Rocks (by William)

On our trip to San Clemente, Mom took a few rocks off the beach after asking a lifeguard for permission first.  She told me later that she wanted to find out what kind of rocks were they.  I am going to tell you about the tools we used, descriptions of two out of all the rocks, and the rock cycle.

There were three tools that I used.  One of them was a pocket guide called Rocks and Minerals from National Geographic Society.  When I looked in it, it has a lot of information about rocks.  My second tool was a magnifying glass.  It helped us look closely at the rocks.  We also used labels to label the rock names once we identified them.

One of the rocks I have is a marble.  Marble is a metamorphic rock.  It is hard and found likely in mountain areas.  You can see calcite crystals in marble but they are hard to see.  Another type of my rocks are slate.  Slate is a good material for roof tiles.  It is not easily worn out.

A volcano erupts sending lava into the air, then the lava cools and hardens forming igneous rocks.  Over time the rocks get compressed down into the earth and become sedimentary rocks.  Some of the sedimentary rocks melt back into igneous rocks, some remain as sedimentary rocks, and the others get heated and turn into metamorphic rocks.  The metamorphic rocks may be heated and turn into igneous rocks, some may be compressed and turn into sedimentary rocks, and some may remain as metamorphic rocks.  That is what happens in a rock cycle.

If you are interested in getting rocks and researching them, you may get rocks from many places (ask first if you are at a beach or national park).   If you are interested in the rock cycle, you may go online and search for more information. 

Thank you for reading Rocks.