Land Art with Rocks

While searching for an activity to do with the rocks which we collected several weeks ago on a field trip, I stumbled upon this beautiful land art for kids website.    As those who are regular readers already know, the River City Homeschoolers are always outside!  Making designs out of leaves, twigs, pine cones, and rocks are right up our alley and I honestly cannot believe that we haven’t tried this before.  

Rock hand

 

Rock Collecting

The children and I are enjoying our earth science study tremendously.    Currently, we are beginning a unit on the rock cycle and rocks/minerals.   So, that means time to go on a rock collecting field trip!

The weather was gorgeous today which meant that my husband and son wanted to get out and play some frisbee golf. 

Collecting Rocks at Gillies Creek Park

Just so happens that one of the courses where they enjoy playing is also a great site for rock collecting, masha Allah.

This was definitely enjoyable for all level as each of the children were able to participate.

Everyone loves rocks!

Back at home, insha Allah, we plan on sorting, organizing and identifying the rocks.  I don’t know if we will be able to correctly identify every one of them, but at least attempt to categorize them into igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to the scientific uses, the children are also looking forward to painting them, building with them, and using them as math manipulatives, insha Allah.

When Chemistry and Earth Science Meet Art and Texture

While using materials that are readily found around our house and this lesson plan from Kinderart.com,  the girls discovered a relationship between science and art.  While using watercolors and salt, we discussed that  salt is a mineral made up of  inorganic elements named sodium and chloride and is found in the earth as well as in the oceans, seas, and lakes.  They were also fascinated by the chemical reaction that took place after sprinkling the salt on the wet watercolors, masha Allah.  

Texture painting

River City Rock Hoppers

Originally, we had planned to visit the Belle Isle part of the James River Park System in the city of Richmond as a  science field trip to examine the huge rocks in the earth.  Allah is the best of planners and due to construction and a closed parking lot, we ventured over to the south side of the river to explore instead.

Rock Hoppers

Make Shift Bridge

My husband assisted the children out onto to the rocks for a first hand experience at examining the igneous granite.  It was a little treacherous at times, masha Allah.

  

 

 

 

 

The erosion in the park was also very obvious as seen with this hole in the rock.

Erosion evidence

Not only did we study the geology of the area, but the biology as well.

Autumn flowers in bloom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a living history exhibit as well to investigate, alhamdulillah.

White Oak Canoe

The huge log was in the process of becoming a Powhatan Indian style canoe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is truly a blessing from Allah to have access to these free community homeschooling resources right in our backyard, alhamdillah.

 

A Mixture of Learning Experiences

Over the last couple of days, we have engaged in a variety of educational experiences including book learning, hands-on learning, and a field trip.   I have been spending some time teaching my 10 yr. old son some new techniques in spelling and listening to my 8yr. old begin a biography about Rachel Carson, an environmenalist.  In addition, the girls were ecstatic about cutting and coloring the paper dolls that went along with the chapter about the Byzantine Empire.

Justinian and Theodora Paper Dolls

Masha Allah,  the older three children and I participated in a watershed class at Pocahontas State Park where they learned about current environmental problems and solutions.    The instructor used a model of a town(enviroscape)  with a lake to demonstrate how the daily activities of people, businesses, and farms affect the health of its lake in addition to the health and economy of the town itself.

Enviroscape

After the indoor portion of the watershed class, we all hiked down to Beaver Lake from the nature center,  followed the path that the water would take downhill, and noticed what it might pick up along the way.

Tracking the water

After a marsh/wetlands game, we finally make it down to the lake.  Here, we found that the water had taken much soil and debris with it along the way. Therefore,  succession or eutrophication due to erosion has been filling up the lake.

Lake Succession

So far, I have enjoyed the beginning of this week with the children, alhamdulillah.  It has had a nice balance between at home activities and out of the house activities.  Also, I feel that the blend in presentations has been beneficial by meeting a wide range of learning styles.

Earth Science Curriculum Published

I just published our Earth Science curriculum that we will be following this year.  It is appropriate for elementary aged students.  I plan on updating it with more websites and books as we go along, but there is enough there to get you started if you are interested in following along. 

Also, I planned on studying earth science twice a week, insha Allah.  The first day doing the reading/worksheets/coloring and the second day would be for the experiments.  The experiments I chose are simple and do not require much equipment. 

If you think you might be interested in following this curriculum and aren’t able to purchase the main two books, check your local library for copies, insha Allah. 

I plan on adding a space study to the curriculum as well over the next few weeks as well, insha Allah.

Finally, please copy the link and not the whole text when sharing the curriculum.  Jazakillah khayran (May Allah reward you for the good).