Pokémon Academy: Rock-Type
Rocks can seem pretty boring at first glance, but we were able to dive in deeper and celebrate the beauty of Rocks in our lives by highlighting different pokemon and the rocks that they resemble or represent.
Learning Objectives and Hands-on Activities:
(Associated Pokemon are listed in Parentheses in green)
Rock Cycle - Starburst model of the rock cycle (Magcargo)
Erosion and Weathering -
Rock Tumbler
Sugar Cube tumbling (we didn’t get to it)
Soap erosion (we didn’t get to)
Grand Canyon (Crustle)
Minerals and Crystals (Nacli and Garganacl)
Crystallization - Marshmallow structures
Egg Shell Geodes (Carbink)
Break open a geode (Geodude)
Moh’s Hardness test
Rock Candy (Onyx)
Recipes
Mochi
Rock Fudge
Famous Rock forms
Stonehenge (Stonejorner)
Moa on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile (Nosepass)
Introduction to the Stone Age and Stone Age tools
Fossils
Treasure Stones (Pokemon Fossil stones)
Visit a Natural History Museum
Read about famous Paleontologists: Mary Anning (Omanyte and Aerodactyl), Barnum Brown (Tyrantrum), Sue Hendrickson (Tyrantrum)
Introduction to different forms of Rock Music
Listen to and read about different Rock artists (Roggenrola)
We also learned about Pokémon Evolution Stones. Some pokemon require stones to evolve into a greater form. We watched this YouTube video about these stones so that we could learn more about them in the Pokémon world.
Pokémon Manipulatives
Click on the image to the left to download a sheet of Rock-type Pokemon that relate to various Geology or rock related learning objectives
After we read about the different Pokemon in the image captions, I cut them out to use as Manipulatives. Here are some of the ways we used the images:
Hide them in books about related topics for the kids to catch.
Tape them to the wall to represent how tall they are (find this info in an online database or a guide book).
Use them during math to represent hands on numbers were were learning about.
Have the kids select one as their buddy pokemon for the unit.
Write review words on the back from reading lessons and hide them around the room to find and read.