It's Alive!

I planned this small group activity of twigs, polished rocks, and fossils with the idea that it would be about math: spatial awareness, symmetry, straight or curvy lines, patterns, etc.  The discussion turned out quite differently when the children were actually sitting around the table examining rocks and twigs.

Fresh off a week of talking about "Things that Grow," we noticed that the twigs came from a living thing (a tree) because they could grow until they broke off the plant.  All plants like fruits, vegetables, flowers, and trees were living things.  I asked the kids if rocks were living things?

 

Friend "Z" decided that they were not because "They are just hard... and they don't grow!"

 

I gave them one more test to try out in their minds: things that grow can make more... (reproduce).  Apples have seeds to make more ... apples.  Flowers have seeds to make more... flowers.  Dogs have puppies to make more ... dogs.  People have babies to make more... people.  If we can't plant a rock and grow more rocks, then they must not be alive!

But, we did have some tricky rocks in our bowl called "fossils."  Are fossils living things or not?  Fossils were made by something that was once alive, like the body of an insect or animal, tracks or eggs or feces from animals, or plants.  Friend "K" observed that ammonite fossils look like seashells! After the Earth heated and pressed on these animal and plant products, they turned into special rocks called fossils.  Now, they are no longer living things.

Regardless of whether this activity turned into a math or biology lesson doesn't matter.  All of the children were engaged looking at the details of rocks, twigs, and fossils.  They applied prior knowledge of things that grow to our new work with rocks to classify things into living, or non-living, things.  It was excellent work and discussion!