Junior Geologists
An
evening for kids and their parents
The
Jr. Geologists meet every third Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the
Reynolds Branch of the Boulder Public Library at 3595
Table Mesa Drive, just west of Broadway. The program is open to all club
families. Parents are encouraged to join their kids at the meetings and take
part in the activities. Every child who wishes to work on the rockhound badges needs to sign up with Dennis Gertenbach. Just by signing up,
each child receives the Future Rockhound of America
badge.
March 21 Beginning in March, the Jr. Geologists
will start working on the Fossil Badge.
They will learn how fossils are formed, what fossils tell us about
ancient environments, and how to identify different fossils. The older Jr. Geologists will learn more
advanced information about fossils and the animals and plants they came
from. The meeting will be at the Boulder
Library Reynolds Branch, 3595 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder, starting at 6:30
p.m.
Specimens
Wanted: For the Jr. Geologists, we are looking for
smoky and clear quartz crystals, calcite for hardness kits, and specimens that
are too big for grab bags that the kids would like. As you are cleaning out your collection this
winter, think about donating your unwanted specimens to the kids. Contact Dennis if you have specimens to
donate.
Helpers
Wanted: The Jr. Geologists are looking for adults
who can help with the Jr. Geologists program, either for a special presentation
or to help with the monthly meetings. If
you would like to help, please contact Dennis
Gertenbach.
The American Federation of Mineralogical
Societies (AFMS) sponsors the badge program that the Jr. Geologists can earn.
At each months Jr. Geologists meeting we work on the requirements for one or
more of these badges. This spring the AFMS announced five new badges, bringing
the total to 20. The new badges include:
Reaching
Across Generations having the kids work in partnership with older club
members.
Fluorescent
Minerals - learning to identify fluorescent minerals and why they fluoresce.
The
World in Miniature - learning about collecting, cleaning, and trimming micromount and thumbnail minerals and/or fossils
Maps
- learning about different types of maps-geographic, geologic, topographic,
roadmaps, etc., and how to use them.
Special
Effects -learning about rocks with special properties and what causes those
properties, such as magnetism, double refraction, fluorescence, twins, and pseudomorphs.
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Past
Meetings 2013
January 17 We
began working on the new Fluorescent Mineral Badge. The Jr. Geologists learned about fluorescent
minerals as they earned the Fluorescent Minerals badge. The children were encouraged to bring
specimens from their collections to see if they fluoresced. They also chose one fluorescent mineral and
learned more about their chosen mineral.
Here is a list of fluorescent minerals that the Jr. Geologists
identified:
Sheelite is a tungsten mineral that is yellow in natural light
and sky blue under ultraviolet light (Josiah Henning, age 7)
Willemite is a tan color under normal light and green under UV
light. It is found in New Jersey and
Namibia. (Riley Petrone,
age 7)
Botryoidal Fluorite is dark purple in regular and green in UV
light. It comes from Canon City in
Fremont County, Colorado, and is also found in different parts of Asia like
China and India. (Gavin Morrison, age 9)
Fluorescent Opal is a white
mineral that fluoresces green. It is
found in Denio, Nevada. (Andrew Caballero, age 9)
Opal is white in normal light
and green under black light. Opal can be
found in Mexico, Brazil, and the U.S.
(Ian Crittenden, age 10)
Zeolites she found on North
Table Mountain are pinkish white in normal light and greenish under ultraviolet
light. (Miu Iwabuchi, age 12)
February 21 We returned to one of
our favorite topics Fossils. Those who have not earned the
Fossil badge will have the opportunity to complete the requirements for the
badge. Those who have already earned the badge will cover more advanced
topics.
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Stone Age Tools and Art badge
Milestones
Dec.
2012: Several of the Jr.
Geologists earned their Showmanship Badge by creating a display case for the
club show in December. Congratulations to first-timer displayers Miu Iwabuchi, Piper Rausch, and
Egan Rausch for earning this badge. And thanks to the other Jr. Geologists who
put display cases in the show.
Wesley
Cassidy, one of our Jr. Geologists, won first place in the 2011 Rocky Mountain
Federation of Mineral Societies newsletter contest in the junior (under 12) division. In the
May-June 2011 Flatiron Facets, Wesley wrote about how to grow bismuth crystals,
an activity the older Jr. Geologists did as one of their requirements for the
Rocks and Minerals badge. Congratulations, Wesley!
Juniors who earn six of the AMFS badges
can earn the AMFS-Future Rockhounds of America award. Since the badge program
began in 2004, nine Colorado juniors have earned this award, all Jr. Geologists
from the
Flatirons Mineral Club. Gavin Morrison is
the latest Jr. Geologists to earn this award and we congratulate him on this
achievement. Earlier Jr. Geologists who have earned this award include:
.Joel
Hyde, 2006
.Stephan
Codrescu, 2008
.Lucas
Simon, 2008
.Katherine
Codrescu, 2009
.Charles
Mock, 2009
.Nico
Caballero, 2009
.Perry
Cheseboro, 2009
.Preston
Daley, 2009
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Updated 3/18/13