What’s on the Rocks and Soil poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
Soil is broken-down rock mixed with the remains of dead plants and animals. It takes centuries to make.
- Igneous rock cools from melted rock — granite, basalt.
- Sedimentary rock is squashed layers — sandstone, chalk.
- Metamorphic rock is changed by heat and pressure — marble, slate.
- Wind, water and ice break rock into smaller and smaller pieces.
- Worms and fungi turn dead leaves into the dark part of soil.
- One centimetre of topsoil can take hundreds of years to form.
- Sand, silt and clay are all just rock ground to different sizes.
Soil is not dirt. It is a living mixture, and almost all our food depends on it.
Questions about the Rocks and Soil poster
- What’s on the Rocks and Soil poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. Soil is broken-down rock mixed with the remains of dead plants and animals. It takes centuries to make. Igneous rock cools from melted rock — granite, basalt.; Sedimentary rock is squashed layers — sandstone, chalk.; Metamorphic rock is changed by heat and pressure — marble, slate.; Wind, water and ice break rock into smaller and smaller pieces.; Worms and fungi turn dead leaves into the dark part of soil.; One centimetre of topsoil can take hundreds of years to form.; Sand, silt and clay are all just rock ground to different sizes.. Soil is not dirt. It is a living mixture, and almost all our food depends on it.
- Who is the Rocks and Soil poster for?
- Rocks and Soil is filed under 2nd Grade (ages 7–8), so it matches what that year asks a child to remember. It is equally useful to an older student revisiting science, and to the parent or teacher answering the question at the kitchen table.
- When should you use the Rocks and Soil poster?
- Dig a small hole and look at the layers. They are genuinely visible. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Rocks and Soil belongs on the wall where that science work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Rocks and Soil?
- Food Chains, Habitats and Life Cycle of a Chicken sit alongside Rocks and Soil in the 2nd Grade set. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Food ChainsHabitatsLife Cycle of a Chicken
- Is the Rocks and Soil poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Rocks and Soil downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the 2nd Grade set. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Rocks and Soil poster print at?
- Rocks and Soil is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Rocks and Soil loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Rocks and Soil on the same wall.
Browse every 2nd Grade poster, or start from the full catalogue.