Newsroom

Reported By: Maxwell Swanton Frishkorn, Chris Maynor, Chloe Everard, Danielle Bennett, Alexis Ramer, Madisson Joye (TES students)

 

On Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Tabb Elementary School (TES) held its Second Annual Rock Fest. All the 5th graders were included in the festival celebrating the end of the rock unit. We did many learning friendly activities with rocks while having a blast! The activities included breaking geodes, cooking rocks, making pet rocks, fossils, and rock jewelry.

 

The 5th graders opened geodes, which are rocks with crystals inside. We observed the cracking method while the adults broke the geodes in half. My favorite part was breaking open the geodes. My geode took two people to break it. When it broke it had a lot of crystals in it. Most geodes are hollow and were unbelievably beautiful with all of the multi-colored crystals inside. The tools you need to break open a geode are chisels, goggles, and a hammer.

 

My favorite part was cooking to illustrate how the different types of rocks are formed. In my group we made peppermint bark using milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peppermint extract, and crushed up peppermint candies. The peppermint bark represents igneous rock, because it has to cool and harden just like lava cools and hardens to make igneous rocks.

 

Most of the kids thought making pet rocks was the best. We picked out, named, and decorated the rocks. Some rocks rocked Mohawks and winking eyes. To make a pet rock you need a rock, fake hair, googlie eyes, and a sharpie.

 

One of the things we did was make our very own fossils. First we had to soften the clay we were using. We then flattened the clay and imprinted sea shells in it. After we rolled up the edges to make a sort of bowl, we poured plaster in it. When they dried out, we peeled the clay off and had our own fossils.

 

The 5th graders turned rocks and wire into works of art, either a keychain or a necklace. To make a necklace you need a rock with a hole, cord to hold the rock, and wire. You wrap the wire around the rock and make a loop. Then you put the wire loop on the cord. Now you have a rock necklace.