How do you prepare for learning the science content you need to know to teach your science kit?

I am so excited to teach fourth grade students the unit on rocks and minerals! I think that the students will love the rocks and minerals science kit that we let them use while teaching this unit. I really want to be as prepared as possible when it comes to teaching these lessons and I will be doing a lot of research to make sure that I know as much as possible about the content Ben and I will be teaching.

One of the first places I plan to look in is the Barnes and Noble teaching section. I love looking at all of the resource books on every subject in the curriculum that they have to offer teachers. I also plan to look in the children’s section of Barnes and Noble for books that explain to children all there is to know about rocks and minerals and why they are so important. I am hoping that there are lists in some of these books of children’s frequently asked questions along with the answers so I can be ready to answer questions the students may have.

The internet is also a wonderful tool I can use to find out information but I need to make sure that the websites are accurate so I don’t get any wrong information. One website I found, http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/rocks.html, includes links that you can click on that go into a lot of detail about rocks and minerals and their physical properties. Another website that I found lists more links that you can click on and has detailed answers to commonly asks questions which is http://www.rocksandminerals4u.com/. Thankfully, there is tons of information available online and in books about rocks and minerals and I know that the more prepared I’ll be in the content that I am teaching, the more successful I’ll be in the classroom! :)