DEM BONES, DEM BONES, DEM DRY BONES!
Grades K - 3
We've all heard about them. We have never seen one and children
cannot understand how we know so much about them. What are they? They are
the biggest, the best, and the most exciting creatures that ever roamed
this Earth. What are they, you ask? Just watch this exciting video and your
students will get a better understanding of how we know so much about our
friends, the Dinosaurs. Tell the students that they are going to learn how
to make fossils in two different ways, with simple techniques. It's something
that anyone can have fun with and the students can gain greater knowledge
of the process of time and conditions that the Earth went through to form
our fossil friends.
"3-2-1 CLASSROOM CONTACT #14: Fossils: Remains To Be Seen"
Students will be able to:
- make a fossil;
- identify the patterns formed by fossil remains; and
- match item with imprint in sand.
Pre-Viewing Activity (per group):
- 1 Assortment of Attribute Blocks.
- 1 Bag of pastas, assorted sizes, color and shapes.
For fossil activity #1:
- 1 empty 1/2 pint milk carton per student
- 1 cup of prepared plaster of paris
- assorted pasta shapes
- 1 gallon milk jug per class (top off) for pouring plaster
- stirrers (coffee)
For fossil activity #2 Mix and Match:
- one dish pan filled with 1/2 sand per class
- Water (enough to make wet)
- assorted objects, spoons, fork, pencils, pasta, chicken bones
For fossil Activity #3:
- one slab of clay per group about 10 inches in diameter
- 1 large pasta shell per student
- 6 spiral pasta shells per student
- 14 pasta elbows per student
- 2 small pasta shells per student
Look around the room for those students with patterns on their
clothing. Observe if there are any definite repeats to reinforce that patterns
are ways for paleontologists to identify fossils.
Distribute Attribute Blocks to the student groups. Have the students classify
blocks by shapes, colors or sizes. Make the patterns with the Attribute
Blocks. Note that patterns are ways to identify fossils.
Have the bag of pasta with the assorted shapes available. The students should
take a handful from the bag. Arrange in a pattern. Emphasize that repetition
in a pattern are ways to identify fossils.
To give the students a specific responsibility while viewing the video so
that they can tell what a fossil is. The students should listen and be able
to identify two ways to make a fossil.
START the video.
PAUSE immediately after the
footprints appear as the narrator says "fossils." Ask the students,
"What can you tell me about fossils?" This discussion will provoke
a discussion about prior knowledge.
RESUME the video.
PAUSE when the child walks along a beach and finds a skeleton of
a head. Ask the students, "What is needed to form a fossil? (time and
the remains of plants and animals) How many years went by? What changes
occurred on the Earth?" Emphasize layers that came and went.
PAUSE when Stephanie puts box aside. Ask the students, "What
do you think macaroni and jelly beans represent? When the students are fossil
hunting, will the patterns in the rock or the ground help identify a fossil?"
Say, "We will see what happens to this mixture as we do the below Activity
Give each student 1/2 pint milk containers. Allow the students to select
different pasta shapes and put them into containers. Pour the plaster of
paris into a carton 3/4's full. Have the students stir this mixture and
set it aside to harden just like Stephanie's.
RESUME the video.
FAST FORWARD to when Stephanie takes off one shoe.
PAUSE when Stephanie says, "I'll be back...." Ask the students,
"What did Stephanie's foot prints represent? Did they have a pattern?
What will happen if many years pass? Will the prints turn into stone if
exposed to the elements?" Proceed to Activity #2 below.
Get a dishpan and fill 1/2 with sand. Water it enough to make the sand wet
so that it will hold an imprint. With assorted objects, pencils, pasta,
chicken bones, spoons, make an imprint. The students should observe an imprint
item made. They should also close their eyes, and the teacher can make an
imprint. The students should guess what item made the imprint or pattern
in the sand. Reinforce the concept that many years pass and an imprint would
turn into stone by the elements created by the weather, etc.
FAST FORWARD the video to when Stephanie is back.
PAUSE the video when she is finished showing the plaster-of-paris
fossil. Ask the students, "Did our fossil come out like that?"
Have the students break their fossil and observe pattern in the plaster
RESUME the video.
STOP the video after Stephanie looks at the imprint of bare feet,
boots, and umbrella.
Supply a ball of clay per student that will make a slab about
10 inches in diameter. Place a large pasta shell to the left side of the
slab to represent the head of a dinosaur. Place six spirals across the top
of the slab to represent the vertebrae, 14 elbows below the spirals to represent
the ribs and legs, and one small shell to represent each foot. You should
have made a representation of a dinosaur with your pasta shells.
Visit the Museum of Natural History in NYC and explore their
Visit the Trenton, New Jersey Museum for Dinosaur exhibit.
Visit a fossil bed in the locality.
Invite a graduate student from a local college who has a background in fossil
Use for instructional purposes, Danny
and the Dinosaur, by Syd
Hoff. Harper and Row.
Read a Loud: Patrick's Dinosaurs, by Carol Carrick. Houghton Miffin Co.
Littlest Dinosaurs, by Bernard Most. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Using Attribute Blocks, have the students tally how
many of each
size, shape, and color we started with before our activities. Graph the
of the tallies.
Use the globe or the map to find Montana, Colorado,
where most of the Dinosaur fossils have been located.
Master Teachers:Patricia McFall and Linda Madison
Lesson Plan Database
Thirteen Ed Online