Fossils

FallSpring
Cephalopod It is hard to imagine touching something that is 450 million years old, but with the help of the many fossils found here, students can hold the remnants of creatures that once swam in ancient seas. Students find out how fossils are made, cast their own fossils from plaster and explore with magnifying glasses the imprints of shells, brachiopods, creniods and cephalopods embedded in layers of limestone. Who knows what future paleontologist might be inspired?
Grade 4,5,6,7 (This program can be modified to suit any grade)

Curriculum Links & Expectations:

Grade 4 : Science and Technology

Earth and Space Systems - Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion
4s101 demonstrate an understanding of the physical properties of rocks and minerals and the effects of erosion on the landscape;
4s110 identify and describe rocks that contain records of the earth’s history (e.g., fossils), and explain how they were formed.
4s113 formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to objects and events in the environment, and explore possible answers and solutions (e.g., create a mould of a fossil and use the mould to make a replica of the fossil to demonstrate how the fossil was formed; design and carry out an investigation using sand structures to show the relationship between volume of water and erosion);

Grade 5 : Science and Technology

Life Systems - Human Organ Systems

5s13

compile data gathered through investigation in order to record and present results, using tally charts, tables, and labelled graphs produced by hand or with a computer (e.g., record both qualitative and quantitative data from observations of the nutritional value of foods; produce a graph of the heartbeat rate of someone climbing a specific number of stairs in a given length of time);

Grade 6 : Science and Technology

Life Systems - Diversity of Living Things
6s22 explain how fossils provide evidence of changes in animals over geological time;
6s23 compare similarities and differences between fossils and animals of the present.

Grade 7 : Science and Technology

Life Systems - Interactions Within Ecosystems
7s11 investigate ways in which natural communities within ecosystems can change, and explain how such changes can affect animal and plant populations (e.g., changes affecting their life span, their gestation periods, or their ability to compete successfully);
7s23 explain the long-term effects of the loss of natural habitats and the extinction of species (e.g., loss of diversity of genetic material, both plant and animal);

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