• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (How fossils form). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. In how a sea shell becomes a fossil, what happens straight after "layers of sediment cover it"? (a sea creature dies / its shell sinks to the sea floor / the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later / the sediment slowly turns into rock) → the sediment slowly turns into rockPrompt: Fossils form very slowly, buried in rock.
2. Why do most fossils show bones, teeth and shells rather than skin? (Scientists remove the skin / Animals had no skin / Hard parts last longer; soft parts rot quickly / Skin turns into rock straight away) → Hard parts last longer; soft parts rot quicklyPrompt: Which parts of an animal rot first?
3. In how a sea shell becomes a fossil, what happens straight after "the sediment slowly turns into rock"? (its shell sinks to the sea floor / a sea creature dies / layers of sediment cover it / the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later) → the fossil is found in the rock millions of years laterPrompt: Fossils form very slowly, buried in rock.

• Pass round different rocks and ask how each one might have formed.
• Share the objective: What fossils tell us about past environments. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: What does this fossil evidence tell us: fossil fish in rocks on dry land?
• Step 1: Fish need water, so water once covered the area.
• Step 2: So the answer is: there was once a lake or sea there
• Answer: there was once a lake or sea there
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. What does this fossil evidence tell us: fossil fish in rocks on dry land? (the land was once warm and wet / there was once a lake or sea there / the climate was once icy cold / the rock was once under the sea) → there was once a lake or sea therePrompt: Where does that kind of living thing live today?
2. Why are fossils most often found in sedimentary rock like sandstone and limestone? (These rocks form from layers of mud and sand that buried living things gently. / These rocks are the hottest. / Animals chose to die there. / Other rocks are too young.) → These rocks form from layers of mud and sand that buried living things gently.Prompt: How do fossils start to form?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. A rock layer holds fossil fish, and the layer above holds fossil land plants. What happened? (Fish turned into plants. / Plants lived under the sea. / Water covered the area, and later it became dry land. / Nothing changed.) → Water covered the area, and later it became dry land.Prompt: Lower layers are usually older.
2. What does this fossil evidence tell us: fossil woolly mammoth teeth in England? (the climate was once icy cold / the rock was once under the sea / there was once a warm, shallow sea / there was once a lake or sea there) → the climate was once icy coldPrompt: Where does that kind of living thing live today?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-3.