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Showing 66 results for fossil ...
Wind Cave National Park
Fossils!
- Type: Student Activities
- Grade Levels: Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade
A fun activity for small children. They can choose what fossil to make and then paint it.
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
A Fossil’s Journey
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Students learn about fossils, where they are found, how they are formed, and their abundance. In this unit, they can create their own body fossil, trace fossil, and make inferences on the fossil record, like paleontologists do.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Clay Fossils
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Clay Fossils
Fossil Butte National Monument
The Fossil Cycle
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
In this lesson plan, students will roll homemade dice to discover if their organism became a fossil or not to demonstrate how difficult it is for an organism to be preserved.
Petrified Forest National Park
Simulated Fossil Dig
- Type: Field Trips
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
During this field trip, students experience the thrill of discovery while learning how to see the bigger picture of an ancient ecosystem. They will map, measure, and identify fossilized remains of Late Triassic animals. Group size is limited to 25 students.
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
Fossil Study Kits
- Type: Traveling Trunk
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Fossil Study Kits available for use in classroom.
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Students get the opportunity to understand the difference between a trace fossil and impressions made in sediment through weathering.
Badlands National Park
Kylie's Fossil Find
- Type: Student Activities
- Grade Levels: Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade
In May 2010, a seven-year old girl named Kylie found a fossil near the visitor center at Badlands National Park. She did the right thing. She reported her find to rangers. It turned out to be a rare and well-preserved saber tooth cat fossil. This nonfiction story will help students understand the science of paleontology and the importance of protecting our natural resources and identify with the real-life story of another young student.
Fossil Butte National Monument
Making a Fossil Game
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade
Students will play a game where a volunteer plays a fish that sinks to the bottom of the lake after death. The remaining students will slowly cover the volunteer with their jackets, showing how over time organisms are covered with sediment and slowly become a fossil.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Make Your Own Fossils
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Many of the fossils found in the paper shales of the Florissant Formation formed through a process called carbonization. Students will get the chance to make compressions of plants in this activity and may use paint to mimic the carbonization process.
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade
In this lesson, students will explore 'fossils' by using chocolate chip cookies in an interactive fossil dig! Through creative problem-based learning that incorporates teamwork, students will work in collaborative groups to create an informational presentation about paleontology. After completing this group project, the students will be able to relate to paleontologists while understanding the significance of paleontology.
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Students bring in small leaves, bones, and/or shells and make their own fossils.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
Ranger-Guided Outdoor Fossil Hiking Programs
- Type: Field Trips
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Bring your class or group to see the Miocene fossil sites, American Indian heritage artifacts and more up close and interactively!
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
Ancient Creatures on the Knob Creek Farm: Fossils
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Fossils, fossils everywhere! Explore a world of ancient creatures that once lived on the Knob Creek Farm. Meets Kentucky 4th grade science standards. This lesson was created by Kentucky teachers as a part of the History and Science Explore Project.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
Agate Fossil Beds Native American Collection
- Type: Distance Learning
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Join our Education Rangers as we take a tour of the James Cook Collection of Native American artifacts, we will look inside “A window onto Lakota life” here on the Great Plains. We will also explore how the Bison was sacred to the Lakota and we will learn how the animal played an integral part of their daily lives. And talk about the friendship formed between Chief Red Cloud and a local rancher named James Cook.
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
Fossil Teeth: Changing Climates and Evolutionary Responses Preserved in the Fossil Record (Lesson Plan by Geoscientist-in-the-Park Gina Roberti)
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
Students will look at changes in tooth size and shape (morphology) in the fossil record of herbivorous mammals in North America using data from a recent paleontological study. Students will infer factors which caused the observed evolutionary adaptions and link biological adaptation with global climate change and localized habitat change.
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Students will choose the hair or skin coloration of a horse and Stegosaurus.
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument Past vs. Present
- Type: Student Activities
- Grade Levels: High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
Independent reading comprehension. Students will describe the past species and climate of Tule Springs. Students will research the modern species and climate of Tule Springs. Students will theorize the effects climate change could have today at Tule Springs.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
So You Wanna Be a Paleontologist?
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Students will become familiarized with fossils that have been uncovered in Florissant Fossil Beds from the Eocene and Quaternary. They will select a certain extinct species and make a sketch on a Popsicle stick canvas. After shuffling their Popsicle stick fossil, they will then hide the sticks around a room and have someone else find and "excavate" the Popsicle stick fossil and attempt to put it back together. Best done with a partner to exchange fossils to find and put together.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Cookie Conservation
- Type: Lesson Plan
- Grade Levels: Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Students will mine chocolate chips out of chocolate chip cookies as a proxy for fossil collecting. The point of this activity is to get students to think about how fossil collecting can make a public land site much less appealing to visit and eventually leave no fossils for future generations to see.