Rocks and Soil Investigations

How do rocks change?  What is weathering?  What happens to rocks from weathering?
We have been investigating these questions with an experiment.  We have 3 jars with water and rocks.  Our variables are: a jar with 1 rock that we are shaking, a jar with 2 rocks that we are shaking.  Our constant is: a jar with 1 rock that we are not shaking.    So far we are finding little bits of rocks on the bottom of the jars that we are shaking.  One child called the bits, "rock crumbs."  We have learned that the scientific name is: sediment.  In the jar that is the constant, there are no pieces of sediment.  Now there is a new question:  What happens to the sediment?  We learned about how sedimentary rock is formed from the teachers who came from Shelburne farms.  We also learned that soil has bits of rock in it. Our new investigation: What are the different types of soil?  We have examined dry and wet samples of sand, humus and clay.  What are their properties?  We are observing samples to find out.