Chunky Sandy Hates Scales

Students, today, placed their granite pieces in plastic jar with their sandstone pieces. They put the lid on the jar and shook the jar anywhere from one to four minutes. The result? Lotsa sand and chunky stone pieces. They took inventory of the different sizes of rocks and sand and compared them to a piece of granite that was not in the shaking mixture. They also made comparisons of grain shapes and size. Whew! Imagine six jars a'boppin' at once. HEADACHE!!!

Frustrated By It All?
I just found out one of my cherubs has becomes so frustrated with this rock project that she literally cries going to school and coming home, for fear she is doing the work incorrectly. In fact, she keeps wanting to ask me questions, although I decline to answer them and refer her back to her group. I did remind her, after I found out about her fear of me, that the new word we learned was "consensus". The project entails the groups to discuss and realize a suitable answer for the questions in the lab notebook. Once I explained there are no real right or wrong answers to this packet, just logical conclusions, she felt a bit more relieved. "Goodness," I told her. "I don't expect you to be an expert in geology from a simple 8 week lesson. That's for you to become when you take Earth Science, again, in 9th grade. I certainly hope I eased her troubled mind.
The packets tell you, at certain parts, to come to me to review your answer to ensure you are working in the right direction. Do you really think I would set you adrift in the ocean in a boat with no engine or oars? Gee, without sharks, that would not be any fun.
Are you getting that frustrated because I won't tell you if your consensus is right or wrong? Write me a comment, or send me an email, or just stop by and talk to me face-to-face. I don't bite. . . Okay, but I will swallow you whole.

Impressive Turnout
About 20 kids stayed after school, today, to play catch-up with this project. Once they got a second chance to work on the project, they got so much completed. I want to thank those children for taking responsibility in their schoolwork and the mature attitude to focus on their commitments.