As a culminating project to our Rocks & Minerals unit, students worked hard to research a famous rock structure of their choosing.

The students chose to research the following structures:

• Zuma Rock (Africa)
• The White Desert (Egypt)
• Giant’s Causeway (Ireland)
• Flowerpot Island (Tobermory, Ontario Canada)
• Ayers Rock (Australia)
• Twelve Apostles (Australia)
• The Wave (Arizona, U.S.A)

There are so many beautiful rock structures in our own country and around the world. Congratulations to the two young ladies who won the National Geographic Kids contest for best pamphlet! Sylvia Jane from California was so pleased to meet you and present your awards!

All projects were proudly displayed at our Parent Conference Night and students took them home to share their hard work with their families. Bravo Grade 3s!

Do YOU have a rock structure you’d like to know

more about? Is there a rock structure you’d

like to visit?

Miss Robyn, a gemologist from Nash Jewellers, came to visit us on Monday to talk about minerals. What is a rock? What is a mineral?

Students loved exploring all of the samples she brought in.

She encouraged us to feel everything, examine, and investigate what was there. There were so many beautiful colours and shapes we could look at. Some things were smooth, others were bumpy. Some of us found our birthstones!

Robyn taught us about what properties a mineral has:

• has to be inorganic (not living)
• is a solid
• is naturally formed in the Earth
• has a crystal structure
• has a specific chemical composition (Robyn called it a recipe)

We learned how different minerals can have different colours because of ‘trace elements’ or impurities such as iron or magnesium. Robyn taught us about some of the different families of minerals such as:

• Quartz family–Quartz is a very abundant mineral. Amethyst is a type of quartz and is purple. Citrine is yellow quartz.

• Beryl family–Emeralds are part of this family. Emerald is green because of trace elements of chromium. Aquamarine is another example. It is blue.

• Corundum family–Sapphires are part of the corundum family. Did you know that sapphires come in every colour except red? When it is red, it is called a ruby. A ruby is also part of the corundum family.
  

Robyn talked briefly about diamonds. They are the hardest mineral on earth. A lot of mining for diamonds occurs in Northern Canada at Snap Lake. Canada follows strict labour and safety laws when it comes to mining. Below is a picture of Ekati Diamond Mine in Northwest Territories. “Ekati” means Fat Lake. The rings you see inside the holes are roads.

 

Do you have questions about rocks or minerals or mining?

What is your birthstone?

 

 

 

 

Do mountains last forever? This was the questions students in our class have been investigating over the last 2 days.

Students explored how solid rock breaks apart into smaller pieces through a process called weathering. We learned terms like ‘root wedging’ and ‘ice wedging’ and how the cracks in rocks allows for seeds and water to get trapped inside, eventually causing the crack to widen and crack the rock into smaller pieces.

Students modeled the process of weathering that occurs when rocks tumble and crash into each other using sugar cubes in a container. Each group of students shook a container of sugar cubes approximately 200 times and more!

We hypothesized what we thought our sugar cubes would look like after shaking the containers. We drew pictures and recorded observations as we worked through many trials of shaking. We took turns with our partner so we both had turns shaking the sugar cubes.

Take a look at what happened after the sugar cubes were taken out of the container! (One of the sugar cubes was left out as a comparison). Do you notice how the edges of the sugar cube became smoothed out and the cube turned into a sphere?

This is what happens when rocks tumble down hills and mountains. With wet weather and when you add friction, rocks eventually will break down into smaller pieces and may show smoother surfaces at the bottoms of mountains. See below.

What do you wonder about rocks? Have you ever found a really smooth rock and wondered how it became smooth? What is the most interesting rock you’ve found?

Having a class blog is one way we can open the walls of our classroom and share our learning with others outside our own community, but Skyping an expert is another way!

It was a super special treat today to have archaeologist, Dr. Beth Pruitt, from Washington, D.C., Skype into our classroom!

Beth was so delightful to talk with. Students prepared some questions ahead of time and Beth was more than happy to answer.

Beth explained that an archaeologist is a scientist who studies human history through digging for artifacts.

While we are learning about rocks and minerals, and Beth is not a geologist, she had plenty to tell us about how she digs for artifacts, where she does her work, and what sorts of things she finds hidden in the earth.

Some of the artifacts Beth shared with us included a large piece of a chamber pot. It was beautifully decorated in blue and white details.Students also found out what a chamber pot was used for. Ha!

Beth expressed to us that while she doesn’t have any one favourite artifact, she loves all of the artifacts, because when put together, they tell a story about how humans used to live.

She told us how she was part of a team of archaeologists who uncovered a house underground and how the people who used to inhabit this house even buried items beneath the house. She enjoys discovering unusual and surprising things like this!

New technology such as 3D printing has come in handy when wanting to study artifacts without causing damage to them.

Various tools are used to excavate artifacts including a trowel, shovel, spoon, and Beth has even used a chopstick!

Beth showed us an artifact that turned out to be a clay wig curler from the 18th century (known as a bilboquet). They used to be heated up and then the hair of the wig was wrapped around it. Neat!

Some of the questions students asked included:

• How far do you normally dig down?
• When you were in Gr.3 did you want to be a scientist?
• Where do you do you digging? Is it near water?
• What is the difference between a paleontologist and archaeologist?
• Have you ever damaged an artifact when digging?
• What was your favourite subject in school?
• How old is your oldest artifact?

What will future archaeologists uncover about us?

What stories will our artifacts say about us and our culture?