Rocks and Soils

Year 3

Unit Overview

Info about the unit

THIS UNIT LINKS TO THE GEOGRAPHY UNIT ROCKS, RELICS AND RUMBLES

❇ MEMORABLE MOMENT

Hands on exploration of rocks, fossils and soils.

Rock buffet-make sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks to eat!

️✏️ WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

Investigation booklets.

🌳 LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

Collecting soil samples from around the school grounds.

Unit Sequence: Learning Intentions

  1. How are rocks used?- Compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties.

  2. Fossils -Describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock

  3. Soil testing - Recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.

Scientific Enquiry: Investigations

  1. How do fossils form?

    • Plan an exploration of how fossils are made.

    • Record their observations.

  2. What is sand?

    • Record observations-what happens when rocks break up.

    • Display results using appropriate graphing methods e.g., pie chart.

  3. What is soil?

    • record their initial observations and take a photo of their soil samples

    • separate the soil with water, take another photo then measure and record the depth of each layer in both jars

    • decide whether the soil samples are sandy, silty or clay

    • record any final observations

    • display their results in a suitable way, such as in a bar chart or with labelled diagrams.

🏁 BIG FINISH

Making their own fossils and sand.

📖 FOCUS TEXT(S)

Mary Anning by Anna Claybourne

Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit