• 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"? (it is quickly buried by mud or sand / the rock is worn away and the fossil is uncovered / 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? (Animals had no skin / Hard parts last longer; soft parts rot quickly / Scientists remove the skin / 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 fossil forms, what happens straight after "it is quickly buried by mud or sand"? (the rock is worn away and the fossil is uncovered / minerals slowly replace the bones over millions of years / the soft parts rot away / an animal dies) → the soft parts rot awayPrompt: 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: fossil ginkgo leaf? (lions and tigers / nautilus / the ginkgo tree / modern birds) → the ginkgo treePrompt: 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? (living fossils / minerals / extinct species / 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. 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 / living fossils / dinosaurs / extinct species) → living fossilsPrompt: They are still alive today.
2. Which living thing is most similar to this fossil: Archaeopteryx? (elephant / modern birds / lions and tigers / nautilus) → modern birdsPrompt: 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.