Mineral Cookies

We are in the middle of an amazing science unit right now....Earth Materials! What? Earth materials can be fun??? I asked myself that too before I started teaching this unit but the more I brainstormed, the more fun hands on activities came!

Including this one.

 

 

 

 

They are called Mineral Cookies! Currently I am teaching the students about rocks. One question that we are thinking is, what are rocks made of? The answer...minerals! Since breaking apart a rock is kind of tricky...ok a lot tricky, we are breaking apart cookies filled with pretend minerals {chocolate chips, nuts, sprinkles, and coconut flakes}. Students will use a toothpick as their pick axe to dig into their cookie and find what its made of. They will fill out this little recording sheet as they work.

 

Click on the picture to download!

 

Then we will use magnifying glasses and pieces of granite to observe what real minerals look like inside of a rock to learn that rocks are made out of minerals! Last we will have a museum walk observing different types of minerals in their true form. This activity is just a small glimpse of an Earth Materials unit that I am getting ready to post on tpt.

 

If you have to teach Earth Materials then check back with me soon and I will help you plan 4 weeks of science lessons that will hit all of your essential standards for rocks, minerals, soil, and water{especially if you live in NC}. I'll also include the recipe for mineral cookies! Hope this was helpful!  Have a wonderful day!

Stained Glass Apples

I was looking at these in my windows today and they made me smile so I thought I would share how we made them.

First I copied the apple outline onto construction paper. I used a combination of red, yellow, and green.

Then I had the students cut out the middle {I made a little slit to help get them started}.

After they cut out the middle, then we cut out the outside and I put clear contact paper down on the black line side of the paper.{I had to leave the paper on the contact paper so you could see which side to put it on} 

Then students took small pieces of cut tissue paper and stuck it onto the sticky contact paper. Cut out a stem for their name and turn around for a beautiful stained glass apple!!



The apple outline isn't perfect but I am more than hapy to share! Just click on the picture below to download from google docs.