Diving Into Rocks!

Goodness! It has been way too long since I blogged. I'm sorry about that. I'm hoping to do better with this week.

As I mentioned in the newsletter last week, we started working on our first study: Rocks! I am so excited for this study. To many adults, I'm sure learning about rocks doesn't really sound all that exciting. In the eyes of a preschooler, though, it has so many opportunities. After exploring rocks for a few days, I had the students tell me what they would like to learn about rocks. Here are some of their questions:

1. Where do rocks come from?
2. How do they get everywhere?
3. How do rocks get smooth?
4. How do rocks get rough?
5. Can we color on rocks?

Starting tomorrow, we'll start investigating the answers to these questions. I have two big events planned to help us. First, I have a guest speaker, Lisa Ralls from Winnebago County Conservation, coming on Wednesday to show the kiddos her rock collection and introduce them to fossils. On Thursday, I'm hoping to take a walking field trip to Oakwood Park to see where we can find rocks. (See the bottom of this post if you would like to come with us!)

We'll also be experimenting with a rock tumbler to see if we can turn rough, dull rocks into smooth, shiny rocks.

For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures from last week. Enjoy!

If you are interested in coming along on our field trip to Oakwood Park on Thursday, please let me know. In order to go, I need at least two extra adults for the morning class and at least one extra adult for the afternoon class. Of course, we would welcome as many adults as we can get! Thank you!