Rock Cycle Lesson Plan: Earth’s Systems
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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Rock Cycle, and supports the standard of developing a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Display rocks, or an image of rocks, like this:
Ask students:
- What do you notice about these rocks?
- How do you think they may have formed?
Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE
- Read the description on the Rock Cycle topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
- Assign Related Reading.
Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS
Assign Rock Cycle Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.
Step 4: EXTEND and DEEPEN
Students express what they learned about the rock cycle while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.
- Make-a-Movie: Produce a video diary from the perspective of an igneous rock as it moves through the rock cycle.
- Make-a-Map: Create a concept map identifying the processes that form igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
- Creative Coding: Code a museum exhibit about igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, and how they form.
More to Explore
Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of Earth’s systems with these topics: Types of Rocks, Mineral Identification, Crystals.
Teacher Support Resources:
- Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas.
- Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
- Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.
