A review sheet came home yesterday for the Earth Materials Test. Feel free to review these concepts with your child:

• Sedimentary rock is formed in layers and has many fossils.
• You can decide the age of a rock layer by finding its position in a series of layers because the top layer is the  youngest and the bottom layer is the oldest.
• Fossils are clues of past changes in the earth’s surface and climate. A seashell fossil found on land far from the ocean gives us a clue that the land was once under water.
• Examples of parts of organisms that become fossils are the bones, skull, shell or teeth.
• A mineral is a solid that forms naturally, is not alive, and has the same chemical make-up wherever it is found.
• Rocks are made up of at least two minerals.
• Minerals can be recognized by color, luster, texture, streak, and hardness.
• Rocks formed in layers and usually formed near water are called sedimentary.
• Rocks formed by changing materials under heat and pressure are called metamorphic.
• Rocks formed when melted rock (magma) is forced up from the Earth and cools are igneous.
• Rocks can change form from heat, pressure, and chemicals.
• Properties used when observing rocks are their color and size.
• Soil are small bits of crushed rock containing living or once living matter.
• Sand are rocks broken into smaller pieces by water, wind, and pressure.