Rocks

The 7th and 8th graders had a guest speaker today. Patterson's Diamond Center in New Ulm connected me with him. I had contacted them a while ago to see if they'd come talk about gems and jewels in my class, but this is their busy season and no one is able to get away. BUT! This guy, Steve, is super knowledgeable about rocks and minerals. He has the 4th largest private collection of rocks and fossils in the US. 

He brought a bunch of fossils he's found, plus a meteorite, and a whole bunch of other types of rocks. Mr. Patterson had loaned him some uncut gems to show the class, so we got to see the natural form of many kinds of gems. It was very educational! And Mr. Patterson also sent along uncut emeralds to give to each of the students.

We had a few rocks lying around from when I had the 7-8th graders bring one to class. One is a really pretty translucent-ish purple rock. Steve identified it for us: chalcedony (pronounced kal-sydney). Cool!