The Middles and Olders Contemplate the Earth

After reading about the layers of the Earth, watching a movie about the layers of the Earth, and making diagrams representing the layers of the Earth, it was time to synthesize everything we learned about the layers of the Earth.

To synthesize, we did a Chalk Talk.  A Chalk Talk is a silent discussion.  The rules are 1.  You have to respond to the discussion question or to the topic; 2.  You have to be silent; 3.  You can respond to another person's answer, but you have to do so silently; 4.  Your response can be in the form of a drawing or it can be in writing.  

 

The topic for our Chalk Talk was "Inside the Earth."  The students worked in silence for about 10 minutes, writing and drawing everything they knew about inside the Earth. 

After working in silence for 10 minutes, the students synthesized out loud.  Standing in a circle, they took turns responding to the following questions:  1.  What are some new things you learned about inside the Earth?  2.  What was the most surprising thing you learned about inside the Earth?  3.  What do you wonder now about inside the Earth? 
Pretty interesting questions.