The Rock Cycle
Learning Targets
- Students will learn how the processes of melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation act together to form minerals and rocks through the cycling of Earth’s materials.
Success Criteria
- I can describe the various processes within the rock cycle.
- I can demonstrate how the rock cycle is related to the Theory of Plate Tectonics.
Questions to Ponder
- What is the Rock Cycle?
- How are rocks affected by Plate Tectonics?
As a Team...
- Create a list of all of the ways that rocks can be changed.
- As you work on your list, identify the forces that cause the changes.
The Rock Cycle
Discover rock secrets through these activities. Create a rock collection as you learn about the three main types of rock, find out how to tell the different rock types apart, and see how rocks change from one type into another!
The following website is a self-paced series of activities to learn about the rock cycle and the different ways rocks can be transformed.
During this self-paced series of lessons you will do the following:
- read and take two column notes on each of the three lessons
- complete the interactive
- take the self test
- complete the final test
Here is another Rock Cycle Animation to help you better understand the process of changing rocks.
Rock Cycle Review
Click on the link to review the various processes that can change rocks.
Rock Cycle Active Art
Click here for a Rock Cycle Active Art Activity. Choose start, read all of the directions and complete the activity. When you are done, complete the self-test.
CR
Answer the following question about The Rock Cycle and the Theory of Plate Tectonics.
Classifying Rocks
- What characteristics do geologists use to identify rocks?
- What are the three main groups of rocks?
Begin on Page 144 in the Inside Earth Text.
- read page 144-147.
- Get a rock kit and use page 148-162 to identify at least one of each kind of rock.
- Construct a Rock Cycle Diagram using Google Drawing.