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used for the National Park Service Activity

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Cups are for the National Park Service Activity

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In this activity, the students will dig in the dirt and sand for dinosaurs and shells [prepped previously]. This will create a sense of excitement and sensory play while learning about what happened to the dinosaurs

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Students will pick a leaf and shells to imprint onto a piece of clay. This will allow students to explore creativity, and compare the variations of leaves and shells.
While having a discussion on how fossils are preserved

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Soil and Sands can be home of fossils. These have different textures and can stimulating and create ideas of where certain fossils come from

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Clay comes from the earth and has endless uses. it will invoke thoughts about how fossils are formed

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Leaves are different colors, shapes and sizes. Their intricate lines and structure will allow students to learn about their function

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Shells are typically found in coastal areas, their different shapes, sizes, textures, and colors will promote thoughts about the shells purpose and function

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This learning experience is for Grade 3 learners

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3-LS4-1.  Analyze and interpret how fossils to are evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

3-LS4-2.  Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

3-LS4-3.  Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat, some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

3-LS4-4.  Make a claim about the value of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

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Pebbles will be used in the dinosaur dig activity, students can talk about the different shapes and colors while thinking about where they came from

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Dinosaurs were beautiful giants which once roamed the earth. These can be another object to help conceptualize what life looked like long ago

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Paintbrushes will be the tools in the dinosaur excavation activity

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- Systems and patterns
- Cause and Effect
- Function
- Identification
- Geology
- Adaptation
- Shapes
- Lines
- Communication
-Ecosystem

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Activity 3: Natural Selection drawing activity

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Activity 3: Natural Selection drawing activity

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In this activity:

Step 1:

Begin by discussing two animals or plant types from different environments [Ex. Hot and Cold places or Grassland and Savanna].
Discuss how these different species are fit for their environment, and how have they adapted to survive.
have students brainstorm physical and environmental causes for their adaptations

Step 2:
Have students switch the environments of the animals/plants chosen. this will have them think about what adaptations the animals may need to survive.

Step 3: [with markers and paper]
Have students draw out their two adapted animals in two different environments [Tundra, Desert, Mountains, Coastal, or Tropical]

Step 4:
Have Students discuss what adaptations they gave to their animals and how it helps them survive in their new environment.
Example

Sand Gazelles v. Moose
Sand Gazelles live in drier and warmer climates where water is scarce. They have adapted to be tolerant to heat and lack of water. Sand Gazelles shrink their liver to conserve water, which gives them the energy to survive in those conditions.

Moose live in colder climates where there is snow and rain. Moose have adapted to have a thick winter coat which is also waterproof and does not survive in warm weather.

Adaptations needed to survive
Sand gazelles would need to adapt to the colder climate by growing a thicker coat of fur, possibly the quality of life would be better for them because they would be able to focus on eating and reproducing more efficiently

Moose would need to have a shorter coat of hair and would need to develop a way to conserve water when in extreme heat conditions in order to survive

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Paper will be used to draw on for the natural selection activity.
Students will explore the concepts of adaptation and the physical differences for the animals. Inspires creativity and critical thinking.

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Students will be using graph paper for the grasshopper activity

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Students will use markers in the natural selection adaptation activity. They will be writing and drawing their adaptations for the two selected animals/plants of their choice.

Markers will also be used for the grasshopper activity

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How can we use the materials in different ways?
What is the purpose or function of this material?
How is your chosen object or subject different from your peers?
Can you identify different shapes and lines in your work and peers work?
What kind of colors do you see in you and your peers work?
Is there anything interesting about the objects you picked? tell us why you picked them?

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Rulers will be used primarily for the grasshopper activity

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Activity 4: How living things become a Fossil 

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Activity 4: How living things become a Fossil 

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Preparation

Materials
Paper Cups
Liquid Mud or Clay- of two or more contrasting colors
Bones, Shells, Leaves- or other possible fossils
Plastic Spoons, Toothpicks, or Small Nails

Set Up
Have students bring in small leaves, bones, and/or shells to act as their “fossils”. Explain that they are going to simulate a lake in which mud is slowly being deposited. In this lake live plants and animals that fall to the bottom when they die. Once at the bottom, dead organisms are buried beneath mud and sediment.

Procedure

Step One: Distribute to each student a paper cup and a bit of each colored mud.

Step Two: Have students add mud to their cup in increments, alternating colors and allowing mud to settle between each addition. The students may add their fossils to the cup at any point in the sedimentation process or you may announce specific points in which they are to do so.

Step Three:  After all fossils are buried beneath mud, allow the sediment to dry. Explain to the students that the drying of the mud simulates the turning of sediment into rock. Drying will take place much faster if the cups are placed in a warm dry place, even a warm oven, for a few hours.

Step Four:  Once drying is complete, have students excavate their fossils by tearing away the paper cups and digging at the mud with a plastic spoon.

Step Five:  As a class, discuss the following questions together: 1) How much time did it take to make your sedimentary rocks and fossils? 2) How much time do you think it takes in nature? 3) Was it hard to excavate your fossils from the sediment? Did any of your fossils get damaged in the process?

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Grade Level:

Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade

Subject:

Science

Lesson Duration:

90 Minutes

Additional Standards:

3rd Grade: 3-LS4-1, 3-LS4-2, and 3-LS4-3

Thinking Skills:

Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.

Essential Question

How do plants and animals become fossils?

Objective

Identify fossils and how they are formed.

Background

Teachers should read and review information in A Fossil's Journey with students.

Preparation

Materials
Paper Cups
Liquid Mud or Clay- of two or more contrasting colors
Bones, Shells, Leaves- or other possible fossils
Plastic Spoons, Toothpicks, or Small Nails

Set Up
Have students bring in small leaves, bones, and/or shells to act as their "fossils". Explain that they are going to simulate a lake in which mud is slowly being deposited. In this lake live plants and animals that fall to the bottom when they die. Once at the bottom, dead organisms are buried beneath mud and sediment.

Procedure

Step One: Distribute to each student a paper cup and a bit of each colored mud.

Step Two: Have students add mud to their cup in increments, alternating colors and allowing mud to settle between each addition. The students may add their fossils to the cup at any point in the sedimentation process or you may announce specific points in which they are to do so.

Step Three: After all fossils are buried beneath mud, allow the sediment to dry. Explain to the students that the drying of the mud simulates the turning of sediment into rock. Drying will take place much faster if the cups are placed in a warm dry place, even a warm oven, for a few hours.

Step Four: Once drying is complete, have students excavate their fossils by tearing away the paper cups and digging at the mud with a plastic spoon.

Step Five: As a class, discuss the following questions together: 1) How much time did it take to make your sedimentary rocks and fossils? 2) How much time do you think it takes in nature? 3) Was it hard to excavate your fossils from the sediment? Did any of your fossils get damaged in the process?

Step Six: Complete Making a Trace Fossil Lesson Plan.

Step Seven: Complete Some Parts Make Better Fossils than Others Lesson Plan.

Step Eight: Complete the Post-Unit Questions found on A Fossil's Journey.

Vocabulary

Clastic Sediments: sediments result from the breakdown, through weathering, of pre-existing rocks.
Curator: a museum scientist.
Diagenesis: everything that happens to sediment after it is deposited. A potential fossil may be dissolved in the process of diagenesis, and other times it may become mineralized.
Fossil: any naturally occurring evidence of past life. Fossils need not be mineralized or enclosed in rock.
Organic sediments: pieces of tissues of plants or animals such as leaf litter on a forest floor.
Paleontologists: scientists who study fossils to understand the history of life on Earth.
Preparation: when paleontologist clean dirt and surrounding rocks off the fossil, glue it together (if broken) and store it.
Prospecting: to search the ground for fossils.
Metamorphic rocks: rocks changed by heat and pressure.
Mineralization or Petrification: the condition when a fossil has effectively turned to stone.
Trace Fossil: an impression of the animal or plant after its death such as a natural mold of a shell.
Sedimentary Structures: non-biological processes preserved in rocks like ancient ripple marks, mud cracks, or raindrops preserved in rock. They do not represent activities of living things, and they are not trace fossils.

Contact Information
Email us about this lesson plan

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How Living Things Become Fossils - Teachers (U.S. National Park Service)

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Grade Level: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade Subject: Science Lesson Duration: 90 Minutes Additional Standards: 3rd Grade: 3-LS4-1, 3-LS4-2, and 3-LS4-3 Thinking Skills: Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. How do plants and animals become fossils?

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Students will go through the process of understanding why certain traits like color aid in the survival of a species. In this video the example of species are grasshoppers.

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Change Over Time- Traits, Survival, and Adaptation | 3rd Grade Science | Teaching In Room 9

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Rolling pins will be used for the clay print activity. Advised to use only for the leaves as shells can break