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The Three Rock Types

Sixth graders discover that every rock has a story: whether it cooled from lava, settled in layers, or was reshaped by heat and pressure, and how the rock cycle keeps those stories turning.

Grade 6The Three Rock Types55 minutes1 class period5E ModelExplicit teaching4 StandardsNGSS
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Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Name the three rock types.
  • ✓Describe how each one forms.
  • ✓Explain the rock cycle.
  • ✓Match a rock to its origin.
Essential Question

A mountain, a beach, and a cave floor can all be made of rock, yet they look nothing alike. How does Earth make three different kinds of rock, and how does one become another?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Match It · Interactive

Match the Rock Type

Project this and match each term to how it forms — tap a term, then tap the process that makes it.

🪨 Match each term to how it formsTry it
Term
How it forms
Tap a term, then tap how it forms.
The Lesson · 5E Instructional Model (Engage · Explore · Explain · Elaborate · Evaluate)

55 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Hook — Read a Rock's Story

5 min

Hold up two very different rocks. How could the same planet make both?

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Show contrasting rocks.
  • Ask how each formed.
  • Set the goal.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Observe.
  • Guess.
  • Get ready.
2

Use — Match the Rock Type

12 min

Students match each term to how it forms.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send students to Match the Rock Type.
  • Match each pair.
  • Note the process.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Match.
  • Say.
  • Note it.
3

Modify — Trace the Cycle

13 min

Students follow a rock through the cycle.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Start with igneous rock.
  • Trace it to sedimentary.
  • Trace it to metamorphic.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Trace.
  • Trace.
  • Trace.
4

Create — Draw the Rock Cycle

15 min

Students diagram the rock cycle.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Draw the three rock types.
  • Add arrows for each process.
  • Label melting and weathering.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Draw.
  • Arrow.
  • Label.
5

Reflect — One Rock, Many Forms

5 min

Students reflect on why rock is never 'finished'.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • How can rock change type?
  • Which processes drive it?
  • Complete the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Say it.
  • Say it.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (High School Life Science).

NGSS
MS-ESS2-1

Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

NGSS
MS-ESS2-2

Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying scales.

NGSS
4-ESS1-1

Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

CCSS
RST.6-8.4

Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and domain-specific words and phrases in a science text.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Rock samples + picture cards.
  • Sentence frame: “___ rock forms when ___ .”
  • Match one pair at a time.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with igneous and sedimentary.
  • Sort real rock samples first.
  • Match one type fully before the next.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Add examples of each rock type.
  • Explain foliation in metamorphic rock.
  • Trace two full loops of the rock cycle.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Projector / board
  • 🪨Rock samples
  • 💻Match the Rock Type
  • 🔍Hand lenses
  • ✏️Pencils
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

igneous rockrock that forms when melted rock cools and hardenssedimentary rockrock that forms from pressed and cemented layers of sedimentmetamorphic rockrock changed by heat and pressure without meltingmagmamelted rock beneath the Earth's surfacelavamelted rock that reaches the Earth's surfacesedimentsmall pieces of rock, sand, and shell that settle in layersweatheringthe breaking down of rock into smaller piecesrock cyclethe series of processes that change rock from one type to another
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
Name the three types of rock and one way each forms.
Igneous (cooling magma/lava), sedimentary (pressed layers of sediment), and metamorphic (heat and pressure).
QUESTION 2
What is the difference between magma and lava?
Magma is melted rock below the surface; lava is melted rock that has reached the surface.
QUESTION 3
How can a sedimentary rock become a metamorphic rock?
Heat and pressure deep underground can change it into a metamorphic rock without melting it.

Create: draw the rock cycle.

Have students draw the three rock types, add arrows for melting, cooling, weathering, and heat-and-pressure, and label how each process moves rock around the cycle. A printable rock-cycle worksheet is in the Science library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

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Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 The Three Rock TypesQuiz
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Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ The Three Rock TypesPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: igneous rock, lava, magma, metamorphic rock, rock cycle, sediment, sedimentary rock, weathering
  1. melted rock beneath the Earth's surface
  2. melted rock that reaches the Earth's surface
  3. the breaking down of rock into smaller pieces
  4. the series of processes that change rock from one type to another
  5. rock changed by heat and pressure without melting
  6. small pieces of rock, sand, and shell that settle in layers
  7. rock that forms when melted rock cools and hardens
  8. rock that forms from pressed and cemented layers of sediment

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. Name the three types of rock and one way each forms.
  2. What is the difference between magma and lava?
  3. How can a sedimentary rock become a metamorphic rock?
Answer key — Part A: 1) magma · 2) lava · 3) weathering · 4) rock cycle · 5) metamorphic rock · 6) sediment · 7) igneous rock · 8) sedimentary rock
Part B: 1) Igneous (cooling magma/lava), sedimentary (pressed layers of sediment), and metamorphic (heat and pressure). 2) Magma is melted rock below the surface; lava is melted rock that has reached the surface. 3) Heat and pressure deep underground can change it into a metamorphic rock without melting it.