Earth Sciences are losing emphasis in the Texas K–12 TEKS curricula. HGMS is committed to supporting children’s education with materials, information, and activities to engage youth at all levels in Earth Science education. All that schools and homeschoolers need to do is preregister!
The Friday of our annual show is designated as Kids Day for K–12 students. Teachers may bring their classes and parents their homeschool students to the annual show for this extensive, hands-on learning experience. All registered students and their accompanying teachers and parents are admitted FREE on Friday to the HGMS show to participate in our program.
At the show, children are given grade-level, TEKS-aligned, age-appropriate “scavenger hunt” questionnaires that enable them to learn about Earth Science. The lesson plan developed by our Education Committee for elementary and secondary schools sets learning objectives for natural science that are emphasized through scientific investigation and reasoning. We provide numerous hands-on activities where students observe, compare, record, and learn about the physical properties of rocks and characteristics of minerals including hardness, color, luster, and streak.
The program for Grades 4 and higher includes an exciting and informative presentation by Mad Science demonstrating pertinent topics such as rock types and tectonic plate activity—including a simulated earthquake. The Dino Dig area gives children in Grades K–3 their own place to dig for dinosaurs, minerals, and other fun geology items that they get to identify.
Every student receives a free mineral or fossil souvenir when they check out from the show.
Teachers and homeschool parents who have 20 or more students may request one of four Annual Show Rock Sets, which include numerous material samples and a descriptive handout about the materials in the set. These sets are intended to be used for additional teaching at home or in the classroom. For additional details see Annual Show Rock Set Descriptions.
Invitation letter to public/private school educators: Kids Day Field Trip Teacher Letter
Information letter for homeschool families: Kids Day Homeschool Information
Bus routes for public/private schools to drop off their classes: Civic Center School Bus Route
For additional information contact Show Chairman Scott Singleton, 832-524-8382 (text is OK), or via email
At-Home Economic Mineral Scavenger Hunt
For registration confirmations or info, please contact:
Public/Private School Registrar: Elsa Kapitan-White
Home School Registrar: Tony Dincau
Education Chair: Scott Singleton
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Science (19 TAC 112)
Rock and Mineral Links
Mineral Information Finder Mineral information and uses page from the rocksandminerals.com website.
Minerals Education Coalition The MEC’s mission is to develop and deliver accurate and timely K-12 education materials and activities and conduct public awareness outreach about mining and minerals.
RocksForKids Canadian site packed with pages of information and a Teacher’s Corner.
Paleo and Fossil Links
Download a Dinosaur 16 dinosaur patterns to cut, fold and decorate
Learning From the Fossil Record Part of the stellar University of California, Berkeley Museum of Paleontology site.
This section has excellent activities for both primary (Dino Cookie Dig is a favorite) and secondary students,
focusing on the ways fossils indicate the relative ages of geologic strata. Very high quality information.
ZoomDinosaurs A hypertext online book about dinosaurs; contains many levels of information.
Geology and Earth Science links
U.S. Geological Survey USGS Geology Home Page; good resource for upper grades
USGS Educational Education web for K-12 students and teachers
Volcano World “The Web’s Premier Source for Volcano Information” assembled by staff from the University of North Dakota.