Rocks and Minerals Study Unit and Lesson Plan

For this unit, we found so many great resources on The Happy Scientist. I know I've mentioned him before but I just can't praise him enough. His videos are so informative, interesting, and even funny---but not in that annoying hyperactive/loud-music/in-your-face way that, say, Bill Nye videos are. For $20 a year to access all his videos and resources, I think it's a steal. Anyway, he has a whole unit on minerals and a whole unit on rocks, so we used several activities from those units as part of our studies. Fun.

We bought this box of rock and mineral specimens which I thought was really useful---it's so much easier to understand the characteristics of a rock or mineral when you can hold it in your hands and see it under a magnifying glass! The specimens are pretty good-sized and they come labeled with numbers, in case they get mixed up in the box.

We also bought Rock picks and goggles for our field trips. This was great because it made us feel like real rockhounders. The children LOVE wearing their goggles! And the picks did, in fact, come in very handy.

And, here's my Rock and Mineral Unit Pinterest board.