TITLE:   Everybody Needs a Rock

AUTHOR:    Leslie S. Gordon, Badger Road School, Fairbanks, AK

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:   2-8     science, math, language arts
                         TALENTS UNLIMITED LESSON

OVERVIEW/PURPOSE:  It seems that all children love rocks, so this
was a perfect medium for integrating Talents across the curriculum.
I'm also always looking for realistic situations in which my
students have to measure using metrics.

OBJECTIVES: The student will be able to:
     1.  Use his or her Decision Making Talent and the
         worksheet provided to select a rock.

     2.  Use his or her Communication Talent #1 to list
         all the many, varied words to describe the rock.

     3.  Estimate the mass of all the rocks in
         his or her group and rank them accordingly.

     4.  Use his or her Planning Talent to check the
         estimations of mass using only a balance
         without gram masses.

     5.  Find the volume of his or her rock using water
         displacement

     6.  Use Communication Talent #5 to write a story about
         his or her rock based on what he/she learned
         during the activities above.

     7.  Use Productive Thinking Talent to list 'mvu'
         strategies for grouping/classifying the rocks of
         his or her group.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
     "Everybody Needs A Rock" by Byrd Baylor
     Decision Making worksheet
     rocks
     blind folds
     balances
     gram masses
     graduated cylinders or jars
     water

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
     1.  Read "Everybody Needs a Rock"  by Byrd Baylor.

     2.  Ask the children to use their Decision Making
         Talent and the worksheet to help them decide
         what criteria they will use to help them pick their
         rock.

     3.  Next have everyone get into groups of five or more.
         Each person should observe his/her rock and use
         Communication Talent #1 to record all the many,
         varied words that describe his/her  own rock.

     4.  Next put everyone's rock in the center of the table
         and add at least five more rocks.  Have each child
         find his/her rock.  Give them three minutes to feel
         their rocks, then repeat the activity blindfolded.
         If the children are good at this, you might want to
         put all the rocks for the entire class together and
         challenge each student to find his/her own.

     5.  Ask the students to use their Productive Thinking
         Talent to find as many strategies as possible for
         classifying their rocks.  You might want to suggest
         a particular genre such as dichotomous keys or
         Venn Diagrams to give the assignment some
         structure.

     6.  Next have students work in their groups to rank the
         ten rocks in their group by estimating their mass
         using feel only.  After this is done, they can use
         their Planning Talent to determine a plan for
         checking their estimations with only one balance
         per group and no gram masses. Finally, have them
         check their ranking using gram masses.

     7.  When students have found the mass of their rocks,
         challenge them to use their Productive Thinking
         Talent to think of mvu strategies to find the
         volume of their rocks in cubic centimeters.  They
         may need the hint that one gram of water equals one
         cubic centimeter equals one milliliter.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:
     Ask the students to use all the things they learned about what
makes a rock great and their Communication Talent #5 to write
their own book using many, varied complete thoughts on how to
select a rock.