here are some legends about rocks and stones.
http://www.native-languages.org/legends-rocks.htm
I don’t know if any of them are true but they are pretty cool to read.
I live in Minnesota. We have lots of agates here. They look really dull and boring on the outside, but if you crack them open you can see crystals on the inside! They usually are made from volcanoes but can also form as metamorphic rocks too. Rocks tell us stories about what the earth used to look like. Since we have volcanic (igneous) rocks here, there must have been a volcano here in our past even though we don’t see any right now. Isn’t that crazy? What did the earth used to look like where you live? The rocks by your house can tell you a lot about the past!
Did you know that Native Americans used many rocks as tools and jewelry? They still make jewelry today and use certain stones to mean certain things. Here’s a website showing some of them.
http://americanindianoriginals.com/symbolism.html
Yael,
That was so cool to hear you and mommy discussing rocks, I actually learned from both of you, and it inspired me to google more information about it.
You are lucky that learning could be so much fun .
I send a message to mommy on her phone to show her what I learned because of you!!!!! Love you Savta
I believe that your really cool, pretty rock just before the super cool shark tooth was a piece of quartz or maybe chert There are so many rocks that are classified (grouped) as quartz. All the different colors come from different minerals mixed in as they crystalized. So you’ll see some reds because of iron or some smoky looking, even rocks with the blue of copper mixed in. There is a special type of blue quartz only found in the Hill Country of Texas known as llanite! I saw it near Kerrville, Tx on a field trip once. ..very cool…like granite with blue bits in it!
I think this is about the coolest rock lesson ever! Thanks for allowing me to be a part!
Hi Yael,
I really enjoyed listening to your video talk. I am not a rock expert yet, but I am hoping I might become one if I keep reading your blog.
I do know that one of your rocks looked like a Rose Quartz. The one that is such a pretty pink color might be Rose Quartz. I found a picture of one that was polished and shaped like a heart.
I also know that some people think these rocks have healing powers. At least people out here in California think that they can heal the heart. I am not sure about that, but it does give me good ideas for a story.
Quartz is often used in jewerly. People in Ireland called it the “stone of the sun” put it in special buildings with underground passages. They also made special tools with it.
Thank you for writing about this topic!
Your friend,
Diane
I know my Father and a group of hikers from Kamloops BC Canada use to go hiking for fossils which are sometimes smaller rocks with imprints of animals and insects on them. They can be used to study about how the earth was formed and when animals and insects were on the earth and how they got here. These rocks are many thousands of years old.
Hi I do not know anything about rocks so I will learn from you-thanks. When my niece was young she used to collect rocks. Her mum used to find them in funny places. I hope you learn a lot about rocks. (Montreal)
1). The Earth’s crust is made up of rock.
2). Rocks have been used by humans for millions of years, from early tools and weapons through to various construction materials.
3). Extreme pressure and heat over time forms metamorphic rocks.
4). Examples of metamorphic rocks include marble, quartzite, schist, granulite and slate.
Wow! You are awesome.
I love to learn about rocks as well. One of my favorite books to learn about Rocks and Minerals is National Geographic Readers: Rocks and Minerals. It has a lot of great information including pictures.
We have a lot of great rocks in Wisconsin. I will try and take some pictures today to share with you.
Thank you for reminding me about how cool rocks are. I love learning with you!
Your friend,
Sue
Ulexite is my favorite kind of rock! Sometimes, people call it a TV rock because it takes the image on one side of the rock and shows it on the other side of the rock!
Yael, perhaps when you know more about rocks you could write a post or make a video to share with other kids. I’d love to post it on College by Kids We have a video about owls, but we don’t have anything about rocks. We also don’t have any contributions from a 6 year old. Perhaps you could be the first?
Trudy
Hello
We are a class of students from New Zealand, and our teacher was very lucky to attend a course in our school holidays that was presented by Mrs Magiera.
We have special rocks in New Zealand because we have lots of volcano in our area (actually there’s one close to our school where we live that dominates the scenery have a google search for Mt Taranaki) so we have some volcanic soil, which is little rocks that are mixed with dirt and it is good for growing plants. The other thing is that sometimes at the beach you can find volcanic rock called pumice and this can be used for scrubbing your feet!
Mr Webb and Room One, Auroa Primary School, Taranaki, New Zealand
mrwebbauroa.blogspot.com
Dear Yael,
This is amazing! Your curiosity will lead you to learning more than you ever thought! I am so proud of you, “Ya-Ya”! 🙂
Love,
Sara and Ethan
Pingback: Steve Barkley » Blog Archive » Teachers and Leaders as Learners
I can see that you are learning a lot from your request. I wrote about in my blog as an example for teachers and students. Now you are helping even more people learn.
http://barkleypd.com/blog/teachers-and-leaders-as-learners/
Great to hear about your passion for learning and rocks. Where I live they mine for geode – they are very pretty.
Hi Yael… You are so cool! I love your questions as well as all the I do ratio that you shared. Sadly, I know very little about rocks. I did come across this really cool website thaty ou might like: http://www.rockhoundkids.com/ happy researching!