Daily Lesson Plan #2

Teacher: Lauren Bachi Date of lesson: March 21, 2014

Overall lesson topic/title: What Are Rocks Made Of?

Content GLCEs and NGSS Practices for this lesson:
E.SE.03.13 Recognize and describe different types of earth materials (mineral, rock, clay,
boulder, gravel, sand, soil).

S.IP.03.11 Make purposeful observations of the natural world using the appropriate senses.

Rationale: Students need to learn what rocks are made of because some of their misconceptions
were that minerals are shiny, therefore, any particle that is shiny must be a mineral. Students are
required to looks closely at a granite specimen and understand that rocks are made of minerals.
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to understand that not all shiny particles are
minerals and they will know the difference between a rock and a mineral.

Materials & supplies needed:
Chart Paper
Markers
Hand Lenses
Granite
Feldspar, mica, quartz, hornblende
Cups
Water
Worksheet p. 4 and 5 (Battle Creek Curriculum)

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event

I ntroduction to the lesson (5 minutes)

Review the What We Think About Rocks chart from the
previous day. Ask students if they have any new information or
questions to add to the chart. Ask students how to find out
more about rocks. Add this to the chart.

Individually, students will make a list of what is meant by earth
materials. After 2 minutes, I will ask them for their lists and I
will compile the lists on chart paper.

Today we are going to explore more earth materials. Today we
are going to be taking a closer look at rocks and try to
determine what rocks are made of.
How is this lesson differentiated
based on information gained from
formative assessments given in
previous lessons?

I learned that students had a difficult
time with describing their rocks.
Because of this, I added a part to the
lesson that includes explaining the
importance of detail.

What is your rationale? (Describe
the results of the formative
assessments that justify how you
are differentiating the lesson.)

I also learned in my pre-assessment
that students assumed the samples
with a lot of shiny parts were
minerals. From this, I added a part
OUTLI NE of activities during the lesson (30 minutes)

Students will be with their A-B partner. There will be two sets
of A-B partners in each group. Each group will have one hand
lens and one cup of water. All of the materials will be on the
front table. One student from each group will come and get the
lens and one student will come get the water cup (4 Minutes).

Before students begin, I will explain the importance of detail:
looking at size, color, shape, shiny parts, hardness, odor, what it
looks like when dry versus wet (2 minutes).

Students will take about 10 minutes in their groups, observing
their granite specimens. They will have a worksheet in which
they have to draw their rock specimen and label the
observations (Battle Creek Curriculum p. 4 and 5). They are
also to predict the different colored particles that make up the
granite (10 minutes).

After students observe, we will come together to discuss what
they noticed (5 minutes).

Can I have a few students describe their granite piece? Here I
am looking for them to comment on size, color, shape, shiny
parts, hardness, odor, what it looks like when dry versus wet.

What different colors do you see in the granite? What did you
predict the different colored particles were? Take a few hands.

I am now going to hand out some other specimens. The
samples I will pass out include: mica, quartz, hornblende, and
feldspar. Compare these specimens with what you noticed in
your granite. Who can tell me what they noticed? Here I will
look for students to explain that the other specimens make up
the granite. So if a piece of granite is made up of many different
materials, it has to be a rock. A rock is something that is made
up of different materials. (5 minutes)

Closure for the lesson (5 minutes)

I will refer back to the chart we made on what we thought about
earth materials. I will write: earth materials, rock, and mineral
on chart paper. I will ask the students to discuss the meaning of
the terms. I will write students definitions on the chart.


where we talk about what the
different materials are in the rock
specimen.

What is your rationale? (Describe
the results of your pre-
assessment/science talk that justify
how you are differentiating the
lesson.)

I want to make sure there is not the
same misunderstanding that shiny
samples are minerals.
Formative assessment
Their formative assessment will be their worksheet, pages 4 and
5 out of the Battle Creek Curriculum. They will have to do the
worksheet on their own. They will need to explain that the
colored parts of a rock are various other materials. For number
1 on page 5, I will look for answers similar to: rocks are made
up of other things because you can see the different shiny and
colorful specimens in the sample. For number 2, I will look for
students saying the all white, shiny sample is not a rock as
compared to the speckled one with different colors because a
rock is made up of various minerals and the white sample is just
one thing. If students continue to not understand that rocks are
made up of various other materials, in my next lesson I will
show them many other examples of rocks versus non-rocks
(minerals).
Differentiation during assessment

Content: For some students, I
will accept less writing.