LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Properties of Matter-Classify and Graph
ENGAGE (5 min)
• Review the expectations of working in the outdoor classroom.
• Ask students to name some areas where they would be able to
find rocks. What kinds of rocks might they find? (big, little,
bumpy, smooth, round, pointy, etc.)
Grade
Pre-Kindergarten
Timeframe
60 minutes
EXPLORE (15 min)
Materials
• Take students outside to look for different kinds of rocks (activity
Student journals/pencils
will work best if they are taken to an area with a variety of
Chart paper or white
stones).
board/markers
• Ask students to choose 3 rocks that are different from one
Clear packaging tape
another. To avoid having students choose any that are too large,
Digital camera (optional)
the stones should be ones that fit into their hand and that they
can hold with just two fingers.
• After students have each chosen three rocks, bring them back to a central location where they can
share with a partner some of the different ways that they might describe their rocks (this one is
smooth, but this one is rough, this one is big and this one is little, etc.)
• Invite students to share with the whole group some of the ways that they can describe their rocks.
EXPLAIN (15 min)
• Divide students into groups of 2 - 3.
• Tell them that there are many different ways that rocks can be sorted. Tell students to put all of their
rocks in the middle and then have each group sort their rocks by size, making groups of big, medium
and small (or just big and little).
• Ask students if they can think of another way to sort their rocks (by color or how they feel (texture)).
Have small groups sort their rocks by color or texture.
• After students have done the sorting in their small groups, choose a characteristic that is relatively
simple for them to distinguish (such as big, medium, and small).
• On a large piece of chart paper or on a white board, draw the X and Y axis of a graph. Label the X axis
with the names of the different chosen categories (such as big, medium, and small) and the Y axis with
“Number of Rocks”.
• Proceeding with one category at a time, invite students to bring those rocks to the chart paper. Using
clear packaging tape, attach rocks to the chart paper above the appropriate category, creating a
picture graph.
ELABORATE (15 min)
• Using the picture graph created with the rocks collected by the class, engage students in some math
problems: are there more big rocks than little rocks? Which category has fewer rocks than the big
rocks? How many rocks are in each category? Etc.
• Create a “people graph”. Go to an open area where students will have room to spread out across the
ground. Ask students who have a brown rock (or some other property you identify) to line up in one
line. Ask students who have a white rock to line up in another line next to the brown rock line. Ask
Copyright  2014 REAL School Gardens
students who have a different color of rock to form another line. Once all students are lined up in
three parallel lines, ask the students to lay down “head to toe” on the ground in order to create a
“people graph”. If possible, take a picture of the graph from an elevated location such as a tree cookie
or boulder, piece of playground equipment, etc. Print the picture and post in the classroom and/or in
each student’s science journal.
EVALUATE (10 min)
• Print the “people graph” for each student or post a copy in your classroom. Question students
regarding which category has fewer, more, how many in each category, etc.
OBJECTIVES
Science
WYY Unit 1 Central Idea: The physical world can be observed, compared, classified, and changed by
humans.