• 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 "its shell sinks to the sea floor"? (a sea creature dies / the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later / layers of sediment cover it / the sediment slowly turns into rock) → layers of sediment cover itPrompt: Fossils form very slowly, buried in rock.
2. A footprint preserved in rock is called a… (crystal / skeleton / trace fossil / mineral) → trace fossilPrompt: It shows something the animal did, not its body.
3. In how a fossil forms, what happens straight after "minerals slowly replace the bones over millions of years"? (an animal dies / it is quickly buried by mud or sand / the rock is worn away and the fossil is uncovered / the soft parts rot away) → the rock is worn away and the fossil is uncoveredPrompt: Only the hard parts usually become fossils.

• Pass round different rocks and ask how each one might have formed.
• Share the objective: Compare fossils with living plants and animals. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which living thing is most similar to this fossil: woolly mammoth?
• Step 1: Both have trunks and tusks; mammoths had long hair for cold climates.
• Step 2: So the answer is: elephant
• Answer: elephant
• 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. Which living thing is most similar to this fossil: woolly mammoth? (elephant / the ginkgo tree / lions and tigers / nautilus) → elephantPrompt: Look for a shared feature: trunk, shell, wings, teeth or leaf shape.
2. Some living things, like horseshoe crabs and ginkgo trees, look almost the same as fossils millions of years old. What are they sometimes called? (minerals / extinct species / living fossils / dinosaurs) → living fossilsPrompt: They are still alive today.

• 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. True or false? Comparing fossils with living things helps show how life has changed. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Which fossil groups are extinct, and which have living relatives?
2. Archaeopteryx fossils show feathers AND teeth. What does this suggest? (Birds are related to reptiles such as dinosaurs. / It was a kind of fish. / Feathers are made of teeth. / Birds have always had teeth.) → Birds are related to reptiles such as dinosaurs.Prompt: Which living animals have feathers, and which have teeth like this?

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