Rocks and Minerals

After studying the basic parts of the Earth, now we are learning more about the actual "stuff" it is made of. In other words, we are reading, writing, and talking about rocks and minerals!
There are lots of interesting facts about them (Did you know the biggest pure gold nugget ever found weighed 156 pounds? Or that basalt is the most common rock?) and they look really cool--we've seen pictures, but lots of people have also brought in real rocks we can touch.

If you want to see a big picture of many, many minerals click here. There are lots of properties of minerals, but we only have time to learn about the three most important. Find out more information about the characteristics of minerals used in their evaluation and study here.
This video by NASA talks about the three types of rocks on the Earth and rocks on the Moon.
Here is a cartoon video about the rock cycle. Another video of the rock cycle, that Jorge's classes already watched, can be found here. If you still have questions, or want to know more, check this out!