Newsroom

The Tabb Elementary 2012 Rock Festival really ROCKED! The purpose of this event was to incorporate some excitement into learning about rocks and the Earth's layers. Fifth grade students went from class to class doing the fun activities set up.

 

In Mrs. Hughes Hankins' room, students could pick out a rock and decorate it with eyes, hair and other real features to create their own 'Pet Rock'. Students also enjoyed naming their new pet rocks and pretending they were alive. Did you know that the first pet rock sold for $3.99 in 1975?

 

Miss Phelan's room was the cooking! The students made three types of desserts with each one relating to a type of rock in the rock cycle (Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic).

 

In Ms. Knopp's room, students made plaster fossils by pressing shells against clay, then filling the indention with the plaster and letting it harden.

 

Next door in Mrs. Shield's room, students created necklaces, bracelets or key chains from polished rocks. They wrapped the rocks, including jade and marble, in wire and tied string to the pendant to finish the necklace/bracelet.

 

Things were really cracking in Mrs. Maloney's room as students broke real geodes that came from Mexico. Geodes are spherical rocks that form near bodies of water. Each geode had a 90% chance of having interesting and unique crystal formations inside them. All of the student's geodes were different and had their own unique patterns.

 

The Rock Festival was amazingly bodacious and really boosted the students' enthusiasm levels in learning about rocks and the Earth's layers. (submitted by Nicholas Gu and Lukas Zoldi, students of Mrs. Hughes Hankins)