Help students model how rock material changes and cycles through Earth systems. This 36-page printable PDF centers a detailed two-page five-step teacher worked example: Read the clues, Annotate, Find evidence, Analyze, and Eliminate and justify.
Four illustrated review lessons provide eight quick checks of understanding before test prep, helping teachers identify misconceptions and improve student success. Four matching activities connect directly to the practice: sorting rock-formation evidence, observing sediment settling, modeling deformation while solid, and building/revising a rock-cycle network with material/process arrows and energy/force connections.
Included:
- Explicit I can targets, standards, flexible sequence and materials.
- Louisiana Educator Rubric-informed guidance for local curriculum/student evidence, student ownership, purposeful groups, discussion/questioning, feedback/revision, checks/reteach/recheck and closure.
- Central five-step teacher think-aloud with what to mark/say, distractor explanations and guided transfer.
- Recognizable granite/sandstone illustrations, watershed/deposition landscape, solid-state versus melting model and a network showing an alternative path.
- Four lessons/eight quick checks; four linked activities with preparation, directions, records, expected reasoning, limitations and printed/drawing alternatives.
- Shared process/driver references and a supplied rock-material journey.
- Four multiple-choice items, one select-two, dependent and independent pairs, two-point writing and an original six-point extended modeling task with keys/criteria.
- Eight task cards and matching answer cards.
- Optional six-point digital quiz questions/setup. No premade live Form; writing requires manual scoring.
Standards and scope: Targets Louisiana 8-MS-ESS2-1 and corresponding NGSS MS-ESS2-1: develop models of Earth material cycling and the energy flow driving it. Includes melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation and sedimentation, plus transport and clastic lithification. Mineral identification/naming is not required. Official LDOE crosswalk, July 2026 assessment guide, July 27, 2026 Amplify implementation guide and September 2026 Educator Rubric checked October 28, 2026.
This is independent focused rock-cycle review, not the complete Amplify Rock Transformations unit or an official LEAP resource. It does not claim all resource/environment standards in that broader unit. Rubric-informed guidance creates teaching opportunities; evaluation ratings require observed teaching and student evidence.
Consistent science language: Igneous rock forms when magma or lava cools and solidifies. Metamorphic rock changes while remaining solid. Partial melting is explained only in a teacher background note. Compaction packs grains; mineral cement binds them. Cup settling illustrates deposition, not instant rock formation. A model can show several routes rather than one mandatory loop.
Use and materials: Use for review, intervention, small groups or prepared substitute packets. Teacher preselects sections and separates keys. Paper models use common classroom materials. The optional settling activity uses a clear plastic cup, tray, water, teacher-portioned damp washed sand, spoon and timer; teacher prepares and supervises. No heating, glass or real rock transformation is required. Actual observations vary; printed alternatives are labeled models.
Format: Printable PDF. No editable Word template is included in the purchase.
Free companion: Science study guides are available separately. Find the FREE one-page Rock Transformations Study Guide at crackthetestco.com. Enter your email to download it, and your code for 10% off a future purchase appears on the download page. The guide is free and is not inside the paid packet.