The Rock Cycle

Bring the whole rock cycle together on one page with this diagram worksheet! Students read a short passage, then fill in the five processes that move rock around the cycle.

The passage explains that the rock cycle is the slow, never-ending way rocks change from one type to another. When magma cools, it hardens into igneous rock. At the surface, weathering and erosion break rock into sediments and move them. Over time, layers of sediment are pressed together and glued, called compaction and cementation, to make sedimentary rock. If rock is buried deep, heat and pressure turn it into metamorphic rock, and if it gets hot enough, it melts and becomes magma again. Students also learn that rocks can take many different paths around the cycle and that most changes take millions of years. A wide rock cycle diagram at the top of the page shows magma, igneous rock, sediments, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, with numbered arrows. In the first activity, students use a word bank to write the process for each numbered arrow. In the second activity, students decide if four sentences are true or false. The sheet is written to Texas TEKS 6.10C and also fits NGSS MS-ESS2-1.

What's inside:

• A short passage with a large rock cycle diagram
• 5 process labels with a word bank
• 4 true or false sentences
• A visual answer key with the completed diagram

How teachers use it:

• As a review at the end of a rock cycle unit
• For bell work, stations, or an exit ticket
• As homework or sub plans, with no prep needed

It takes about 10 minutes and prints clearly in black and white. This worksheet is part of our Reading in Science series on Earth's systems.