Lesson Plan- Geology Rocks!

Objectives / Understandings: Review and understand the rock cycle Explore the formation of observable landforms in Ponderosa State Park Discover how geologic characteristics of an area influence what lives there Recognize factors that cause change within the system Develop the students sense of place

Essential Questions/ Guiding Questions: How does geology help us explain the landforms we see? How are geology and biology connected? How does water influence the system?

Materials Needed: Layers of Earth Visual Mind Map iPad Hand Lenses Rock Cycle Visual Glacier/Kettle Pond Visual Freddy Fungus Story 2 LabQuests Soil Moisture Probe Soil Auger pH Strips 2 Soil Texture Keys

Route: MOSS (9:30) PSP Bike Trail (10-10:30) Day Use Beach (10:30-11:45) Fox Run Trailhead (11:45-1:30) Meadow Marsh Trail (1:35-2:30) Sagebrush Meadow (2:30-3:00) MOSS (3:15-4:00)

Outline with approximate times:

9:30 Meet and introduce day, check that students have all necessary items for day, begin hiking on PSP bike trail 10:00 PSP Bike trail; layers of the earth 10:30 Hike to day use beach; rock cycle & glacial shuffle 11:45 Hike to Fox Run Trailhead 12:00 Lunch! Team-building games 12:45 Granite/basalt observations 1:30 Hike on Meadow Marsh Trail, lichen story, soil measurements 2:30 Hike to Sagebrush Meadow 3:00/3:15 Hike back to MOSS, discuss inquiry project, summary of day 4:00 Done!

1. Introduction A. Mind map of the day. Assign roles (toaster, lunch, timer, LNT guru, equipment) for the day. (9:30-9:40) B. Hike on PSP bike trail. (9:40-10:00) C. We need to know about our earth as a whole which layer do we need to investigate today? Introduce visual of layers of earth (with students moving around, assign a layer to each person and tell them what that mean. Have them organize themselves), talk about how we will explore the lithosphere and show visual of the actual layers of the earth! (10:00-10:15)

2. What rocks are here and how are they formed? A. Continue hiking on PSP bike trail and have students think about rocks they see as we walk, are they big or small? What color are they? Are they smooth or angular? (10:15-10:30) B. Review the Rock Cycle. Sing the rock cycle song! Sedimentary, sedimentary (layering motion), igneous, igneous (volcano motion), meta-metamorphic, meta-metamorphic (pounding motion), rock cycle, rock cycle (circling motion). (10:30-10:35)

-Sedimentary gets buried and compacted again, heat and pressure creates metamorphic, then melts and cools to igneous rock and then igneous gets exposed and the cycle starts all over again (over a long period of time)!

C. Hike to Day Use Beach. I have a hypothesis that glaciers were here. Show picture of a glacier for prior knowledge. Sense of place: Creatively describe or draw what you see. Why do you think the landscape looks like it does? (10:45-11:00) What is a glacier? Where do you see them? (Glacier Visual) Glacial shuffle (11:00-11:30) Line up across the beach, shoulder to shoulder. Shuffle your feet across the stretch of sand, then turn around and go back again. Use the features created (piles of sand along the sides of your feet, in front of them, the depression formed below them) to describe the features associated with glaciers (lateral and terminal moraines, lake basins). Connect these sand features to those we see around us in McCall. How do glaciers impact landscapes we see? Introduce new vocab (moraine, outwash plain, till, erratic, kettle pond, etc) Glaciers dont make rocks, they make topography!

Continue hiking to a good spot near Fox Run Trailhead for LUNCH and TEAMBUILDING (~12:00) LUNCH (12-12:30) with AL@ blog post A. Teambuilding- Elbow Tag or Human Knot. (12:30-12:45) B. Glacial erratic to explore granite. Pick a rock, any rock, stand 10 feet away, and describe it by writing or drawing in your field notebook. Then move very close to the rock and describe it again. Think about things like: What size and shape is it? Colors? Textures? Smooth or rough? Hard or soft? How did your observations change when you looked at the rock from far away vs. up close? Do you think this rock has travelled a long way, or not so far? Why? Did everyone look at the same type of rock, or not? (12:45-1:10) Discuss what students see at different scales and what they notice about the rock type. Does anyone know

what type of rock this is? Granite: Intrusive igneous rock; quartz, mica, hornblende, feldspar Basalt: Extrusive igneous rock, quartz, mica, hornblende, feldspar Explain the difference between intrusive and extrusive rocks. Intrusive formed by crystallization of magma at a depth within the earth. Extrusive formed by crystallization of magma at the surface of the earth. (1:10 -1:30)

3. What has happened to the rocks? A. Continue hiking toward the Meadow Marsh and have students describe the changing landscape to a partner (1:35-1:50) B. Continue hiking to the Meadow Marsh (1:50-2:00) Sense of place activity- Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit where you can see the marsh. Spend 10 or so minutes writing or drawing what the marsh looked like 10,000 years ago (i.e. when the glaciers had just left), 100 years ago, and 100 years in to the future. C. Talk about the processes that change rocks (weathering and erosion) (2:00) Water, Ice, Gravity, Plants Lichen story. Talking about rock and plant interaction. How else do they see rocks and vegetation impacting one another (2-2:10) How might we be able to document the interactions between plant and rocks? LabQuest- soil hand test! Soil Moisture and temp, pH using strips, Color using books, and texture using key. (2:15-2:35) Based on our prior observations, make a hypothesis about what the soil will be like here (Wet or dry? Cold or warm? Soft or hard? Gritty or smooth?). Split into groups to test soil moisture, temperature, pH, and texture.

D. Hike to the Sagebrush Meadow and collect the same information as above then discuss similarities and differences in pairs to share with the group. Do the results support our hypothesis about what the soil would be like? (2:35-3:15)

Stop by the Activity Center for restrooms and possibly more snack

4. Bringing it all Together (3:30-4:00) A. Do students agree that glaciers caused the landscape in Ponderosa State Park to look the way it does? Why or why not? B. Review essential questions; summary of the day C. Discuss inquiry project, iPad entry Assessment Participation in discussions Pointing out glacial features along the trail iPad entry, essential questions overview

MOSS Themes Development how geological processes affect the landscape Cycles rock cycle Sense of Place Scientific inquiry