Today we are doing activity 21 found in the online book. Watch the video at the bottom of the blog first to see what we did in class.

Go to the online book and read the activity on page B-42 found in the Rocks and Minerals unit,
 
Student book:
1. Click on the link: http://lab-aids.com/
2. Click on the student link at the top of the website.
3. Enter the username and password.
USERNAME:  purdue7   /   PASSWORD:  science7

We are answering the questions found at the end of the activity on page B-44, 1-5.

1.    a. Was the thickness of the rock layers always the same?
       b. Which rock layer- A (on the bottom) or B (on the top) – formed first?
2.     Look again at the photo on page B-42 showing rock layers at the Grand Canyon. Which layer (the highest or lowest) is most likely to be the oldest? How do you know?
3.     Look at the diagram of rock layers at left. Imagine digging through the rock layers show in the diagram. As you dig, you find fossils! The S marks the pale where you find a snake fossil. The F marks the place where you find a fish fossil.
a. Which fossil –snake or fish- is most likely to be older? Explain how you came to this conclusion.

b. In a nearby area, coal has been found in a rock layer that is younger than the rocks containing  fish fossils. Knowing this, in which rock layer would you first look for coal? Explain.
4.    Do you think placing chips in a graduated cylinder was a good model of how rock layers form? Describe the strength and weaknesses of this model.
5.    Sometimes very old rocks are found on the earth’s surface. How do you think this may have happened?

Students finished a lab today observing eight different rocks. They recorded their observations then attempted to classify them as igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary.

Students are describing the rocks and classifying them as igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary. 

The past two days we have been learning about the three different types of rocks:

Metamorphic- rocks formed by heat and pressure

Sedimentary- rocks formed by the layering of sediments and dead organisms

Igneous- rocks formed from cooling magma

Yesterday, students finished building models of the seven mineral shapes we learned about in class.





Today, we reviewed for our test tomorrow using the study guide from yesterday and the flipchart from the past couple weeks.

Today we learned about the seven crystal groups and how all minerals have some type of crystal shape or form.






Students are creating crystal shapes by cutting out one of the seven shapes and building a model.

We've been learning about the properties of minerals over the last several days.

"The Physical properties of minerals are used by Mineralogists to help determine the identity of a specimen. Some of the tests can be performed easily in the field, while others require laboratory equipment. For the beginning student of geology, there are a number of simple tests that can be used with a good degree of accuracy. The list of tests is in a suggested order, progressing from simple experimentation and observation to more complicated either in procedure or concept."

Properties of Minerals
The following physical properties of minerals can be easily used to identify a mineral:

1. Color
2. Streak
3. Hardness
4. Cleavage or Fracture
5. Crystalline Structure
6. Magnetism
7. Luster

Today we used test kits and used those properties to try and identify mystery minerals.

Yesterday, students looked up some common minerals and how we use them using the paper below:



Today, students did a reading that introduced the properties of minerals and how we identify them.

The past two days students have been taking notes over atoms and how they combine to make minerals.

Students began setting up their notebooks for our rocks and minerals unit today.