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This document provides examples of work that meet the expectations of the knowledge statements for the Rocks topic from Year 3 of the science National Curriculum for England. It shows examples of the work of one pupil who meets the requirements of the knowledge statements for the topic.


The activities featured are one way of delivering the content for the topic but they are not intended to illustrate a definitive way of teaching these statements.

This document provides examples of work that meet the expectations of the knowledge statements for the Rocks topic from Year 3 of the science National Curriculum for England. It shows examples of the work of one pupil who meets the requirements of the knowledge statements for the topic.


The activities featured are one way of delivering the content for the topic but they are not intended to illustrate a definitive way of teaching these statements.

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Examples of work - Rock (Y3) - Na'ilah | PLAN

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This document provides examples of work that meet the expectations of the knowledge statements for the Rocks topic from Year 3 of the science National Curriculum for England. It shows examples of the work of one pupil who meets the requirements of the knowledge statements for the topic.

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Knowledge Organiser Volcanoes and Earthquakes

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Knowledge Organiser Volcanoes and Earthquakes

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Volcanoes and Earthquakes Knowledge Organiser

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PSTT Explaining Fossil Formation Outcomes

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PSTT Explaining Fossil Formation Outcomes

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BBC Earth Walking with Dinosaurs Video Playlist 

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BBC Earth Walking with Dinosaurs Video Playlist 

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Dinosaur Cannibalism | Planet Dinosaur | BBC

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Geography Lesson: What is a Volcano? | Twig

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What causes a volcanic eruption? | Natural Disasters

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Incredible Animation Shows How Deep Humans Have Dug

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Volcanic eruption explained - Steven Anderson

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Asteroids and Dinosaurs with Tim and Moby

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Asteroids and Dinosaurs with Tim and Moby

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Scientific Process: The mysteries of life with Tim and Moby

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We filmed a VOLCANO with a drone! Iceland Volcano March 2021

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We see an experiment to demonstrate how minerals dissolve in water. We also see which minerals and metals are found in different types of water. Water is poured into a flask and we see what happens when it starts to boil. As the water heats up, it starts to evaporate. The gas travels out of the flask and into a cold tube. The water vapour condenses and drops out as a liquid. The scientist is then able to look at the minerals contained in the sample of water and explain how minerals are dissolved in water as it flows through the ground.

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BBC Two - Science Clips, Changing State, The mineral content of water

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We see an experiment to demonstrate how minerals dissolve in water. We also see which minerals and metals are found in different types of water. Water is poured into a flask and we see what happens when it starts to boil. As the water heats up, it starts to evaporate.

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Reading Exercise - Why Species Become Extinct 

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Reading Exercise - Why Species Become Extinct 

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oxford university museum of natural history

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The Learning Zone: How We Use Minerals Games

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How we use minerals games in the learning zone

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oxford university museum of natural history

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The Learning Zone: How We Use Minerals Games

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How we use minerals games in the learning zone

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oxford university museum of natural history

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The Learning Zone: How We Use Minerals Games

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How we use minerals games in the learning zone

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Hi, my name is Rocky
I am your guide on the journey around the rock cycle. The rock cycle is a continuous process that occurs over millions of years. It makes new rock, destroys old rock, and recycles the ingredients of the Earth's crust over and over again!

If you want to join me on an amazing journey under the Earth click on the cycle below.
You can start wherever you want, but it is probably best to begin at Weathering and work your way around it from there.

Have you mastered the rock cycle yet? Test yourself here!
Are you lost and need help using the site? Get some help!

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oxford university museum of natural history

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Hi, my name is Rocky I am your guide on the journey around the rock cycle. The rock cycle is a continuous process that occurs over millions of years. It makes new rock, destroys old rock, and recycles the ingredients of the Earth's crust over and over again!

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Did you know we use minerals every day? Without them there would be no cars, trains or planes. You wouldn't be able to clean your teeth or wash your clothes. Clocks, watches and jewellery, tin cans and aluminium foil - all minerals! And of course, you wouldn't be sitting down at a computer reading this now if it weren't for minerals.

So have a look and find out more about the minerals around you by selecting one of the links below.

And to find out how much you have learnt why not trying playing one of our fun games.
Mineral mix and match!

Find out about the minerals we use every day... Finish by playing

Building a house
In the kitchen
Around the home
Transport and technology
Neat and tidy
Health and medicine

Mineral mix and match! or return to the Homepage

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oxford university museum of natural history

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Did you know we use minerals every day? Without them there would be no cars, trains or planes. You wouldn't be able to clean your teeth or wash your clothes. Clocks, watches and jewellery, tin cans and aluminium foil - all minerals!

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(Also appropriate for Y5)

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Finding out about minerals is detective work. There are thousands of different minerals, all with different properties - like colour, shape and hardness. For any one mineral you have to think carefully about each of these different properties, and then put all this information together to identify it properly - its easy, once you know how.

To find out more about minerals and their properties, take a closer look and select one of the links below.

Take a closer look

Colour
Light
Lustre
Streak
Crystal shape
Hardness
Cleavage and fracture
Heaviness
Other tests

What we have learnt ...

And to see if your detective skills are up to scratch play our fun card game!
Mineral mastermind!

To find out about minerals you should Return to the Take a closer look, and then find out about some of their properties...

Colour Light
Lustre Streak
Crystal shape Hardness
Cleavage and fracture Heaviness
Other tests What we have learnt

Detectives homepage, or finish by playing Mineral mastermind!

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oxford university museum of natural history

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Finding out about minerals is detective work. There are thousands of different minerals, all with different properties - like colour, shape and hardness. For any one mineral you have to think carefully about each of these different properties, and then put all this information together to identify it properly - its easy, once you know how.

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The definition of a mineral can be difficult to understand. To look at it another way, we can compare a mineral with something we all know well - a fruit cake!

Can you compare a mineral and a fruitcake?
Ask yourself the following questions.

Do cakes have definite chemical compositions?

Yes.
Think of it this way.
The ingredients needed to make a fruit cake are: eggs, butter, flour, sugar and fruit. If you miss out the flour the cake will be soggy. If the amount of sugar is wrong, it won't taste right.
The chemicals in a mineral are just like the ingredients in a cake. There has to be exactly the right amount of each chemical for the mineral to form properly. You cannot leave out any of their 'ingredients'. Cakes are like minerals in this way.

Comparing a mineral to a cake may be a bit of a simplification, but it helps you to understand the basics. If you want to learn more try having a look at the Tricky bits.

Still confused? If you read these pages and complete the quiz, you should have a pretty good idea of what a mineral is.

Defining a mineral
Why is a mineral like a cake?
The tricky bits ... atoms, molecules and the rest
What is a mineral? The quiz!

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oxford university museum of natural history

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The definition of a mineral can be difficult to understand. To look at it another way, we can compare a mineral with something we all know well - a fruit cake! Can you compare a mineral and a fruitcake? Ask yourself the following questions. Do cakes have definite chemical compositions?

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By now you should know that different plants and animals existed at different times in geological history, and their remains are found as fossils in the rocks that formed when they were alive. By using the geological divisions shown in the timescale, palaeontologists have mapped the age of the rocks and fossils of Britain. This is shown in the map below - scroll down and take a look.

Britain is made up of rocks of many ages.
Each colour on the map represents rock of a certain age or type.
Click on the name of the town or city closest to where you live and discover the age of the rock and types of fossils that could be found there.

This map is reproduced here courtesy of the School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Keele University.

The scale helps us understand geological time. Learn more looking at the map.

Finished? Return to the Discover the history of life in these pages.

The history of life in a single year!
The geological timescale
The interactive map - where do you live?

Homepage or find out even more about Fossils

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oxford university museum of natural history

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By now you should know that different plants and animals existed at different times in geological history, and their remains are found as fossils in the rocks that formed when they were alive. By using the geological divisions shown in the timescale, palaeontologists have mapped the age of the rocks and fossils of Britain.

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As animals and plants evolve (change over time), some groups die out - become extinct - as the dinosaurs did 65 million years ago. New groups have also appeared, like the birds, which evolved from dinosaurs.

Palaeontologists use the extinction and appearance of different groups to define geological periods. If you put all the geological periods together you have constructed a geological timescale.

The geological timescale records changes in the fossil record.
Click on the geological periods on the timescale to see which groups of plants and animals were alive in each of them.

This chart is reproduced here courtesy of the School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Keele University.

The scale helps us understand geological time. Learn more looking at the map.

Finished? Return to the Discover the history of life in these pages.

The history of life in a single year!
The geological timescale
The interactive map - where do you live?

Homepage or find out even more about Fossils

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oxford university museum of natural history

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As animals and plants evolve (change over time), some groups die out - become extinct - as the dinosaurs did 65 million years ago. New groups have also appeared, like the birds, which evolved from dinosaurs. Palaeontologists use the extinction and appearance of different groups to define geological periods.

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Fossil Hunting | Types of Fossils (Real Dinosaurs!)

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The Rock Cycle | Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Igneous | Learning Made Fun

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Please be aware that resources have been published on the website in the form that they were originally supplied. This means that procedures reflect general practice and standards applicable at the time resources were produced and cannot be assumed to be acceptable today. Website users are fully responsible for ensuring that any activity, including practical work, which they carry out is in accordance with current regulations related to health and safety and that an appropriate risk assessment has been carried out.

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In this activity, students will learn about the three main types of Earth rocks and make edible analogues to help explain how they form. They will then use the ideas from this activity to investigate and suggest what some of the samples in the meteorite hunters boxes might be.

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Dinosaur Fossil Animation Sequence Activity

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Dinosaur Fossil Animation Sequence Activity

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Use Scratch to do something a bit different.

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Dinosaur Fossil Animation Sequence Activity

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Please be aware that resources have been published on the website in the form that they were originally supplied. This means that procedures reflect general practice and standards applicable at the time resources were produced and cannot be assumed to be acceptable today.

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Dinosaur Videos

Enjoy a range of cool dinosaur videos. Watch how dinosaurs evolved, listen to theories behind their extinction and learn about dinosaurs such as the Stegosaurus, Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. Check out the realistic scenes created by the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs documentaries and be amazed by the CGI clips that help bring dinosaurs to life.

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Cool Dinosaur Videos - Learn about Dinosaurs, Amazing CGI Clips

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Dinosaur Videos Enjoy a range of cool dinosaur videos. Watch how dinosaurs evolved, listen to theories behind their extinction and learn about dinosaurs such as the Stegosaurus, Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. Check out the realistic scenes created by the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs documentaries and be amazed by the CGI clips that help bring dinosaurs to life.

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Dinosaur Facts for Kids

Enjoy our fun dinosaur facts for kids and learn about everything from the ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex to the enormous Diplodocus.

While dinosaurs came a long time before us humans, fossils and modern technology have helped us piece together what dinosaurs may have looked like and even how they might have behaved. Read on for a wide range of cool dinosaur facts that are perfect for kids.

The word dinosaur comes from the Greek language and means 'terrible lizard'. The word was coined by English paleontologist Richard Owen in 1842 and was meant to refer to Dinosaurs impressive size rather than their scary appearance.

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for over 160 million years, from the Triassic period around 230 million years ago through the Jurassic period and until the end of the Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago.

The time period from 250 million years ago until around 65 million years ago is known as the Mesozoic Era. It is often referred to as the Age of the Dinosaurs because most dinosaurs developed and became extinct during this time.

It is believed that dinosaurs lived on Earth until around 65 million years ago when a mass extinction occurred.

Scientists believe that the event leading to the extinction may have been a massive asteroid impact or huge volcanic activity. Events such as these could have blocked out sunlight and significantly changed the Earth's ecology.

The first dinosaur to be formally named was the Megalosaurus, back in 1824.

A person who studies dinosaurs is known as a paleontologist.

The Pterodactyl flew with wings made of skin stretched out between its fingers and toes.

One of the smallest dinosaurs was the Microraptor, living around 120 million years ago it was only the size of a mouse.

Rather than being carnivores (meat eaters), the largest dinosaurs such as the Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus were actually herbivores (plant eaters).

To help fight meat eaters such as the Allosaurus or Spinosaurus, many plant eaters had natural weapons at their disposal. Examples of this include the spikes on the tail of the Stegosaurus and the three horns attached to the front of the Triceratops's head shield.

Pterodactyls are not dinosaurs, they were flying reptiles that lived during the age of dinosaurs but by definition they do not fall into the same category. The same goes for water based reptiles such as Plesiosaurs.

Birds descended from a type of dinosaurs known as theropods.

Despite being long extinct, dinosaurs are frequently featured in the media. One of the more memorable examples of this is Michael Crichton's 1990 book Jurassic Park. Adapted to movie in 1993, the story features cloned dinosaurs brought to life with the help of DNA found in mosquitoes trapped in amber.

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Dinosaur Facts for Kids Enjoy our fun dinosaur facts for kids and learn about everything from the ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex to the enormous Diplodocus. While dinosaurs came a long time before us humans, fossils and modern technology have helped us piece together what dinosaurs may have looked like and even how they might have behaved.

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Stalactite Project

Stalactites and stalagmites found in caves are an impressive feature of nature but they take a long time to form. Let's speed up the process by making our own stalactites and stalagmites.

With enough time they might even join in the middle and form a column.

Make Stalactites and Stalagmites
What you'll need:

Two glass jars

A saucer

Woolen thread

Either baking soda, washing soda or Epsom salts

Instructions:

1. Fill both jars with hot water. Dissolve as much soda as you can into each one.

2. Place the two jars in a warm place and put the saucer between them.

3. Twist several strands of woolen thread together before dipping the ends into the jars and letting the middle of the thread hang down above the saucer. The ends can be weighed down with various small, heavy objects to keep them in the jars.

4. The two solutions should creep along the thread until they reach the middle and then drip down onto the saucer.

5. Watch what happens to the experiment over then next few days.

6. Don't forget to wash your hands when you've finished.

What's happening?
Over a few days the dripping water will leave behind the baking soda, forming a tiny stalactite (which forms from the roof) and stalagmite (which forms from the ground). With enough time these may eventually join to create a single column. Stalactites and stalagmites are columns of stone which form in underground caves. They are made from minerals dissolved in rainwater that slowly drips from the roofs and walls of caves.

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Make Stalactites and Stalagmites - Fun Science Fair Projects for Kids

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Stalactite Project Stalactites and stalagmites found in caves are an impressive feature of nature but they take a long time to form. Let's speed up the process by making our own stalactites and stalagmites. With enough time they might even join in the middle and form a column.

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This project comes to us from Melissa Howard who is a Mom, Blogger, and photographer. This project nicely demonstrates how real-life geodes are formed in igneous and sedimentary rock. It also demonstrates super-saturated solutions and shows a nice variety of crystal shapes and formations.
YOU WILL NEED:

clean eggshells

water

a variety of soluble solids: table salt, rock salt, sugar, baking soda, Epsom salts, sea salt, borax, or cream of tartar

small heat proof containers (coffee cups work well)

spoons

food coloring

egg cartons and wax paper or mini-muffin tins

WHAT TO DO:

1. Crack the eggs for this project as close to the narrow end as possible. This preserves more egg to use as a container for the solution.

2. Clean the eggshells using hot water. The hot water cooks the lining and allows you to pull the skin (egg membrane) out of the inside of the egg using your fingers. Make sure to remove all the egg membrane, if any membrane stays inside the shell it is possible that your eggshell will grow mold and your crystals will turn black.

3. Use an egg carton lined with waxed paper or mini-muffin tins to hold the eggs upright.

4. Use a saucepan to heat the water to boiling. .

5. Pour half a cup to a cup of water into your heatproof container. If you poured half a cup of water into the container, add about a ¼ cup of solid to the water. Stir it until it dissolves. Likewise if you used a cup of water, add about ½ a cup of solid to the water. You wanted to add about half again the volume of the water as a solid to the mixture. When the initial amount of solid is dissolved continue adding small amounts of the solid until the water is super-saturated. Super-saturated simply means the water has absorbed all it is able to absorb and any solid you add will not dissolve.

6. Add food coloring.

7. Carefully pour your solution into the eggshell, filling it as full as possible without over-flowing it or causing it to tip.

Find a safe place to put your shells while the water evaporates. Crystals will form inside the eggshells as the water evaporates.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
Dissolving the crystals in hot water created what is called a "super-saturated solution." This basically means that the salts took advantage of the energy of the hot water to help them dissolve until there was no more space between molecules in the solution. As the solution cooled, the water lost its energy and the crystals are forced from the solution to become a solid again. Since this happens slowly along with the evaporation, the crystals have time to grow larger than they were when the experiment started. Natural geodes in rock are form in much the same way as mineralized water seeps into air pockets in rock. This is also how rock candy crystals are formed.

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This project comes to us from Melissa Howard who is a Mom, Blogger, and photographer. This project nicely demonstrates how real-life geodes are formed in igneous and sedimentary rock. It also demonstrates super-saturated solutions and shows a nice variety of crystal shapes and formations.

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Science KS1/KS2: Timeline of life on Earth

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In this short film for primary schools Martin Hughes-Games describes the role of a palaeontologist; someone who studies ancient living things and how planet Earth has evolved over millions of years.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zw3ygk7

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zg9rkqt

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zt3ygk7

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z3ynvcw

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z2cg9j6

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Properties and uses

Different types of rocks have different properties.

Some rocks are harder than others. For example, granite is a very hard rock. This makes it a good material for building as it doesn't wear away easily.

Marble is another hard rock. It has an attractive texture and colour and it can be cut and polished. Because of this, it is used to make floor tiles and wall tiles. Some statues are made from marble too.

Chalk is a soft rock and wears away easily. This makes it ideal for making chalk sticks to write on blackboards.

Some rocks, such as sandstone or chalk, let water soak through them. They are called permeable rocks.

Other rocks, such as slate, do not let water soak through them. They are called impermeable rocks. Slate also splits easily into thin sheets. This makes it ideal for making roof tiles.

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What are the types of rock? Find out how igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks are formed in a Bitesize KS2 Science Explainer.

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Find out about the main components of soil and how these affect its properties in this Bitesize 2nd level Science guide.

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are the preserved remains or traces of a dead organism . They provide for how living things and the environment have changed over time.

Fossils have been found in rocks of all ages, stretching back billions of years. However, most of the species found in the fossil record have died out or become extinct.

Fossils don't just show how living things have changed; they can also help us understand how the Earth has changed.

Over millions of years the Earth's surface shifts and changes. For example, rocks that once formed the seafloor might be forced up to form a mountain range. This means that you can sometimes find the fossils of sea creatures at the peak of a mountain.

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are the preserved remains or traces of a dead organism . They provide for how living things and the environment have changed over time. Fossils have been found in rocks of all ages, stretching back billions of years. However, most of the species found in the fossil record have died out or become extinct.

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A fossil is the preserved remains or traces of a dead organism. The process by which a fossil is formed is called fossilisation .

It's very rare for living things to become fossilised. Usually after most animals die their bodies just rot away and nothing is left behind. However, under certain special conditions, a fossil can form.

After an animal dies, the soft parts of its body leaving the hard parts, like the skeleton, behind. This becomes buried by small particles of rock called .

As more layers of sediment build up on top, the sediment around the skeleton begins to compact and turn to rock.

The bones then start to be dissolved by water seeping through the rock. Minerals in the water replace the bone, leaving a rock replica of the original bone called a fossil.

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How are fossils created? Find out what fossils are made from and how they are formed in this KS2 Science Bitesize guide.

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Whether 4.5 billion or 900 years old, every rock has a story to tell, giving us clues about the history of the Earth. Explore these stories by looking at igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.

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Using starburst to mimic throck cycle

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Palaeontology collections

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Palaeontology collections | Natural History Museum

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The geographic, stratigraphic and historical coverage of seven million vertebrate, invertebrate and plant fossils make it globally important.

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Choose one of our hand puppets or models of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures to download, print and make.

All the puppets and models are available as a full-colour version or you can print them in black-and-white if you would like to colour and decorate them yourself.

Full instructions are provided. You will need scissors, glue and, for the puppets, brass paper fasteners.

Puppets

Models

Further information

Contact Enquiries for further information

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British Geological Survey 1998 - 2017 (c)NERC mailto:www-bgs@bgs.ac.uk

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Choose one of our hand puppets or models of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures to download, print and make. All the puppets and models are available as a full-colour version or you can print them in black-and-white if you would like to colour and decorate them yourself. Full instructions are provided.

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ROCKS - Rocks and soils - The School Run

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ROCKS - Rocks and soils - The School Run

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Rocks and soil | TheSchoolRun

What are rocks and soil?

Rocks are made of one or more minerals. There are three main classifications of rock, based on the way the rock was formed: sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous.

Soil is formed of fine rock particles mixed with air, water and particles from dead plant and animal matter. There are three main types of soil which are classified according to the amount of sand and clay in them.

Top 10 facts

Did you know?

Gallery

About

Related Videos

Just for fun...

See for yourself

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Rocks and soil | TheSchoolRun Rocks are made of one or more minerals. There are three main classifications of rock, based on the way the rock was formed: sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous. Soil is formed of fine rock particles mixed with air, water and particles from dead plant and animal matter.

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ESEU - Earth Science Education Unit - Virtual Rock Kit

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The Earth Science Education Unit, providers of in-service training to UK teachers

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ROCKS - Earthquake Science Investigations

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ROCKS - Earthquake Science Investigations

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Did you know the Earth is made up of large pieces of rock called tectonic plates? Where two tectonic plates meet is called a fault. If two plate rub together at a fault waves of energy ( seismic waves ) come to the surface of the Earth which are felt as an Earthquake.

Earthquakes can be different magnitudes, sometimes they are just a small tremor and other times cause huge amounts of damage to the land above. An earthquake of magnitude 3 would be very small, 6 would cause substantial damage and 9 would have catastrophic effects.

The amount of damage an earthquake causes is measured by the Mercalli Scale, which is a measure of intensity. This changes depdndibng on the part of the Earthquake being measured. For example damage at the epicentre of an Earthquake would be more than further away from the epicentre.

If an Earthquake happens at the bottom of the sea it can push water upwards creating huge waves called tsunamis.
Earth like a Peach
Imagine the Earth as being like a peach made up of layers. The stone in the middle is the core, while the fleshy part is like the Earth's mantle which contains magma and the skin is like the crust.

Another way to picture this is to make a model of the Earth like this one we made with playdough.

Good Foundations - Earthquake Science
Resources
Jelly

Chocolate brownie or other foundation

Gummy sweets

Cocktail sticks
Instructions
Make jelly and a brownie or other foundation layer to test in a tray or on a plate. If you don't want to use food items, play dough, clay etc would all work well too.

Build a tower using the cocktail sticks and jelly sweets. Ours looked like this.

We tested our tower on it's own and then in the jelly and brownie by counting the number of shakes needed to make it fall over and recorded our observations.

Make it fair

The same person shook all our towers, so we could try to make sure the same force was used each time.

We used a tower of the same height and using the same number of sweets/toothpicks each time.

Keep the depth of the foundations the same.
Extension ideas
What happens if you build a taller tower?

What other foundations could you use?

Can you think of a way to strengthen your tower?

Did you know?

A seismometer is used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake. Earthquakes are measured on the Richter Scale.

Movement of a tectonic plate of just 20cm is enough to set off an earthquake!

Small earthquakes can be felt as a slight tremor, but larger earthquakes can cause severe damage, making buildings collapse, causing landslides, flooding and explosions.

More Earthquake Science Ideas

Make your own Seismometer - full instructions coming soon.

Suitable for - Key Stage 2 - Human and physical geography.
Key Stage 2 - Science

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Did you know the Earth is made up of large pieces of rock called tectonic plates? Where two tectonic plates meet is called a fault. If two plate rub together at a fault waves of energy ( seismic waves ) come to the surface of the Earth which are felt as an Earthquake.

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The rock cycled related processes

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To most people a rock is just a rock, nothing noteworthy or special, but to a geologist rocks are puzzle pieces full of evidence about the history of our planet. This blog post explains the rock cycle and contains a simple activity demonstrating how the three main types of rock on Earth form - with chocolate!

The rock cycle

Deep within the Earth temperatures are high enough to actually melt rock, turning it from a solid to a liquid. This molten rock is called magma and is the very beginning of the rock cycle.

Magma reaches the Earth's surface when volcanoes erupt, and spew lava (what we call magma when it is outside of a volcano) over the existing landscape. However, sometimes the magma does not make it all the way to the Earth's surface, we call this an intrusion. Either way, the magma gradually cools down and solidifies, forming an igneous rock.

The Earth's surface is a pretty harsh place for a rock. It is constantly beaten by wind and rain, it might be pounded by waves, smoothed by rivers or walked on over and over again by passers by. These scenarios, and many more, all cause rocks to be gradually broken down in a process called erosion.

The broken pieces of rock are collectively called sediments and may range in size from pebbles to sand grains. Some of these sediments will be transported to a new location by rivers or the wind where they are deposited and put down forever. Over millions of years, layers of sediment will be deposited on top of one and other, and gradually the weight of all this sediment leads to compaction of the lower layers, pushing them together and causing the sediment to cement itself together. This is how a sedimentary rock is formed.

Sometimes rocks continue to become buried by more and more sediment. Such deep burial exposes the rocks to high temperatures and pressures. These conditions cause the minerals within the rocks to alter chemically, and the features within the rocks to change shape. Rocks altered in this way are called metamorphic rocks.

With continued burial and exposure to higher temperatures the rocks will eventually melt forming magma, and the cycle can start all over again.

The Choc Cycle Activity

You will need:

Step 1: Igneous Rocks

The first step is to create some magma by melting all of the chocolate. I did this using a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water on the hob, however, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave if you prefer.

Next pour your melted chocolate onto a slightly tilted smooth surface covered in baking paper (I used a tray) and allow it to flow, like lava which has erupted from a volcano.

You can get creative here! I added some geologists observing the lava flow, but you could use any edible additions to make your volcanic eruption scene more realistic.

Allow your lava flow to cool so that you have a solid igneous choc rock!

Step 2: Sedimentary Rocks

Next you need to expose your chocolate rock to the harsh conditions of the Earth's surface, or in this case, a cheese grater!

Erode your rock and turn it into chocolate 'sediment'.

Your sedimentary rock will be made up of three different sedimentary layers: chocolate sediment, cocoa pop sediment and marshmallow sediment.

Each one will be transported to the oven proof dish and deposited there, where it will be buried by the next sediment.

You should now see layers of sediment, just like the layers preserved in the sedimentary rocks that make up the grand canyon!

Step 3: Metamorphic Rocks

This step requires a little more imagination than the previous steps. You cannot add enough sedimentary layers to generate enough heat and pressure to alter our 'sedimentary rock'. We need an oven to do this for us.

Place it in the oven at 100°C for approximately 20 minutes.

Then remove it and before it cools down use a spatula to squash and fold the mixture over to one side of the dish. You should find that the marshmallow layer has started melting and stretches out as you move it around.

This folded, misshapen feature looks quite a lot like those found in metamorphic rocks.

Now all that remains is to eat it!

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Curriculum Links for Geology Rocks

England
KS2: Rocks

Compare and group together rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties.
KS3: Chemistry - Earth and Atmosphere

The rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

Scotland
SCN3-17a: Earths Materials

Formation, characteristics and uses of soils, minerals and basic rock types.

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To most people a rock is just a rock, nothing noteworthy or special, but to a geologist rocks are puzzle pieces full of evidence about the history of our planet. This blog post explains the rock cycle and contains a simple activity demonstrating how the three main types of rock on Earth form - with chocolate!

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A bank of resources to explore rocks and fossils

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Rock collection information and teacher resources

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Rock collection | Natural History Museum

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The Museum's rock collection consists of approximately 123,000 samples collected from around the world during the last 250 years.

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MARY ANNING: My name's Mary Anning. I was born in the year 1799 to a poor family, in a small town by the sea.

MARY ANNING: It's difficult to know where to start my story, because the truth is I was born once and then, when I was just 15 months old, still a baby, I had my second beginning.

MARY ANNING: 'My mother had left me in the charge of three ladies.

MARY ANNING: 'They were getting some fresh air when, suddenly, the sky got dark and a storm cloud came rolling across the sky.

MARY ANNING: 'As the rain started, they ran to shelter under a tree.

MARY ANNING: 'Suddenly, a great bolt of lightning leapt from the sky, striking the tree and the ladies with it.

MARY ANNING: 'All three of the poor souls fell to the ground.

MARY ANNING: 'My father came running.

MARY ANNING: 'They say I was a dull child before, but that after the lightning strike, I was bright. Like the lightning itself had gone into me and brought me fully to life.

MARY ANNING: 'I grew up by the sea.

MARY ANNING: 'Every day my father would take my brother, Joseph, and I down to the beach, no matter what the weather.

MARY ANNING: 'We were looking for these things we called 'curiosities'. They were beautiful things hidden inside the rocks.

MARY ANNING: 'I didn't know what they were, these curiosities, but somehow I knew that they came from another world.

MARY ANNING: 'You might know them to be fossils. You might know that they are creatures that lived millions of years ago, turned to stone and waiting to be discovered amongst the rocks.

MARY ANNING: 'But we didn't know that then.

MARY ANNING: 'To us, they were just beautiful, mysterious things.

MARY ANNING: 'I learnt how to spot them.

MARY ANNING: 'I was good at it.

MARY ANNING: 'A keen eye, my father said.

MARY ANNING: 'My father taught me how to get the curiosities out of the rock. You have to have such patience.

MARY ANNING: 'One hit too hard with a hammer, and the whole thing could be in pieces.

MARY ANNING: 'So I learnt to be patient and to find it one tiny chip at a time. To tease it out from where it had been hiding for who knows how long.

MARY ANNING: 'Because we were poor, once we got the curiosities out of the rock and cleaned them up, me and Joseph would sell them from a stall on the street.

MARY ANNING: 'People thought they were frozen lightning bolts, or the devil's own toenails

MARY ANNING: 'We'd sell them for a penny each.

MARY ANNING: 'One day, a lady came by, said her name was Elizabeth Philpot.

MARY ANNING: 'She showed such special interest in our fossils, and thought we had a fine collection.

MARY ANNING: 'She seemed to know more about these things than anyone I'd ever met.

MARY ANNING: 'So when she asked if I'd like to see her fossils, I asked Father, and went with her straight away.

MARY ANNING: 'I'd never seen anything so fine.

MARY ANNING: 'She had them all lined up like little treasures in a special cabinet.

MARY ANNING: 'There were things in that cabinet I'd never seen before, things that made my heart beat harder.

MARY ANNING: 'Then, she gave me some books to borrow. I was so hungry to see what they said.

MARY ANNING: 'I read about all the new ideas coming from the best men in science.

MARY ANNING: 'Ideas that were new and strange, that these curiosities were really creatures from another time, that had died and been somehow locked up inside the stone thousands, even millions, of years ago.

MARY ANNING: 'I started to see the fossils differently, and imagined them coming to life.'

MARY ANNING: It gave me such a thrill to think of it.

MARY ANNING: It was all I wanted to do. To walk on the beach and stare at stones.

MARY ANNING: It was like an itch or a twitch, just knowing that there were fossils out there waiting to be discovered.

MARY ANNING: But then a terrible thing happened.

MARY ANNING: 'My father got very ill.

MARY ANNING: 'He had fallen down the cliffs and just wasn't getting better.

MARY ANNING: 'I was just 12 years old when my father died.

MARY ANNING: 'Now I would have to walk the beach without him.

MARY ANNING: 'We were more poor now than ever.

MARY ANNING: 'Selling curiosities was our best chance of making money, so every day I went out to look for them.

MARY ANNING: 'And besides, the fossils were all I thought about.

MARY ANNING: 'It was like an itch, or a twitch, knowing that there were fossils out there just waiting to be discovered.

MARY ANNING: 'I grew up and I never stopped looking. I could see the world so clearly now.

MARY ANNING: 'I knew what the scientists were saying about what they were, these fossils as they were now called, and I had my own ideas too.

MARY ANNING: 'It must be hard for you to imagine, but these were such extraordinary ideas.

MARY ANNING: 'People found it hard to believe that the world could really be millions of years old, and that the curiosities were really creatures that had lived all that time ago.

MARY ANNING: 'Then one day I was out hunting, eyes scanning the stones and cliffs as usual, and I saw something that made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

MARY ANNING: 'It weren't much to see, but there was a hint of something sticking out from a large slab of slate.

MARY ANNING: 'I could have walked past it a thousand times,

MARY ANNING: 'but this time it was as if I could see beneath the surface, and I just knew that this was something really big.

MARY ANNING: 'I'd never lift it on my own. I called some quarrymen who knew me well for all the time I spent on the beach to come and help carry the slab back to my workroom.

MARY ANNING: 'I had to calm myself down. I knew it would take a age and that I had to be patient. I started to chip away at the great slab.

MARY ANNING: 'Just like my father had taught me, I had to work one tiny chip at a time. Hurry and I could ruin it.

MARY ANNING: 'One tiny chip at a time I waited to see what would emerge from the rock.

MARY ANNING: 'One tiny chip at a time. I couldn't stop, I couldn't think of anything else.

MARY ANNING: 'As it slowly emerged, I knew this was different from anything I had found before.

MARY ANNING: 'It took days, weeks, one tiny chip at a time.

MARY ANNING: 'Finally, I stood back at looked at what it was that I had found.

MARY ANNING: 'It was the skull of some great creature.

MARY ANNING: 'A creature like nothing alive.

MARY ANNING: 'I ran to fetch Elizabeth.

MARY ANNING: 'She came with an important man of science all the way from London.

MARY ANNING: 'He said it were like nothing he had ever seen, and that he'd never seen a creature with such an enormous eye.

MARY ANNING: 'He said it was important.

MARY ANNING: 'He said that all of science would be amazed.

MARY ANNING: 'Imagine that!

MARY ANNING: 'They called it an ichthyosaur, after the Greek words for fish lizard.

MARY ANNING: 'To my astonishment, he gave me £25 for it.

MARY ANNING: 'For the first time in my life my family would have no need to worry about money.'

MARY ANNING: My ichthyosaur was just the beginning.

MARY ANNING: I never stopped looking,

MARY ANNING: I found more things the world had never seen.

MARY ANNING: They took my fossils up to London,

MARY ANNING: put them on display in the British Museum.

MARY ANNING: My finds would change the whole way the world was understood.

MARY ANNING: But they never once said who had found them.

MARY ANNING: The men of science wrote their books and forgot all about me.

MARY ANNING: Now though, almost 200 years later, they say I was the greatest fossil hunter ever. How about that?

MARY ANNING: Father would have been so proud.

MARY ANNING: I found many incredible things, but just think, for every fossil I found, how many more may lie undiscovered right beneath your feet.

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MARY ANNING: My name's Mary Anning. I was born in the year 1799 to a poor family, in a small town by the sea. MARY ANNING: It's difficult to know where to start my story, because the truth is I was born once and then, when I was just 15 months old, still a baby, I had my second beginning.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z7rb4wx

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https://www.sciencekids.co.nz/videos/dinosaurs/dinosaurextinction.html

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ROCKS - Plant Science - How fossils are formed

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ROCKS - Plant Science - How fossils are formed

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https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-life/

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Dinosaurs roamed the planet for about 165 million years, during a time in the Earth's history called the Mesozoic Era. It is difficult to imagine how long this was, until we compare it with ourselves: humans have lived on Earth for less than two million years. During the Mesozoic Era, the Earth's landmasses changed dramatically, new seas were formed, and plants and animals evolved.

Geologists divide Earth's long history into a series of time zones, from the origin of the planet, about 4,600 million years ago, right up to the present day. The major divisions are called eras. These are sub-divided into smaller time zones called periods. Within each period are smaller divisions called Ages (not shown in this diagram). Dinosaurs lived in the Mesozoic Era, which is divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. Humans live in the Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic Era.

Triassic period: 250-200 million years ago

The first dinosaurs lived in the early Triassic. Other reptiles also lived in this period, such as plant-eating rhynchosaurs. Fish and turtles swam in the sea, pterosaurs flapped their leathery wings in the sky, and the first mammals appeared.

Ferns, ginkgoes, and palm-like cycadeoids and cycads grew near streams. Scattered forests of conifers grew on drier lands. There was no grass, and there were no flowering plants. Inland areas were covered in hot, barren deserts with little or no plant life.

Jurassic period: 200-145 million years ago

Coniferous forests covered vast areas of land. Ginkgoes, monkey puzzle trees, cycads, tall tree ferns, and giant horsetails were common. Ferns and mosses grew on the ground, but there were still no flowering plants or grass.

Cretaceous period: 145-65 million years ago

Flowering plants appeared, which were the ancestors of today's herbs, flowers, and broad-leaved trees. They became the main type of plant-life. Oak, maple, walnut, magnolia, and beech trees grew alongside the still abundant conifers, cycads, and tree ferns. There was still no grass.

Copyright © 2007 Dorling Kindersley

To order this book direct from the publisher, visit DK's website.

Dinosaurs roamed the planet for about 165 million years, during a time in the Earth's history called the Mesozoic Era. It is difficult to imagine how long this was, until we compare it with ourselves: humans have lived on Earth for less than two million years. During the Mesozoic Era, the Earth's landmasses changed dramatically, new seas were formed, and plants and animals evolved.

Geologists divide Earth's long history into a series of time zones, from the origin of the planet, about 4,600 million years ago, right up to the present day. The major divisions are called eras. These are sub-divided into smaller time zones called periods. Within each period are smaller divisions called Ages (not shown in this diagram). Dinosaurs lived in the Mesozoic Era, which is divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. Humans live in the Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic Era.

Triassic period: 250-200 million years ago

The first dinosaurs lived in the early Triassic. Other reptiles also lived in this period, such as plant-eating rhynchosaurs. Fish and turtles swam in the sea, pterosaurs flapped their leathery wings in the sky, and the first mammals appeared.

Ferns, ginkgoes, and palm-like cycadeoids and cycads grew near streams. Scattered forests of conifers grew on drier lands. There was no grass, and there were no flowering plants. Inland areas were covered in hot, barren deserts with little or no plant life.

Jurassic period: 200-145 million years ago

Coniferous forests covered vast areas of land. Ginkgoes, monkey puzzle trees, cycads, tall tree ferns, and giant horsetails were common. Ferns and mosses grew on the ground, but there were still no flowering plants or grass.

Cretaceous period: 145-65 million years ago

Flowering plants appeared, which were the ancestors of today's herbs, flowers, and broad-leaved trees. They became the main type of plant-life. Oak, maple, walnut, magnolia, and beech trees grew alongside the still abundant conifers, cycads, and tree ferns. There was still no grass.

Copyright © 2007 Dorling Kindersley

To order this book direct from the publisher, visit DK's website.

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Dinosaurs roamed the planet for about 165 million years, during a time in the Earth's history called the Mesozoic Era. It is difficult to imagine how long this was, until we compare it with ourselves: humans have lived on Earth for less than two million years.

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Dinosaurs | Walking with dinosaurs | Dinosaurs games

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Rocks and Fossils (2) Hamilton Trust Results PowerPoint 

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Rocks and Fossils (2) Hamilton Trust Results PowerPoint 

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (2) Hamilton Trust 1

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (2) Hamilton Trust 1

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (2) Hamilton Trust 2

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (2) Hamilton Trust 2

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Dinosaurs and Fossils Hamilton Trust - making a Mesozoic timeline

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Dinosaurs and Fossils Hamilton Trust - making a Mesozoic timeline

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (3) Hamilton Trust 1

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (3) Hamilton Trust 1

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (3) Hamilton Trust 2

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (3) Hamilton Trust 2

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (4) Hamilton Trust 

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Dinosaurs and Fossils (4) Hamilton Trust 

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bp educational service | Grouping rocks activities

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Rock information cards, which students can use to categorise rock samples or to complete the in-depth rock analysis worksheet.