Owasso Students Really ‘Dig’ Rocks and Minerals
Stone Canyon Elementary and Rejoice Christian’s fifth-grade classes participated in the Lafarge Oklahoma Rocks and Minerals Program this October.
Seventy-five fifth-grade students from Stone Canyon Elementary and 47 fifth-grade students from Rejoice Christian are certified Junior Miners after completing each of the three sessions in the Oklahoma Rocks and Minerals Program sponsored by the Tulsa Cement Plant.
Lafarge employee ambassadors donate their time to lead each of the sessions, both at the schools and the cement plant. The program is designed to expose fifth grade students to Oklahoma’s native rock and mineral deposits, careers in mining and the cement-making process.
Lafarge created the curriculum and fully underwrites the cost of the program. “We are so impressed with the Oklahoma Rocks and Minerals Program,” says Aislyn Parcell, fifth-grade teacher at Stone Canyon Elementary. “Our school is extremely grateful for everything Lafarge has done for us!”
During the first of three sessions, students learn to think like a scientist through “jelly bean geology,” rock and mineral identification exercises and discussion of the various materials that surround them every day. The second session leads students through the cement process by allowing them to make no-bake cookies and learning about our region’s large minable deposits. In the final session, the students take a field trip to Lafarge’s cement plant in northeast Tulsa. The students act as plant foremen when they “mine” a cookie to uncover chunks of “limestone” chocolate chips in the cookie. Finally, a quarry manager leads the students on a fossil hunt through the plant’s limestone bed.
“The Rocks and Minerals Program allows us to be a part of the community,” says Jim Bachmann, Lafarge-Tulsa plant manager. “With more than 100 employees, our team has kids and grandkids in cities and towns all across this corner of the state. When we bring an enrichment program into schools like Stone Canyon Elementary and Rejoice Christian, we are bringing it to the places where we live and play.”
Updated 11-23-2009
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