Lesson Plans: Rocks First Grade

The first step in the Lesson Plans: Rocks First Grade would be to gather information about geology and earth science. Since this is a first grade lesson plan, the teacher or facilitator can either pre-select material or ask the librarian to pull some material at the first grade level ahead of time. Students can be shown videos on the topic as well, however, bulk of the information should come from books or student-friendly websites. The students should be given ample time to peruse these books and write down interesting facts they find in the books or websites, making sure to cite (in a basic style) the source of their information. When they have gathered at least five facts, they are ready to proceed to the next step.

From here, students will need to become familiar with the haiku style of poetry for the Lesson Plans: Rocks First Grade. The haiku is a short form of poetry, centuries old, that came from the Japanese court times when the upper class would write poetry to each other on a regular basis, mostly for romantic purposes. There are many examples of good books to do this including Cool melons--turn to frogs! : the life and poems of Issa / story and haiku translations by Matthew Gollub ; illustrated by Kazuko Stone. By reading a few examples and discussing the 5-7-5 syllable structure, students should have a fair idea of what is expected. Practice counting syllables first by clapping them together as a group so that the students know how to do it on their own.

Now that the students have learned about the haiku style and have facts gathered about rocks and other materials in Earth Science, they are ready to put the two together. Students should be refreshed on the requirements of writing haiku. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven, and the third line has five syllables. Haiku poems do not need to, nor rarely do rhyme. It is recommended that there be some allusion to a season of the year if possible. The lines of the haiku also do not form complete sentences, only ideas, which are not always completed in the same line either. Do a practice haiku as a class. For example, the teacher could write:

Hawaiians shake in fear

Molten rock, trembling, smoke, fire,

Volcano whispers.

Then students should be released to write their own haiku based on some of the factual information they gathered in the first step. The teacher should give them time to share with the class when they are finished or type them up to post around the room. Lesson Plans: Rocks First Grade will make rocks an exciting, hand-on and creative lesson for all students.