FOSSILS

Teacher Guidelines ▶ pages 1 – 2

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Instructional Pages ▶ pages 3 – 6
Activity Page ▶ pages 7 – 9
Practice Page ▶ page 10
GRADE Homework Page
Answer Key
▶
▶
page 11
page 12 – 15
 Classroom Procedure: Approximate Grade Level: 4–6

1. Display the chicken and other meat bones for students Objectives: The students will be able to
define fossil, compare and contrast types of
to view. Ask: What kind of animal did the bones come fossils, and explain fossil formation.
from? How do you know? Do you think we could learn
more about the animal by studying the bones? State Educational Standards*
LB.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4
2. Allow for students’ responses and discussion. Ask students LB.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.6
if they believe the bones are fossils. (Yes.) Lead the LB.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4
discussion introducing fossils and how they help scientists LB.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.4
LB.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.5
learn about the past. LB.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.4
3. Distribute Fossils content pages. Read and review the LB.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4
LB.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.4
information with the students. Use the additional resources
LB.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.9
to enhance student understanding.
Class Sessions (45 minutes):
4. Distribute the Activity page. Read and review the At least 2 class sessions
instructions. Distribute the scissors, glue, and construction
Teaching Materials/Worksheets:
paper (different colors). Fossils content pages (2), Activity pages
5. Allow students Internet access to complete the activity. (3), Practice page, Homework page
Encourage students to use other sites to discover more Student Supplies:
information about the different dinosaur fossils. Internet access, scissors, glue, construction
paper, handouts
6. Once completed, allow student volunteers to share the
information found during the research. Prepare Ahead of Time: Chicken, meat
bones for lesson opening. Students need
7. Distribute the Practice page. Check and review the Internet access for the activity. Need scissors,
students’ responses. glue and construction paper.
Options for Lesson: Students may work in
8. Distribute the Homework page. The next day, check and
pairs for the activity. Students use Internet
review the students’ responses. access to seek other examples of different
types of fossils. Use additional resources for
9. In closing, ask students: If 5,000 years from now, your
students to make a plaster-of-Paris fossil, or
mummified body was found in ice, what belongings would other method, as a culminating class activity.
you want people to find next to you and why?
*Lessons are aligned to meet the education objectives and goals of
10.Allow for student responses and discussion. most states. For more information on your state objectives, contact
your local Board of Education or Department of Education in your state.

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 Teacher Notes
The lesson gives information to students about fossils: definition of fossil, how they are formed, and the
different types of fossils. Most likely students already know what a fossil is, but may not understand how
they are formed or the different types that can be found. At this level, many students are still interested in
dinosaurs, which can be a focus of the lesson. In addition, the lesson introduces students to the uses of
knowing the age, location and other aspects of fossils, and how the information helps paleontologists.
There are several ways students can “make a fossil” using common supplies such as plaster-of-Paris,
etc., which can be a great final activity for your students.

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Fossils
Have you ever found an old bone in your yard or at
the park? Well, you found a fossil. Fossils are the
remains of plants and animals that lived a long time
ago. Scientists use fossils of all kinds, not just bones,
to learn about a plant or animals’ life from the past, as
well as to discover other information about the Earth.
The bone you found may not be from a dinosaur, yet
it is still considered a fossil.

Many fossils are the remains of plants and animals that

are extinct. Extinct means they are no longer living
and none are left on Earth. Fossils have been found on
every continent in mountains, under water, in valleys,
ice, and many more places. Paleontology is the study
of fossils and life from long ago. Paleontologists,
people who study the past, estimate that only a small
percentage of animals or plants that ever lived have
been, or will ever be, found as fossils. In other words,
there are no fossils in existence for most of the animals
that lived long ago.

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TYPES OF FOSSILS AND FORMATION:
1. Remains of a dead organism or the imprint left behind by an organism.
• Bones and teeth are hard mineral parts and become fossils after an animal has died.
• Animal’s body is buried in mud or other sediment; teeth and bones do not rot like the rest of the animal’s
body.
• After a long time, the chemicals in the buried animals’ bodies undergo many changes.
• As a bone slowly decays, water filled with minerals seeps into the bone and replaces the chemicals in
the bone with other minerals that are as hard as a rock.
• The entire process is called fossilization.

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2. Something that was made by the animal while it was living.
• Trace fossils may be something that was made by an animal while it was living, but has turned into a
stone.
• Trace Fossil Types:
• Animal tracks: A paleontologist can study the speed, stride, number of feet an animal walked on, and
the bone structure of the foot. They can also learn about the behavior of an animal, such as a dinosaur,
whether they lived in herds, and how the tail was carried.
• Animal waste (poop): Leads to learning about the foods an animal had eaten or if something in the food
may have caused a problem. It also helps tell about the area where an animal lived.
• Animal eggs: Wide variety of shapes and sizes, and can be from 3 inches to 21 inches. Sometimes
they have preserved parts of the beginnings of a dinosaur, which can help to match an egg with a type
of dinosaur, or other species of animals.

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3. Mummification of animals.
• Occurs when the soft tissues of animals’ skin and organs are preserved for thousands of years and are
completely dried.
• Mummified bodies of animals, including humans, have been discovered in arid or dry parts of the world.
• Otzi the Iceman is a well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived more than 5,000 years ago. He
was discovered in 1991 along with some of his belongings preserved in the ice.

Studying the fossils and related

items, such as the belongings of the
ice man, help scientists understand
how people may have lived long ago.

Fossils come in many colors and are made of many different types of minerals, depending on where the
fossilization took place. Most fossils are dug up from sedimentary rock layers.
Sedimentary rock is rock that has formed from sediment, like sand, mud, and small pieces of larger rocks.
Small pieces of an animal’s remains become squeezed between the layers of this sediment. Over long
periods of time, they are buried under more and more layers of sediment that piles up on top of it.
Fossils are usually heavier than the original item since they are formed entirely of minerals. For example, a
fossil of a leaf is much heavier than the original leaf itself. Most fossils are made of ordinary rock material.
Fossils do have the same shape that the original item had, but their color, thickness, and surface may be
different.
The very best way for a fossil to be formed, which does not happen often, is inside ice. The animal must be
continually frozen from the time of death until discovery, such as with Otzi the Iceman. Other examples of
fossils found in ice include the wooly mammoth and rhinoceros.
In summary, fossils are formed in many different ways, but the most common method of preservation is
minerals filling the empty spaces of plants or animals, and after a long period of time, become hard as rock,
but the shape of the original plant or animal is preserved.

Have you ever found a fossil?

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 Activity Name __________________________ Date _________

Instructions
1. Cut apart each of the images and the names of the fossils.
2. Match the image to the correct name.
3. Using access to the Internet, visit: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/pictures/dinosaurs/bones.html
4. Check the matches making sure they are correct.
5. Glue the name and image to a piece of construction paper.
6. Write additional information from the web page describing the fossil underneath each image.

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Activity Name __________________________ Date _________

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Activity Name __________________________ Date _________

DINOSAUR EGG
DINOSAUR FOOTPRINT
DINOSAUR LEG BONES
DINOSAUR POOP
DINOSAUR TRACK
FIGHTING DINOSAUR
T – REX SKELETON
T – REX SKULL
TRICERATOPS SKELETON
TRICERATOPS SKULL

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 Practice Name __________________________ Date _________

Circle the Correct Answer

1 When a bone slowly decays, and water seeps into the bone with minerals replacing chemicals in the bone, it becomes as
hard as a rock. This process is called:
Mummification Paleontology Sedimentation Fossilization
2 All of the following are examples of trace fossils EXCEPT:
Teeth Footprints Eggs Waste
3 The best way for the preservation of an animal or plant is by which of the following methods?
Mummification Freezing Decaying Sedimentation
4 Which of the following can be discovered by examining the fossil footprint of an animal?
Speed of the animal Number of feet it walked on Bone structure All answers
5 Which of the following takes place when the soft tissues of animals’ skin and organs are preserved for thousands of years
and are completely dried?
Paleontology Sedimentation Mummification Fossilization
6 Which of the following best defines extinct?
Living things not existing in the past, but do exist today Living things today, but only a few exist
Living things in the past, but no longer live today The fossils of living things from the past
7 Which of the following are the remains of animals and plants that lived long ago?
Extinct Fossils Sediments
8 All of the following about an animal can be determined by studying its tracks EXCEPT:
Speed Stride Bone structure Foods eaten
9 Which of the following can be studied to help learn whether an animal lived in a herd?
Waste Eggs Tracks Size
10 Which of the following number of years tells about how long ago Otzi the Iceman lived?
5000 7000 9000 10000
11 Which of the following type of rock is fossils often found?
Igneous Sedimentary Metamorphic
12 All of the following for a fossil may have changed EXCEPT its:
Shape Color Thickness Surface

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 Homework Name __________________________ Date _________

Number The Fossilization Steps

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 Activity Answer Key (may vary)
Name __________________________ Date _________

Match each statement to the correct term (Some used more than once.)

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Activity Answer Key (may vary)
Name __________________________ Date _________

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 Practice Answer Key
Name __________________________ Date _________

Circle the Correct Answer

1 When a bone slowly decays, and water seeps into the bone with minerals replacing chemicals in the bone, it becomes as
hard as a rock. This process is called:
Mummification Paleontology Sedimentation Fossilization
2 All of the following are examples of trace fossils EXCEPT:
Teeth Footprints Eggs Waste
3 The best way for the preservation of an animal or plant is by which of the following methods?
Mummification Freezing Decaying Sedimentation
4 Which of the following can be discovered by examining the fossil footprint of an animal?
Speed of the animal Number of feet it walked on Bone structure All answers
5 Which of the following takes place when the soft tissues of animals’ skin and organs are preserved for thousands of years
and are completely dried?
Paleontology Sedimentation Mummification Fossilization
6 Which of the following best defines extinct?
Living things not existing in the past, but do exist today Living things today, but only a few exist
Living things in the past, but no longer live today The fossils of living things from the past
7 Which of the following are the remains of animals and plants that lived long ago?
Extinct Fossils Sediments
8 All of the following about an animal can be determined by studying its tracks EXCEPT:
Speed Stride Bone structure Foods eaten
9 Which of the following can be studied to help learn whether an animal lived in a herd?
Waste Eggs Tracks Size
10 Which of the following number of years tells about how long ago Otzi the Iceman lived?
5000 7000 9000 10000
11 Which of the following type of rock is fossils often found?
Igneous Sedimentary Metamorphic
12 All of the following for a fossil may have changed EXCEPT its:
Shape Color Thickness Surface

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 Homework Answer Key
Name __________________________ Date _________

Correctly number the Fossilization steps

Match each statement to the correct term (Some used more than once.)

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