February 2022

Do You Know Hoodoos?

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Academic Standards

 

 

Reading Objective:

Children will recognize that ater, freezing cold, and time work together to wear down rock and create rock formations called hoodoos.

 

Reading Level:

Lexile: 440L; GRL: K

 

Next Generation Science Standards:

2-ESS1: Processes That Shape the Earth

 

Vocabulary:

fragile, carve, expands

Use these questions to check students’ understanding and stimulate discussion:

 

1. Can water carve shapes out of rock?
(yes)

2. What happens when water freezes in the cracks of a giant rock? (It expands, or gets bigger.)

3. What is left when many pieces break off the giant rock, leaving tall rock towers?
(hoodoos)

4. Do hoodoos last forever?
(No. The process that made them will destroy them.)

Go online to print or project the Reading Checkpoint.

 

  • Most of the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon are made from sedimentary rock. It looks red and orange.
  • In Nevada, you can find Elephant Rock. It looks like an elephant with a big trunk!
  • Another cool formation is Turnip Rock in Michigan. Water has worn away the base so that it looks like a . . . can you guess?

Materials: rocks that kids gather, small bowls, water, vinegar, magnets, pennies, pencils, colored pencils, copies of the skill sheet

Overview: Children will test to see if their rock floats in water, fizzes with vinegar, sticks to a magnet, or can be scratched by a penny.

Directions:

  1. Before beginning the activity: Have students gather rocks, either at home or at school. Smaller rocks work best for this.
  2. Right before the activity: At each table, set up a rock testing station: a bowl of water to test floating, a bowl of vinegar to test fizzing, a magnet, and a penny to try to scratch the rock. (Alternatively, make each test a station that kids progress through.)
  3. Give each child a copy of the skill sheet. Make sure each child has a rock. Send kids off to test!
  4. Will the rock fizz in vinegar? (Yes, if it’s limestone.) Will it stick to a magnet? (Yes, if it’s magnetite, which has iron.) Will it float? (Yes, if it’s pumice.) Can it be scratched? (Yes, if it’s not too hard.)
  5. Record data on the skill sheets.