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

1. Is this rock permeable or impermeable: pumice? (permeable (lets water through) / impermeable (does not let water through)) → permeable (lets water through)Prompt: Does water soak in, or run off the surface?
2. Why is slate used for roof tiles? (It floats / It soaks up rain / It is soft and crumbly / It is impermeable and splits into thin flat sheets) → It is impermeable and splits into thin flat sheetsPrompt: A roof must keep rain out.
3. Rocks and soils: which statement is NOT true? (Soil contains bits of rock and organic matter. / Rocks can be natural or made by people, like brick and concrete. / Soil is only made of dead leaves. / Rocks can be compared by hardness and permeability.) → Soil is only made of dead leaves.Prompt: What is soil mainly made of?

• Pass round different rocks and ask how each one might have formed.
• Share the objective: How fossils form. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: In how a sea shell becomes a fossil, what happens straight after "the sediment slowly turns into rock"?
• Step 1: a sea creature dies → its shell sinks to the sea floor → layers of sediment cover it → the sediment slowly turns into rock → the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later
• Step 2: So the answer is: the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later
• Answer: the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later
• 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. In how a sea shell becomes a fossil, what happens straight after "the sediment slowly turns into rock"? (layers of sediment cover it / its shell sinks to the sea floor / the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later / a sea creature dies) → the fossil is found in the rock millions of years laterPrompt: Fossils form very slowly, buried in rock.
2. Why do most fossils show bones, teeth and shells rather than skin? (Animals had no skin / Scientists remove the skin / Skin turns into rock straight away / Hard parts last longer; soft parts rot quickly) → Hard parts last longer; soft parts rot quicklyPrompt: Which parts of an animal rot first?

• 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. In how a fossil forms, what happens straight after "an animal dies"? (minerals slowly replace the bones over millions of years / the rock is worn away and the fossil is uncovered / the soft parts rot away / it is quickly buried by mud or sand) → it is quickly buried by mud or sandPrompt: Only the hard parts usually become fossils.
2. In which type of rock are fossils usually found? (metamorphic only / igneous / sedimentary / lava) → sedimentaryPrompt: This rock forms from layers of mud and sand.

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