Beth Anderson, Children's Writer

This week we’re featuring another gorgeous picture book about geology! Author Leslie Barnard Booth shares some fantastic classroom activities for educators based on her new book A STONE IS A STORY. 

Leslie is also offering a giveaway of a 30-minute virtual classroom visit! Just leave a comment after the post to get in the drawing!

Congratulations to Danielle Hammelef, winner of SOMETHING SPECTACULAR: A ROCK’S JOURNEY from Carmela LaVigna Coyle! 

Five Fantastic Geology Activities for Young Children

by Leslie Barnard Booth

Looking for ways to introduce Earth Science to your students, or to build other skills through a topic they already love? My new picture book A Stone Is a Story, beautifully illustrated by Marc Martin, is all about rocks, geology, and our dynamic, ever-changing planet. A Stone Is a Story follows a stone as it forms and transforms over hundreds of millions of years, becoming an object that can reveal Earth’s deep past. With concise, lyrical text and detailed backmatter, A Stone Is a Story invites children to experience the wonders of nature and science, and to contemplate our planet’s long history.

Geology Activities | Preschool and Early Elementary

Young children are natural scientists who love testing all aspects of their environment. Pique their interest by reading A Stone Is a Story out loud and asking them to share their questions and observations. Then expand their understanding through these fun and informative activities designed for the early childhood classroom:

• Using this printable, invite students to find a stone and draw its story. Ask them to imagine all the things their rock might have experienced during its long time on Earth.

• Look Closely Table: Develop observation skills by creating a center in the classroom where students can explore natural objects. Provide pinecones, feathers, rocks, leaves, shells, and other items, as well as a magnifying glass, balance scale, and other tools for analyzing the objects. Encourage children to draw and share what they notice.

• Rock Star Scavenger Hunt: Use this printable to lead students on a rock scavenger hunt. This helps build observation skills and provides practice in sorting, describing, comparing, and contrasting.

• Graphing With Rocks: In this math/science activity, ask students what kinds of rocks they think are most common on the playground (categories could be round/jagged, brown/gray/green, etc.). Then have each student find a rock on the playground. Provide a large grid where students can make a simple interactive bar graph by placing their rocks under the correct category. Look at the results together and talk about what kinds of rocks seem most common on the playground. Ask students if they think you’d get the same results if you did the same experiment again. This fun, hands-on activity builds early math skills (sorting, comparing, graphing, counting, adding, subtracting), while also teaching children about the scientific process.

• Mason Jar Stratigraphy: Use this step-by-step guide to do a fun, hands-on art project that also teaches about the layers of soil and rock beneath our feet. Teach about fossils and the concept of time by showing how older objects are buried deeper than newer objects.

Find more geology activities for both lower and upper grades at https://www.lesliebarnardbooth.com/resources-stone.

Don’t forget to leave a comment to win a 30-minute virtual classroom visit for your students or a teacher you know! (Winner announced 10/13/23)

Bio:

Leslie Barnard Booth writes picture books about nature and science. Her nonfiction picture book debut, A Stone Is a Story, releases in October 2023 with Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books, to be followed by One Day This Tree Will Fall in 2024 and I Am We: A Story of Survival in 2025. She has taught at preschool, elementary, and college levels, and holds an MFA in creative writing and an MS in education from the University of Oregon. Leslie lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family. You can visit her at lesliebarnardbooth.com and find her on Instagram @lesliebarnardbooth.books.