Earth Science

The Solar System

Lesson plan

Solar system activities

The Earth's Interior


The Earth's Layers Lesson


www.playdoughtoplato.com/layers-of-the-earth/

The Layers of the Earth

The Earth is made up of 4 distinct layers:


Crust: This is the outer layer of the earth and is 0-60 km thick, depending upon the location. The crust has two types, oceanic, which carries water and continental, which carries land. The crust is solid, rocky and brittle and packed with calcium and sodium-aluminum silicates. The crust’s temperature is about 0 ºC.

Mantle: The mantle is the next layer downwards towards the Earth’s core. It’s the thickest layer of the Earth at nearly 2900 km. It’s a semi-molten solid that can deform like a plastic. The top of the layer is hard like rock, but the bottom of the layer is beginning to melt due to temperature. The mantle’s temperature is about 1000 ºC. When volcanoes erupt, the molten liquid called lava is melted mantle and crust.

Outer Core: Traveling down into the Earth, you’ll find the outer core. The outer core is a molten layer 2900-5100 km thick made up of primarily of iron, sulfur and oxygen. The temperature here is about 3700 ºC. The outer core is the only liquid layer of the Earth.

Inner Core: The center of the Earth is the inner core and the hottest zone at ~5500 ºC. It’s basically a big ball of solid iron about 5000-6000 km depth that floats in the middle of the outer core.

Earth's layer Lesson

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1axfj_ONaF0W0TJRTLrO5w1HGiSc1STCnoazwJ9NXY3E/edit


Rocks And Minerals

Rocks

Rock Paint Activity

Now you can make paint just as people did years ago with this rock paint activity! Make your own paint with materials like rocks, charcoal, soil and clay.

What You'll Need:

  • Safety goggles

  • Crumbly rocks

  • Charcoal, soil and clay

  • Some big rocks

  • Old bowl

  • Cornstarch or corn syrup

  • Water

  • Paintbrush

  • Paper

Step 1: First, put on your safety goggles to protect your eyes. Then, gather crumbly rocks, charcoal, heavy pieces of soil and clay onto a big rock.

Step 2: Use another rock to crush them into a fine powder. (Watch your fingers!) Believe it or not, this powder will be the base for your paint.

Step 3: Mix the powder in a bowl with a little cornstarch and water (or just some corn syrup) to make a paste-like mixture.

Now you're ready to create a masterpiece with your own homemade paint! Just dip a brush into the mixture and get to work painting on your paper.

Step 4: Have a look around your backyard and see what other things can be crushed to make paint and what materials don't work all that well.

Try things like grass, flowers, leaves or sticks. Hard rocks won't work too well. See if you can mix different colors that will add some flair to your works of art!

Continue reading to find out more about our sandstone carving activity next in rock and mineral activities for kids.

How to make a rock:

Materials

Sand

Pebbles

Glue

Disposable Cups

Instructions

Alternate adding layers of sand, glue, and pebbles until your cup is about one third full.

We waited and waited for over a week for our rocks to dry, but to our surprise they still weren't dry yet!

To speed things up, we separated the layers out and left them to dry over night.

The next day the pieces of rock were fully dry, and we were able to pick them up and examine them.

In a classroom setting each child’s rock will be unique, so be sure to leave time to observe and discuss similarities and differences between the rock formations!



Reference website:

www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/how-to-make-a-rock-with-kids.html


Edible Sedimentary Rocks for Kids to Make


INGREDIENTS

3 Cups rice cereal

3 Cups mini marshmallows

4 Tablespoons butter

1 Pinch salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup Mini chocolate chips

1/4 cup M&M’s other candies, or more chocolate chips

Cooking spray or oil to coat the pan

INSTRUCTIONS

Melt the butter in a sauce pan on low heat.

Remove pan from heat.

Add mini marshmallows one cup at a time stirring to melt.

You can add the pan back to the heat as needed to melt the marshmallows. Melting the marshmallows slowly will result in a softer treat.

Once the marshmallows have melted into the butter, add the salt and vanilla.

Stir in the rice cereal.

Coat the bottom and sides of an 8″ x 8″ pan with a thin layer of oil. I use a paper towel to wipe out the excess.

Add half of the rice cereal and marshmallow mixture to the pan.

Use a rubber spatula to press it down into a flat layer.

Cover this layer with mini chocolate chips. You’ll want to use more than the picture below. I wanted our chocolate layer to be thicker than we got. (That’s what happens when you let the kids be in charge of adding the chocolate chips.)

Add another layer of the rice cereal and marshmallow mixture.

Press down firmly to make sure the layers all stick together.

Top with M&M’s, other candies, or more chocolate chips.

Allow the edible sedimentary rocks to cool for at least an hour. Cut into squares and serve.


Intrusive & Extrusive rocks lesson:

docs.google.com/document/d/1pnfhgfTW_7t8CkLg9T50eCoZBgmshR0SW5jrdlTI-d4/edit


Video resources:

Igneous Rocks Introduction


youtu.be/Uvft8XI4nao






Minerals activities

How to make crystals

youtu.be/BHRFBKjqEvg

Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics activities

Plate Tectonics lab activity

Graham Cracker Plate Tectonics Lab

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cl8DZu9Xoe67Gr8ujdwtEHq63gKJBPNbP3b_gaKUiDU/edit

Earthquakes

Earthquake lesson

Mass Wasting

What is mass wasting?

Mass wasting is an event that causes a downhill movement of material that is caused by gravity (the force of attraction that pulls together all matter).

Typically known as landslides, but it also can be known as mass movement.

Mass Wasting powerpoint:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1stK8LKCwgGl79A84VUhD3VvNf1Q_jdzVwn1EjRPts-k/edit

Mass Wasting activity

Weathering and erosion

What is weather and erosion?

Erosion is the wearing away of the land by forces such as water, wind, and ice. Erosion has helped to form many interesting features of the Earth's surface including mountain peaks, valleys, and coastlines.

Weathering and erosion activity

HOW TO SET UP A BEACH EROSION MODEL:

STEP 1: Add about 5 cups of sand to one side of your pan. You will want to build it up on a slope so that when water is added some of the sand is higher.


STEP 2: Place some rocks or shells in the sand for a beach theme!


Place sand in half the tray. Make sure it's sloping.

STEP 3: Fill a small bottle with water, add a drop of blue food coloring, shake and pour into the deep part of your pan.


STEP 4: Add 4 more cups of water.


Add water to the pan

STEP 5: Use the empty bottle to press up and down in the water to make waves.



STEP 6: Pay attention to how the water affects the sand. What happens if the waves move faster or slower?


Deserts

What is a desert?

When people think of a desert, they usually think of a sandy, hot, and dry place. But there are other types of deserts as well. A desert is any large region that gets very little rain each year. Very few plants or animals live in desert areas.

Desert shadowbox lesson

docs.google.com/document/d/1ssFAz6rItS4DIoObv9Dz1_zUQSI0ltCjFtq0pnFGCtU/edit

Tides

What are tides?

Tides are very long waves that move across the oceans. They are caused by the gravitational forces exerted on the earth by the moon, and to a lesser extent, the sun. When the highest point in the wave, or the crest, reaches a coast, the coast experiences a high tide.


Tides powerpoint:

docs.google.com/document/d/1O9ny7ztiJdFU52cBxLlKRuNsUPq08SQN0-GZSPszsIs/edit

Tide lessons and activities

Moon Phases and Tides Coloring Flip-book

Instructions:

Color in the pages—you can either start with a new moon or a full moon, the design allows for either order.

Cut out the pages, making sure to keep them in the order they were printed. If you would like. You can also cut out a piece of colored paper as a cover page. Clip all the pages together.

Flip-book pages pdf

https://www.starhop.com/s/FlipBook.pdf

Waves

What are waves?

A wave is a continuous and repeating disturbance of a medium and a pulse is a single disturbance.


Here is a visual of characteristics of waves:

Wave activity

  • Mason jar or plastic water bottle

  • Vegetable oil or baby oil

  • Water

  • Blue food coloring

  • Funnel (optional)

OCEAN WAVES IN A BOTTLE SET UP:

STEP 1: Fill your container 1/2 way with water and add as much blue food coloring as desired.

STEP 2: Fill the rest of the container up with baby oil or vegetable oil. Try and fill the container as full as possible, reducing the amount of airspace that will be left after you screw on the lid or cap.

STEP 3: Cap tightly!

STEP 4: To make a wave tilt and gently shake your ocean in a bottle! Watch the wave action in your sea.


Coasts

Ocean Basins

Water/ Hydrologic cycle

How does the water cycle work?

See video below.


Water cycle & Hydrologic cycle Lesson:

docs.google.com/document/d/1u7MRozshBXYTN7f-Vjt9A1y8J4SJGEWgbtBUi9ZDEvw/edit#heading=h.om7wem69o8cf

Relative Dating

Radioactive Dating

Atmospheric circulation

Ocean Circulation

Climate Change