Parent plan · Week 8 · Rocks, Landscapes & Water — launch and foundations — Earth & Space Science

Parent teaching plan · 36 weeks

Units to teach or revisit

Chapter 3 · Rocks, Landscapes & Water

Assigned readings

This chapter follows the question: How do Earth materials change and move?

This week’s goals

Read What happens to rain after it reaches the ground? before starting this chapter. Use the linked unit explanations and source records during the assigned sessions.

Five flexible sessions normally about 45 minutes. Assessment slots explicitly combine or extend sessions to the existing paper’s full time. Slow down and use consolidation sessions for reteaching when an explanation is not secure.

Session 1 · Minerals & Their Properties — observe and build

Illustrative evidence case. Two carbon materials have different structural arrangements and scratch resistance. A separate unknown specimen shares density with more than one mineral candidate.

Your task

Read the chapter context and the unit language notes. Make a first model, study the core explanation and Parts 1–2, and attempt their visual and reasoning checks.

  1. Read the assigned context and note two observations.
  2. Draw a first explanation with one uncertain feature.
  3. Study Parts 1–2 and trace each diagram label.
  4. Attempt checks before consulting guidance and record one revision.
Hint and response guidance

Read the stated evidence and diagram captions; separate quantities, reference frames and assumptions before deciding.

Atomic arrangement and bonding can differ even with the same element. Structure, specimen conditions and several properties must be considered. It could be deposited powder. A genuine scratch is a groove in the tested surface after loose material is removed; powder color instead supplies streak evidence.

  • Use the stated evidence and units accurately.
  • Explain a mechanism or evidence relationship.
  • Show a labeled model, graph or intermediate calculation.
  • State a limitation and a useful revision/test.

Session 2 · Minerals & Their Properties — connect mechanisms

Cleavage is a tendency to split along particular structural planes, where bonding makes some directions easier to separate. Fracture describes breakage not following those characteristic planes; it can be irregular or curved. A crystal’s external growth faces are surfaces formed while the crystal grew, not necessarily broken cleavage faces. Repeated angles and planes across fresh breaks are stronger cleavage evidence than one flat-looking surface. Specimen size, mixtures and weathering can obscure the pattern, so record how the surface was produced.

Your task

Study Parts 3–4 and any source records. Complete the whole-unit application with a labeled diagram, calculations and a limitation.

  1. Define each new quantity and its unit.
  2. Compare the diagrams and stated evidence.
  3. Attempt the whole-unit application without copying guidance.
  4. Check intermediate reasoning and annotate a correction.
Hint and response guidance

Read the stated evidence and diagram captions; separate quantities, reference frames and assumptions before deciding.

Record whether the surface formed during growth or breakage, and look for repeated characteristic planes/angles across breaks. A flat appearance alone is insufficient. Mass is 36 g. It does not uniquely identify a mineral; several characteristic tests and uncertainty must be compared.

  • Use the stated evidence and units accurately.
  • Explain a mechanism or evidence relationship.
  • Show a labeled model, graph or intermediate calculation.
  • State a limitation and a useful revision/test.

Session 3 · Minerals & Their Properties — explain and transfer

Use the unit’s worked cases and changed independent application.

Your task

Study the illustrated worked case, attempt practice and the changed case, then revise the opening explanation and complete the exit response.

  1. Explain the worked diagram in your own words.
  2. Attempt varied practice and the independent changed case.
  3. Check evidence/calculations using the rubric.
  4. Return to the first model and explain a revision before the exit response.
Hint and response guidance

Read the stated evidence and diagram captions; separate quantities, reference frames and assumptions before deciding.

Volume is 18 mL = 18 cm³, so density is 54/18 = 3 g/cm³. Use hardness, streak, cleavage and other characteristic observations; density alone may match several candidates.

  • Use the stated evidence and units accurately.
  • Explain a mechanism or evidence relationship.
  • Show a labeled model, graph or intermediate calculation.
  • State a limitation and a useful revision/test.

Session 4 · The Rock Cycle — observe and build

Illustrative evidence case. A solid rock changes mineral texture without melting; a separate sand deposit becomes bound by mineral cement.

Your task

Read the chapter context and the unit language notes. Make a first model, study the core explanation and Parts 1–2, and attempt their visual and reasoning checks.

  1. Read the assigned context and note two observations.
  2. Draw a first explanation with one uncertain feature.
  3. Study Parts 1–2 and trace each diagram label.
  4. Attempt checks before consulting guidance and record one revision.
Hint and response guidance

Read the stated evidence and diagram captions; separate quantities, reference frames and assumptions before deciding.

Yes. It can melt and later cool/crystallize into new igneous rock. The network permits routes other than one fixed three-type sequence. Marble is metamorphic and typically forms by solid-state recrystallization of limestone, not by cooling a melt. Melting followed by crystallization is an igneous route.

  • Use the stated evidence and units accurately.
  • Explain a mechanism or evidence relationship.
  • Show a labeled model, graph or intermediate calculation.
  • State a limitation and a useful revision/test.

Session 5 · The Rock Cycle — connect mechanisms

Compaction presses grains more closely as overlying material loads a deposit, often reducing pore space. Cementation precipitates minerals in spaces between grains and binds them. Together they can contribute to lithification, the transformation of sediment into rock. First distinguish weathering, transport and deposition; loose sand has already been deposited but may not yet be lithified. Some sedimentary rocks instead form from dissolved materials precipitating or biological accumulation. Choose a pathway that matches the specimen and its setting rather than assuming all sedimentary rocks begin as sand.

Your task

Study Parts 3–4 and any source records. Complete the whole-unit application with a labeled diagram, calculations and a limitation.

  1. Define each new quantity and its unit.
  2. Compare the diagrams and stated evidence.
  3. Attempt the whole-unit application without copying guidance.
  4. Check intermediate reasoning and annotate a correction.
Hint and response guidance

Read the stated evidence and diagram captions; separate quantities, reference frames and assumptions before deciding.

Compaction can reduce spaces and cementation can bind grains with minerals. Their contribution depends on the deposit; sandstone need not form through one identical sequence or degree of compaction. No. The route names processes. Ages and durations require independent evidence tied to particular events and materials.

  • Use the stated evidence and units accurately.
  • Explain a mechanism or evidence relationship.
  • Show a labeled model, graph or intermediate calculation.
  • State a limitation and a useful revision/test.

Submit this week

Parent / teacher weekly conference

Assess explanations against the task criteria, discuss a real attempt before opening guidance, and adapt pacing to the learner. These home-study sessions do not certify NYSED laboratory eligibility.

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