• 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 fossil forms, what happens straight after "an animal dies"? (the rock is worn away and the fossil is uncovered / it is quickly buried by mud or sand / minerals slowly replace the bones over millions of years / the soft parts rot away) → it is quickly buried by mud or sandPrompt: Only the hard parts usually become fossils.
2. Why do most fossils show bones, teeth and shells rather than skin? (Skin turns into rock straight away / Scientists remove the skin / Animals had no skin / Hard parts last longer; soft parts rot quickly) → 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"? (a sea creature dies / layers of sediment cover it / the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later / its shell sinks to the sea floor) → 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: 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 / dragonflies today / nautilus / lions and tigers) → elephantPrompt: Look for a shared feature: trunk, shell, wings, teeth or leaf shape.
2. How is a woolly mammoth different from an elephant today? (It had thick, long hair and small ears for cold weather. / It had no trunk. / It could fly. / It lived in the sea.) → It had thick, long hair and small ears for cold weather.Prompt: Mammoths lived during the Ice Age.

• 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? Some fossils look very similar to plants and animals alive today. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Which fossil groups are extinct, and which have living relatives?
2. Which living thing is most similar to this fossil: sabre-toothed cat? (modern birds / the ginkgo tree / elephant / lions and tigers) → lions and tigersPrompt: Look for a shared feature: trunk, shell, wings, teeth or leaf shape.

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