Have you ever seen a diamond or a ruby? They are gems. Gems are sparkly and pretty, and they are hard to find! Are Minecraft gems the same?
Learning Objective: Students will compare and contrast two short nonfiction articles.
Minecraft Gems
Get the Gems!
Art by Jeff Mangiat
You’re playing Minecraft. You’re in a dark cave. Be careful. Enemies are in this cave, like zombies and skeletons!
Suddenly, you see a block with light-blue spots. You use a tool called a pickaxe to break up the block. Bam, bam, bam! You got a Minecraft diamond!
So Many Gems!
Shutterstock.com (Diamond, Emerald, Lapis Lazuli); Mojang Studios (Amethyst, Glowstone, Ender Pearl)
Top row: diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli; bottom row: amethyst, glowstone, Ender pearl
Now you are off to mine more gems. You can also dig up green emeralds and a blue stone called lapis lazuli.
There are some gems that you can find only in Minecraft, like glowstones and magical Ender pearls!
Use Those Gems!
Art by Jeff Mangiat
It’s time to craft things with the gems. Minecraft diamonds are strong. You can use them to make armor. Armor protects you when you fight enemies.
Real Gems
Get the Gems!
iStockPhoto/Getty Images (Digger)
You are going to mine gems in real life. First, you need a large digging machine. You steer the machine and dig a big hole in the ground. Then you use another machine to blast rocks apart. Blammo!
So Many Gems!
Lori Martin/Alamy Stock Photo (Lapis Lazuli); iStockPhoto/Getty Images (Blue Topaz); Valery Voennyy/Alamy Stock Photo (Tiger’s Eye); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)
Top row: diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli; bottom row: amethyst, blue topaz, tiger's-eye
Now you have diamonds! You can also mine emeralds and lapis lazuli.
There are some gems you can find in real life but not in Minecraft. You can mine blue topaz, stripy tiger’s-eye, and more!
Use Those Gems!
Shutterstock.com
Now you can craft things with the gems. You can use a laser to cut the gems into different shapes. You can polish them to make them shiny.
Then you can make jewelry that gleams and glitters. Incredible!
