On January 14th, about three dozen students in K-5th grade classes at the Olympia Community School got hands-on lessons on how soils are formed and the secrets that may be unlocked with a little bit of careful observation and training. They also got experience in identifying different types of rocks including meteorites, gems, ancient stone tools, fossilized dinosaur leavings (coprolite), mammoth tusk, and obsidian.

One greenish rock called fuchsite (sounds like foosh-ite) has small rubies embedded in it. The students got to see the rubies glow bright red when exposed to ultraviolet light. They learned to examine, measure and make drawings of rocks. There was lots of enthusiasm and plenty of questions!
Mr. Prang has backgrounds in Archeology, Geology and Education. He is an expert in ancient tools and an avid rock & gem collector. Tom serves as vice-president of the local rock club in Thurston County, the Washington Agate & Mineral Society (WAMS Olympia). WAMS Olympia is a tax exempt, not for profit organization, with a major goal of providing education in earth sciences and rock hounding to its members and the public.