Junior+Geology+Page+1

=Junior Geology= Lunchtime sessions introduced interested children to the rock cycle, various ways rocks are formed and the landscapes associated with them.They became rock detectives as they learned what to look for in rock specimens and how to read the clues.Their knowledge was put to the test by developing a small rock collection, and extended through hands-on science experiments, providing a taste of scientific discipline. They discovered that there is no such thing as an ordinary rock!

Session 1: Introduction
concentrating. || Igneous rock with crystals and sedimentary rocks. || Mark explaining sedimentary rocks. ||
 * [[image:P1070016-2.JPG width="155" height="210"]] || [[image:P1070007-1.JPG width="233" height="179"]] || [[image:P1070012-1.JPG width="189" height="171"]] ||
 * Aimee and Millie. || Rock detectives at work. || Maungatua schist with chlorite. ||
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 * Leo, Aimee and Millie,

This week we discovered:
Sedimentary rocks are sandy rocks with layers and fossils. Sedimentary rocks are made when bits of rock called sediments travel down rivers to the sea where the sediments sink and are squashed into rocks. You can use acid to test if rocks have any sediment from bones and shells. If they have they fizz. Melted rocks in the earth are called magma. Some rocks that are melted don't erupt from volcanoes. Rocks that are made from melted rock are called igneous rocks. Igneous rocks have crystals. Some crystals take 10,000 years to grow. The Maungatuas used to be 14kms down in the earth. Maungatua rocks are called schist. Some have green bits called chlorite. Crystals in Maungatua schist have taken 5,000 years to grow. They are very small. Mark showed us a difficult drawing. He put rocks on it and from where he put them you could see if they were made deep down in the earth or near the surface and if they were very hot or cold when they were made. Igneous rocks are deep and hot. Sedimentary rocks are near the surface and cold.

Next week we are going to start a rock collection. - Aimee and Millie.

Session 2: River Systems and Limestone Fossils
its sediment. || Jade's new rock collection box. || Our first 3 specimens - sandstone, limestone and mudstone. || mounted by Mark. || This is what we saw. || Eli, looking at limestone fossils with our new 10X magnifying lens. Thankyou, Mr. Carroll! ||
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 * We made a river to see how it sorts
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 * Tristan, viewing a slide of microfossils,

This week's report:
We pretended to be a river. We poured water and sandy gravel down a plastic tube into a tub. We had to hold it really still. The heavy, bigger rocks settled first near the end of the tube. The smaller rocks settled further out because they were lighter. Mark told us that the bits of shells that made limestone would settle a long way out in the sea in clear water. We saw some fossils through the magnifying glass. Some of them had little chambers. - Millie

We looked through a microscope at some tiny shell fossils Mark had found in limestone. We started our rock collection. Our first 3 rocks are limestone, sandstone and mudstone. They are all sedimentary rocks. Mark hammered some limestone for our rock collections. We had to wear safety glasses. I found the river experiment the most interesting. It showed how a river sorts its sediment into different sizes.- Aimee