For this lesson, we learned about erosion and it was so fun! I had to look up and learn about erosion myself to teach it since it has been a while since I learned about it. I decided to work through the lesson using the order of erosion - weathering, erosion, and deposition.
There are five different types of weathering, so I had them split into groups and each person was assigned a number 1 through 5. I had written the weathering agents on the board so they could see and told them that their number was what weathering agent they were going to be in their group. The group took turns being in a rock shape while one of the students weathered down the rock by moving like whatever weathering agent they were assigned. It was really fun to see how all of the students interpreted the different weathering agents and how the students in rock shapes “broke down” and were affected by the others’ movement.
We then moved to erosion and deposition, which is how the particles that have been broken off travel and deposit or settle in a new area. The students had to move across the room as if they were the broken pieces of the rock that were just weathered down, but they had to be eroded with several different agents in this case as well. I debated making this part of the lesson a competition of boys vs. girls to motivate them to do their best as I had seen in previous lessons. Ms. Jones suggested that I could start out with the activity that way, but that the groups could mix more after the first time since they would be more comfortable with the movement and the activity. I taught the students about deposition so that whenever I said the word, the students had to drop completely and settle where they were. It became a fun command and game for them.
I had them get into small groups so they could make a full performance of the journey of a rock by showing weathering, erosion, and deposition. I loved seeing which weathering and erosion agents they chose to tell their story and how passionate they were about it. I could tell that they were feeling more comfortable with movement and with creating something to perform for the class which was exciting. This was one of the last lessons of the semester and I could really see so much growth from the students as far as how they made their choices and their comfort level with movement and with each other.
The last thing we did for this lesson was making a huge rock shape together as a class and we had either me or Ms. Jones weather down the huge rock shape until everyone was weathered, eroded, and then deposited. This was really fun since the students were so good at holding their shapes patiently until it was their turn to weather down and then seeing most of their awareness for each other as they eroded away and deposited on the ground.
Arts Bridge Erosion Lesson
Objective: By the end of 35 minutes, the 4th grade students of Ms. Jones’ class will demonstrate their knowledge of weathering, erosion, and deposition of rocks by embodying different weathering and erosion agents in their bodies.
Materials:
Drum
Speaker and music (optional)
Set up expectations:
Talk about how to be safe and kind when being in contact with another person.
Experience and Identify:
Weathering – the breaking down of rock. Weathering agents:
Water
Ice
Wind
Animals
Growing plants
Get into groups of 5. Each person is assigned a different weathering agent. 4 people will make a big group shape like a rock and the last person will try to weather down the rock with movement like their weathering agent.
Erosion – movement of sediment from broken rock
Water
Ice
Wind
Gravity
Move as a group from one side of the room to another. Pretend you are a particle of the rock that is moving through water, then as ice, then wind, then gravity.
Deposition – dropping sediment in a new place
Anytime I say deposition, you need to drop where you are!
Create and Perform:
Get into small groups of 3-5 students to show the full journey from weathering to erosion to
deposition. They can choose which weathering agents and which erosion agents they use.
Finish with a big class rock shape!