Writing From the Rock’s Point of View

Last week, my class did a special read aloud to connect to our Earth Science unit.  Rather than read another informational book, we used our class iPad and an app called The Rock Cycle (free at the iTunes store) to read a story of a rock that changes from lava to igneous rock, to sedimentary rock, to metamorphic rock.  This interactive story was written in rhyme, and was written from the point of view of the rock.  It gave my students a great picture of how rocks change, and gave me a great idea for a final project. 

My students  have been working on the different ways that rocks form and the different ways that rocks break.  Next week, they are going to write their own stories from the point of view of two rocks – Slow Sammy who changes very, very, very slowly (through erosion and sediment etc.) and Fast Freddy who changes very fast (through a volcano, earthquake, hurricane or other destructive force).  We are going to write our stories on this quick sheet I made (which you can grab from Google Docs if you’d like), and then they are going to transfer their writing onto large sheets of paper and illustrate.