LESSON 3: ROCKS & THEIR USES

Subject/Grade
Level

Science: Grade Three

Date

November 1, 2016

Unit

Topic A: Rocks and Minerals

Time
Duration

45 Min

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:

Science:

Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

Science:
7. Describe some common uses of rocks and minerals; and identify examples of
those uses within the school, home or local community.

3-5: Demonstrate knowledge of materials that comprise Earths crust, and demonstrate
skill classifying these materials.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Describe the different ways rocks can be used
2. Recognize which rocks are better used for certain tasks than others
3. Use their previous knowledge to solve a fill-in-the-blank and their new knowledge to
complete a matchup activity
4. Use technology to complete learning activities throughout the lesson
What knowledge did I know before that can help me make
Key Questions:
predictions?
What are certain rocks used for?
What have I learned about the uses of rocks?
Observations:

ASSESSMENTS
Peer collaboration - how are the students working together to
complete the learning activities
Following instructions are the students listening and following
directions accordingly
Listening are the students making eye contact and remaining silent
when others are speaking/reading aloud
Answering questions what kinds of answers are students providing
to the questions being asked/ are they showing what they are learning
Engagement are the students paying attention to the lesson or
ignoring it all together?

Conversations:
Products/Performances:

Give Opinions what answers are the students providing when

making predictions about the different uses for rocks
Peer collaboration
Question/Answer
Daily Quiz
Fill-In-The-Blank Activity
Match-up Activity

 Exit Slip
LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED
Program of Studies
http://www.learnalberta.ca/ProgramsOfStudy.aspx?lang=en

U of L Curriculum Lab

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Smart Board
SMART program: Rocks & Minerals
Lesson 3
Rock Kit

http://www.uleth.ca/education/currlab/
SMART Exchange
http://exchange.smarttech.com/index.html#tab=0
PROCEDURE
Prior to lesson

Agenda for the day is written on the board.

Call students to the meeting carpet and go over the agenda and learning
outcomes. Make sure they have moved their name to check in for attendance.
Introduction

Time
5 min

Attention Grabber

The SMART board will be turned on and the students will have
to drag their name to the volcano for attendance. This grabs their
attention because its a different start to the class and theyll
wonder whats in store for the lesson.

Assessment of Prior
Knowledge

Whole Class Discussion (5 min):

Expectations for
Learning and Behaviour

Transition to Body

Have students complete the fill in the blank on the SMART board.
Use the name hat to randomly select students to try and fill in the
blanks. If they get stuck, ask the rest of the class to help out if
they know the answer.
Listening when someone is speaking
Eye contact when someone is speaking
Keeping conversations on topic
Positively collaborate with others
Respect the space of others
Review the answers to the fill in the blank activity and make sure
the students understand why those are the answers. Move on to
the next slide once everyone understands.
Body

Time
30 min

Learning Activity #1
Teacher Notes: Assessments/
Differentiation

Group Quiz - Formative

3rd

On the
slide of the SMART program there is a Monster Quiz
for the students to take part in. Have each student grab a laptop
from the laptop cart and go to classlab.com . They will be asked
to enter in a key this will be provided on the SMART board.
Once they have entered they key they will be asked to enter their
name and wait. Once everyone has logged in, divide the names
into as many groups as the program allows. It should randomly
assign the names to groups automatically. Even though the
students are in groups, they all need to complete the quiz
individually. After everything is set up accordingly, start the quiz
for the students to compete to win. The quiz continues to run

10 min

until all teams have finished. Once the quiz is completed, the
students can review their individual scores. After they have taken
the time to review the questions they were stuck on, ask the
students to shut their laptops so that the whole class can review
the answers on the SMART board (click the class review button).
Explain the answers to the students and make sure everyone
understands.
Transition: Proceed to the next slide after everyone is okay to
move on.
Learning Activity #2

Direct Instruction About the Uses of Rocks

Teacher Notes: Assessments/

Differentiation

Go over slides 4 - 13 and read off the material about each of the
rocks. Make sure to show students the corresponding rock from
the rock kit with whichever slide is up on the board. Remind the
students how to gently handle the rocks if they need a closer look
and feel of the actual physical rock that is being discussed. At the
end of the 10 slides ask the students if they have any questions
about the material that was just covered. Ask the students if they
have seen these types of rocks before and where they saw them.

15 min

Transition: Move on to slide 14 once everyone is ready.

Learning Activity #3

Matchup Activity - Formative

Teacher Notes: Assessments/

Differentiation

Slide 14 consists of a matchup activity for the students to test

their knowledge about the uses of rocks. This activity is to be
completed individually and is formative. The students will need
to log on to classlab.com again and enter in the appropriate code.
Make sure to start the timer of 5 minutes and reassure the
students that if they are unable to complete all of the matches
that its okay because the whole class will go over the answers
once time is up. When time runs out, let the students know that
the activity will now be closing and once again reassure them
that it is perfectly fine if they did not finish because this activity
was simply for them to test what they have learned. Okay
everyone, lets complete the matchup as a class now. On the
SMART board screen, use the hat pick to randomly draw
students names to make a pair up on the board. Discuss each
answer so that there are no misunderstandings. If a student does
not know the answer or provides a wrong matchup, ask if
someone can help them out by raising their hand to give an
answer. Remind students that its normal to forget things and
that making mistakes is how we learn.

5 min

Transition: Does everyone understand the answers we got?

Lets move on to our exit slip.
Closure

Time
10 min

Consolidation of
Learning:

Exit Slip
Group Quiz
Participation in the fill-in-the-blank review activity
Participation in the matchup activity

Feedback To Students

Discussion of possible quiz answers.

Discussion of exit slip responses.

Discussion of the answers to the matchup activity.
Feedback From Students

Exit Slip on the SMART board (slide 15):

On slide 15 is the digital version of the exit slip for this lesson.
Each student will once again need to log on to classlab.com to
participate. They are to provide one answer to each of the
questions that are listed. After everyone has submitted their
responses, go over what kinds of answers they provided.

Transition To Next
Lesson

5 min

Last slide on the program:

Review of what is needed to know for next class. Pull down the
shade to reveal one thing at a time. For #1 ask the students:
What are the three types? Do you guys remember?. For #2 list
off a few examples of each type. For #3 as the students: What
are the four main ways to classify rocks? Luster, colour,
hardness, texture. For #4 Today we talked about what rocks
can be used for. - list off a few rocks and what they can be used
for. These four bullets will need to be remembered for next
class when we review the performance task. For your rock
collections and presentations, you will need to incorporate
information on these four things.

5 min