Into the Deep, Dark Coal Mines

Today we explored the setting of The Rag Coat. We looked at black and white pictures from the early 20th century that showed what it was like to work in the Appalachian coal mines. It was hard, dirty, and dangerous!
We talked about why Minna's dad (the character in our book) died of the miner's cough. We discussed what safety gear we needed in a deep and dark coal mine and why it was needed.
We then attempted a little "mining" ourselves. We donned our safety gear and headed into the dark FILA Coal Mine. We found several pieces of coal just lying about. It was a fairly easy mining project.
We also talked about why we have mines. Not only do we need it to heat homes and make electricity, we were reminded that Santa Claus needs it, too! We did a little "chocolate mining" by mining the chocolate chips out of some cookies with just two toothpicks!
We talked about some of the things that are mined and heard a lot of great info. We learned Naomi's birthstone is the valuable diamond-which people like to mine.
We ended class by investigating some rocks and minerals from a rock collection. We learned a rock is made up of two or more minerals. We tried to identify different rocks and minerals and discovered our class is full of rock hounds!

Next week we will head to the Atlantic!