Texas TEKS 6.10.C

Science6th GradeEarth and space

The Standard

describe how metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks form and change through geologic processes in the rock cycle.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how cooling, heat, pressure, weathering, erosion, deposition, compaction, cementation, and melting produce different rocks. They trace more than one possible path through the cycle.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can label a rock cycle diagram with rock types and the processes between them. Given any starting rock, they can explain a valid sequence that changes it into another type.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think rocks move through the cycle in one fixed order. They may confuse sediment with sedimentary rock or think heat always causes melting instead of metamorphism.
How to Assess It: Give students this exit prompt: "Start with granite and show one way it could become sandstone, labeling each process in order."

Lesson moves

Press grated crayons into layers, warm them gently, and partially melt them to model compaction, metamorphism, and igneous rock formation.
Write how granite could become sandstone, naming each process and the material formed at each step.
Sort rock type, process, and condition cards into valid pathways, then challenge a partner to find a different pathway.
Examine photos of granite countertops, slate tiles, and sandstone buildings, then match each material to its formation process.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 6.10.C, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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