EXPOSITORY WRITINGBenavidez Elementary School

January 6, 2014

11 Minute Essay and the Rock Cycle

• How can rocks tell a geologic story

The students will personify their rock by writing from the rock’s point of view. Students will write about the rock’s personal life story. tracing its journey over the millennia as it transforms from one kind of rock to the next. Students will incorporate scientific terms such as igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, weathering, erosion, melting, layers, magma, sediment, heat, and pressure.

FIRST PARAGRAPH

For the next minute, write your rock’s name. Write in the first person. Describe your rock, and identify the type of rock it is. Lastly, write where you found your rock.

SANDSTONE-- SEDEMENTARY ROCK

Second ParagraphSANDSTONE is a SEDIMENTARY rock. (How was your rock formed). How did your rock get to San Antonio.

VOCABULARY• Sediment• Pressure• Layer• Erosion• weathering

3rd ParagraphBefore your rock became a sedimentary rock, your rock was SLATE. Slate is a METAMORPHIC rock. Explain the process that your sedimentary rock went through to become a metamorphic rock.

SLATE -- METAMORPHIC ROCK

VOCABULARY• Heat• Pressure

FOURTH PARAGRAPH

GRANITE -- IGNEOUS ROCK

• Before your rock was SLATE, it was granite. GRANITE is an IGNEOUS ROCK. Explain the process that your rock went through to become GRANITE.

VOCAUBLARY• CRYSTALLIATION• MAGMA• MANTLE

FIFTH PARAGRAPHTake one minute to have your rock reflect on its journey.

Writing in Math• I’ve found that writing in math class has two

major benefits. It supports students’ learning because, in order to get their ideas on paper, children must organize, clarify, and reflect on their thinking. Writing also benefits teachers becuse students’ papers are invaluable assesment resources. Their writing is a window into what they understand, how they approcah ideas, what misconcpetions they harbor, and how they feel about what they’re discovering.

Burns, Marilyn. Writing in Math Class? Absolutely! Instruction, April 1995, pages 41-47.

• Talking, Writing, and Reasoning: Making Thinking Visible with Math Journals

Grades 3-5• http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/talking-writi

ng-reasoning-making-820.html?tab=4#tabs

Foldables in Science

http://www.education.ucsb.edu/webdata/instruction/hss/Visual_Literacy/foldables.pdf

http://2ndgradeponderings.blogspot.com/2012/03/fantabulous-foldables.html

http://foldables.wikispaces.com/Science

http://www.education.ucsb.edu /webdata/instruction/hss/Visual_Literacy/foldables.pdf

http://cmase.pbworks.com/f/foldables+that+fit+in+a+notebook.pdf

http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Foldables/Basic%20Foldables.pdf