Tell students that they will be going on a rock hunt, trying to find as many different types of
rocks as they can in the indoor classroom.
If students have not already located the rocks in the Earth Science Station, encourage them each
to choose 1-2 stones from there as well. Make sure, however, that the class is collecting rocks
from all around the outdoor classroom and not just from the Earth Science Station.
Bring students back to a central gathering location (indoors or outdoors) and have small groups
work on sorting the rocks into different categories.
After groups have had some time to do some sorting and discussing in their groups, have each
group share with the whole class how they classified their different rocks.
Set these rocks in an area where they can be viewed throughout the unit on rocks. (This may
mean leaving them in the indoor classroom or leaving them in the Earth Science Station).