START WITH SCIENCE KITS

Science Programs for Children Ages 4 and 5

• Students will develop an understanding of change over time.
• Students will learn how fossils are evidence of the diversity of organisms developed over geologic history.
• Students will develop an understanding of properties of Earth materials, such as water and gases.
• Students will learn about the properties of rocks and soils, such s texture, color, and hardness.

• Geology Rocks! by Cindy Blobaum
• Digging Up Dinosaurs by ALIKI
• Monster Bones by Jacqui Bailey
• Hands-On Earth Science for Elementary Grades by Phil Parratone

• 1 Bag fossil shark teeth
• 24 Piece fossil collection (each in sealed bags)
• 1 Mold – a – Saurus
• 4 Pieces of Geode in a box
• 24 Fossil molds (clear plastic)
• 1 Rock Study Kit (15 rocks)
• 1 Mineral Study Kit (15minerals)
• Video: I Dig Fossils
• Basic Fossil Kit

• PDF – 4 bookmarks per page. Ready to print in color.
• JPG – single high quality jpeg image.
  

• Objectives
  • Students will develop an understanding of change over time.
  • Students will learn how fossils are evidence of the diversity of organisms developed over geologic history.
  • Students will develop an understanding of properties of Earth materials, such as water and gases.
  • Students will learn about the properties of rocks and soils, such s texture, color, and hardness.

• Introduction
  • Vocabulary
    • Fossil – the mark or remains of a plant or animal that lived thousands or millions of years ago. Fossils include leaves, shells or skeletons that were preserved after a plant or animal died.
    • Minerals – a substance taken from the earth, but was never alive.
    • Geology – the study of the earth, looking at how the earth was formed and how it changes.
    • Geologists – person who studies rocks, soils, mountins, rivers, oceans, caves and other parts of the earth.
    • Extinct – when every one of its kind has died. It may become extinct due to changes in its environment, either natural or man-made, or it just failed to produce any more offspring.
    • Igneous rocks – form when hot magma from the earth comes to the surface, cools and solidifies.
    • Sedimentary rocks – consist of materials that once were part of older rocks or of plants and animals. These usually accumulate in layers.
    • Metamorphic rocks – rock that has changed its appearance and sometimes its mineral composition, by extreme pressure or heat. Both sedimentary and igneous rocks can later become metamorphic rocks.

• Program
  • Digging for fossils
    • Fill the trays with dirt.
    • Bury the shell fossils in the dirt for students to find. If the students are skilled enough to follow some directions, continue on from here in a more correct archeological manner of creating a grid for clear identification of location of the fossil discovery.
    • Use string to make a grid over the tray.
    • Draw a copy of the grid on the board or on paper.
    • Have students look through the dirt to find fossils.
    • Have the students mark on the board in which part of the grid they found fossils ( use an X or picture to mark the spot)
    • Use sheet to identify each of the specific fossils.
  • Create fossils
    • Dirt can be used to press into the dinosaur molds or footprint molds.
    • Look at them afterward to see how the finished “fossil” looks compared to the molds.
  • Examine fossils
    • Pass around the real fossils and have students guess what they are.
    • Have students guess if the fossils are of animals or plants.
    • Each fossil has a card describing what it really is. Use the cards as a basis for factual information on each fossil.
  • Examine minerals
    • Take a mineral out of the tray. Read its name and pass it around. Have students come up with a list of words to describe it. Use porcelain piece or nail for scratch test to see which is harder. Other objects can be used as well.
    • Could minerals be found when looking for fossils? (Yes, but not as a fossil.)

• General
  • Thought Questions
    • Are all types of animals that were once living, still alive? (Dinosaurs, dodo bird, carrier pigeons)
    • How do we know that dinosaurs ever existed? (Fossils, bones)
    • Is a fossil the same as a bone? (No, a bone was living, a fossil is the mark left from the bone)
    • Are all rocks the same? (No. Sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous – each is formed in a different way)

• Trays
• Dirt
• String

• Blobaum, Cindy. Geology Rocks!: 50 Hands-On Activities To Explore The Earth. Williamson Publishing, 1999.
• Russell, William. Rocks And Minerals. Rourke, 1994.
• World Book. Fossils Of The World ( World Book’s Science & Nature Guides) World Book, 2005.