Rocks

Introduction

Today, children in year 3 have become the Rock Detectives! We have been discovering how we can categorise rocks by their appearance and their properties. We have learnt about igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. We have also found out how fossils are formed.

By the end of the unit children will have learnt:

  • to compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties.

  • to carry out an investigation to decide which rock properties best suit a purpose.

  • to understand the importance of a fair test.

  • to develop an understanding of how a fossil is formed.

Key words we have used

igneous sedimentary metamorphic durability permeability hardness fossil

Home Learning

Children have been asked to watch a series of videos about types of rocks that have been set on our Google classroom stream. Children will complete a Rock Detective walk either in their garden or when going for a walk over the Easter holidays and record their findings on their Rock Detective sheet.

What can you tell me about these different rocks?

What kind of rocks would you find here?

Watch the video above to find out how the 3 different types of natural rocks are formed.

We watched the video below to find out how fossils are formed.

Hear about Rocks from this inspiring scientist.

Last week, as part of our pre learning we went on a Rock Detective walk to see all the different rocks in our school grounds.

Now, look at what our Rock Detectives did today!

We learnt to group rocks by their appearance and their properties.

We then carried out an investigation to see which type of rock would be best to create an outdoor statue of Capt. Sire Tom Moore.

We made predictions, talked about what makes a fair test and made choices about how to test the rocks.

We finished off the day by looking at fossils that we have in school. We looked at them through magnifying glass drew them using the shading.


We found out about how fossils are made and then we made our own fossil from clay. We do know it is not a real fossil, though!