Would you want hearts like these for Valentine’s Day?
They are heart-shaped geodes. Geodes are rocks with sparkly gems inside.
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Courtesy of Uruguay Minerals (All Images)
Hearts of Stone
From the February 2025 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will get information about heart-shaped geodes through text and images.
- The outside of the rock is dull.
- The inside has sparkly crystals.
- The name of the purple gems is amethyst [am-eh-thist].
They were found by two miners. It was their job to find gems. They used axes to break open the rocks. But they never thought they would find pretty purple hearts!
video
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Activities
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Skills Activities
Answer Key
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About the Article
English Language Arts Focus
Nonfiction Text Features: Photographs & Labels
Science Focus
Earth Science; Rocks and Minerals
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Implementation
- Whole group
- Small group
Pairings and Text Connections
- From the Storyworks 1 archive: “Picture This!: Me Want Cookie Monster Rock” (February 2023); “Picture This!: The Tallest Sandcastle” (May/June 2023)
- Suggested books: National Geographic Little Kids: First Big Book of Rocks, Minerals & Shells by Moira Rose Donohue; What Can You Do with a Rock? by Pat Zietlow Miller
Before-Reading Resources
- Vocabulary Slideshow (5 minutes) geodes, gems, miners, amethyst
- Video: Rocks and Minerals (5 minutes) Build background knowledge on this fascinating topic
Suggested Reading Focus
Getting information from text and images/labels (20 minutes)
- Begin by reminding children that we get information from pictures. Take a close look at the photos of the rocks. Ask children to share what they notice about them. Have they ever seen rocks like that before?
- Read the mini article and photo caption aloud for information about the rocks. What is the special name for a rock with sparkly gems inside? (geode) Who found these geodes?
- Put your finger on a label, and have children do the same. Ask children what labels do. (They point to a part of the picture and tell us more about it.) Have children follow the arrows with their fingers. Then read the labels together.
- Finally, discuss what children learned from both the picture and the words in the article. What can they recall? What was most interesting?
After-Reading Skills Practice
Skills: Identify topic sentences; vocabulary (15 minutes each)
Text-to-Speech