This document provides instructions and guidance for a classroom writing activity where students will write an 11-minute essay from the perspective of a rock going through the rock cycle. Students will name their rock and describe its current state as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic. Over four paragraphs, they will tell the story of how their rock transformed through each stage of the rock cycle due to processes like weathering, erosion, melting, pressure, and heat. The document includes vocabulary terms for each rock type and formatting guidance for the paragraphs. It also references additional sources on using writing in math and science classes to support learning and assessment.

1. EXPOSITORY WRITING
Benavidez Elementary School
January 6, 2014

2. 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.

4. 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.

5. Second Paragraph
SANDSTONE is a SEDIMENTARY rock.
(How was your rock formed). How did
your rock get to San Antonio.
VOCABULARY
• Sediment
• Pressure
• Layer
• Erosion
• weathering

6. 3rd Paragraph
Before 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.
VOCABULARY
• Heat
• Pressure
SLATE -- METAMORPHIC ROCK

7. FOURTH PARAGRAPH
• 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
GRANITE -- IGNEOUS ROCK

8. FIFTH PARAGRAPH
Take one minute to have your rock reflect
on its journey.

9. 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.

10. •Talking, Writing, and Reasoning: Making Thinking Visible with Math Journals
Grades 3-5
•http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/talkingwriting-reasoning-making-820.html?tab=4#tabs

11. Foldables in Science
http://www.education.ucsb.edu/webdata/instruction/h
ss/Visual_Literacy/foldables.pdf

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

14. 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+noteboo
k.pdf
http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resour
ces/Foldables/Basic%20Foldables.pdf