This packet is everything a parent or guide needs to assess Unit 02 at home — learning targets, the answers that count as correct, the mastery rubric, calibration examples, and a clipboard score sheet. No multiple-choice test: the student shows mastery by identifying minerals and rocks at the bench and reasoning from the evidence aloud.
By the end of the Minerals & Rocks unit, a student should be able to:
Six criteria, each judged Not yet / Approaching / Mastered (Page 3).
Identify an unknown by streak, hardness, luster, and the acid test.
The student explains what each test shows and why it settles the ID (Page 4).
Test results, the identification, and reasoning kept distinct.
You are making a decision, not adding up points. For each criterion, decide whether the work is Not yet, Approaching, or Mastered — the column language tells you which. A criterion counts as mastered only when the student can both run the test and justify the identification behind it. A student carries three tokens per term; one token buys a re-do of one criterion on another day, so a single bad afternoon never sinks the unit.
Accept any answer in the synonyms column — they are pre-approved as equivalent. The third column flags the confusions that look close but are not yet, so you can coach precisely.
| Canonical answer | Accepted synonyms | Common confusion / discriminator |
|---|---|---|
| Mineral properties | ||
| Streak | color of the powder | The powder color — more reliable than the surface color |
| Hardness | Mohs scale; scratch resistance | Ranked 1–10; a harder mineral scratches a softer one |
| Luster | metallic / non-metallic shine | How the surface reflects light; not the same as color |
| Cleavage | breaks along flat planes | Flat, repeatable planes vs. fracture (an irregular break) |
| The rock families | ||
| Igneous rock | cooled from magma or lava | Intrusive (slow, coarse) vs. extrusive (fast, fine) |
| Sedimentary rock | cemented sediment; layered rock | Often layered; the family that can hold fossils |
| Metamorphic rock | reworked by heat & pressure | Changed in the solid state, not melted |
| Mineral vs. rock | one substance vs. an aggregate | A mineral is one composition; a rock is made of minerals |
| The rock cycle | ||
| Rock cycle | rocks change form over time | Any rock can become any other; not a fixed one-way path |
| Weathering | breakdown of rock at the surface | Produces the sediment sedimentary rock is made from |
| Cementation | sediment glued into rock | The step that turns loose grains into sedimentary rock |
| Acid test | fizz with dilute acid | Carbonate minerals like calcite fizz — a quick ID check |
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral properties & tests | Cannot use streak, hardness, luster, or cleavage to tell one mineral from another. | Runs the tests but reads them inconsistently or names the wrong mineral. | Uses streak, hardness, luster, cleavage, and the acid test together to identify a mineral and justify each call. |
| The three rock families | Cannot sort a specimen into igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic. | Names the families but cannot say how each one forms. | Classifies a rock into its family and explains the process — cooling, cementing, or heat and pressure — that produced it. |
| The rock cycle | Thinks rocks are permanent and unchanging. | Recites the cycle as a loop but cannot trace a real pathway. | Traces how any rock can become any other through melting, weathering, deposition, and metamorphism, with time and energy as the drivers. |
| Minerals vs. rocks | Uses “rock” and “mineral” interchangeably. | Defines each but cannot point to the minerals inside a rock. | Distinguishes a mineral (one composition, ordered structure) from a rock (an aggregate of minerals) and reads a rock's mineral makeup. |
| Lab technique (mineral & rock ID) | Skips the tests or handles the streak plate and acid carelessly. | Runs the tests but records the results loosely or unsafely. | Performs streak, hardness, luster, and acid tests cleanly and safely, logging each result to defend an identification. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats the science as isolated facts; makes no cross-domain connection. | Names a link to history, reading, or writing but cannot defend why it matters. | Connects the unit to its anchor across History · Reading · Writing (plus chosen electives) and defends why the connection matters. |
The split between Approaching and Mastered is evidence drives the identification: not just naming a mineral, but showing which test settles it. Ask “how do you know it’s that and not something that just looks like it?”
Read these before you grade. They show what Mastered and Not yet actually sound like, plus the edge cases where you should coach rather than decide on the spot.
Student: ______________________________________ Date: _______________ Guide: _________________________
| # | Criterion | Decision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral properties & tests | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 2 | The three rock families | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 3 | The rock cycle | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 4 | Minerals vs. rocks | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 5 | Lab technique (mineral & rock ID) | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 6 | Integration (cross-domain) | NY / Appr / Mast |
☐ No ☐ Yes — for criterion: __________ Tokens remaining: ☐ 3 ☐ 2 ☐ 1 ☐ 0
NY = Not yet · Appr = Approaching · Mast = Mastered · Unsure between two levels? Circle the lower one and note what a re-do would need.