Kōkiri Learn

Week 2 of 5

Layers, fossils and the things we dig up

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Session 1 · VOICE: Observe

Reading the layers

  1. 10 minLook at photos of the Kai Iwi and Castlecliff cliffs. Which layer is oldest? How can you tell?
  2. 15 minSediment jars: shake gravel, sand, soil and water in a jar and leave it to settle. Predict the order of the layers, then draw what you see after 10 minutes.
  3. 15 minMake a fossil: press a shell into salt dough or plaster to make a mould, then fill it to make a cast. Talk about how a real shell becomes rock.
  4. 10 minSort the three rock families: igneous (cooled from melted rock), sedimentary (layers of bits), metamorphic (changed by heat and squeezing). Place your rock passports into groups.

Session 2 · VOICE: Investigate

From the ground to our town

  1. 10 minQuestion: why do we use iron for bridges, aluminium for boats and coal for fuel? What properties matter?
  2. 25 minMaterials hunt: walk the school with a checklist. Record every material that came out of the ground (concrete, gravel, glass, bricks, steel, copper) and guess its source rock.
  3. 10 minTest two metals: compare the mass of same-sized pieces of steel and aluminium. Which is denser? Where would you use each?
  4. 5 minAdd three 'from rock to road' links to the class resource map.

Getting started

Use a photo checklist of common building materials to tick off on the walk.

Stretch

Find out where the ironsand for New Zealand steel comes from and how it is turned into steel.

Checkpoint

Each student can explain one fossil formation step and link one school material to its rock.

Activities for this week

Useful this week