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Science Launch G3 / Week 09 / Monday
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Week 09 · Fossil Clues

Monday

What is a fossil?
// Reading the past in rock
⏱ about 15 min

Monday: What Is a Fossil?

On a hike, Raven spots a flat rock with ridged lines pressed into it. "It looks like a seashell!" she says.

Rocket frowns. "But we are nowhere near the ocean."

Raven turns the rock in the sunlight. "What do you notice about the shape?"

Nova scans it gently. "This rock holds a clue," she says. "Ask what made the shape."

Evidence of past life

A fossil is any evidence of past life saved in rock.

Scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists.

There are two main kinds of fossils.

  • Body fossils are parts of the living thing itself: bones, teeth, shells, feathers or leaves.
  • Trace fossils show what a living thing did: footprints, burrows or tunnels.

Body fossils tell us what lived there. Trace fossils show a moment when it was alive.

BODY OR TRACE?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A dinosaur footprint in rock is what kind of fossil?
A shell saved in rock is what kind of fossil?
A worm burrow saved in rock is what kind of fossil?
FossilIs it a body fossil?
A tooth?
A leaf?
A footprint?
A bone?
WHY THIS EXERCISETeeth, leaves and bones are body parts. A footprint is a trace.
A scientist who studies fossils is called a what?
WHY THIS EXERCISEPaleontologists study fossils to learn about past life.

Two kinds of clues

A body fossil is like finding a lost glove. It is part of the thing itself.

A trace fossil is like finding a footprint in the snow. It shows what happened.

Both are evidence. Body fossils show what lived. Trace fossils show what it did.

SORT THE FOSSILS
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A fossil feather is found in rock. Body or trace?
A fossil tunnel is found in rock. Body or trace?
Which fossil shows a moment when an animal was alive?
StatementTrue or false?
A fossil is evidence of past life.?
A burrow is a body fossil.?
Paleontologists study fossils.?
A leaf can become a body fossil.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEBurrows are traces. Leaves, bones and teeth are body fossils.
Fossils of parts, like bones, are ____ fossils.
Fossils like footprints are ____ fossils.
Try it
Press your hand gently into a pillow or a soft blanket.
Lift it away and look at the mark.
Is your mark like a body fossil or a trace fossil?

Great fossil spotting! Tomorrow we find out how fossils end up inside rock.