Wednesday, June 6, 2012

thrifting{rocks, minerals & fossils}

the brownsugars & i just wrapped up our rock & mineral unit.
seems like we were on it FOREVER!
we are rock hounds & out of natural curiosity we tend to study rocks alot. But this was our second (& probably last)time doing a formal rock unit.
some of the stones & fossils in our collection are from when i was a curious young rock collector.
the others we're mostly gathered or found super cheap at estate sales, thrift stores & yard sales of teachers that were purging their materials or retiring.
we took the entire collection out 
& identified, classified (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary), observed (physical & other properties) etc...
we updated & revised our old lap books, did a few projects & dug deeper into some of our other resource books.
this year also i ordered new fossils & break your own geode kits that were both fun.
we were actually kind of surprised by the amount of stones we have accumulated & decided to clean it up a bit.
some we donated, some we used in crafting & some we used in the garden.
now feeling confident that we have thoroughly exhausted studying rocks, minerals & fossils (formally)...we are onto our weather unit.
*post edit-somehow my computer flipped out overnight (somehow went Google+ & Babylon search???) & now it is automatically taking words in my posts like "study & estate sales & linking them to advertisements...need to figure out what's going on...sorry bear with me :( *FIXED*

2 comments:

  1. Wow! What a fun Unit/ Project. We went to our local Natural Science Museum and got to see all sorts of interesting rocks, minerals, gems, and crystals. Before we left we got a small kit of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks but it was nothing like your collection. I see that I am going to have to add to it for when we study it again next time. The kit I have only has about 15 different specimens. Five of each kinds. But is a great start. Thanks for sharing your ideas on aquiring materials from retiring teachers. Good Idea!

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    1. thank you Erin! we have a few "rock" feildtrips planned over the summer to kinda keep things going. hikes, rock climbing, natural science museum, rock & mineral society visit & there is a local avid rock, mineral, gem collector who loves to share his extensive collections (including art & his menagerie) with the kids. i forgot to mention estate sales of rock hounds are a good source too!

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