• 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"? (the fossil is found in the rock millions of years later / the sediment slowly turns into rock / a sea creature dies / layers of sediment cover it) → layers of sediment cover itPrompt: Fossils form very slowly, buried in rock.
2. A footprint preserved in rock is called a… (skeleton / crystal / trace fossil / mineral) → trace fossilPrompt: It shows something the animal did, not its body.
3. In how a fossil forms, what happens straight after "an animal dies"? (the soft parts rot away / minerals slowly replace the bones over millions of years / it is quickly buried by mud or sand / the rock is worn away and the fossil is uncovered) → it is quickly buried by mud or sandPrompt: 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: sabre-toothed cat? (lions and tigers / modern birds / nautilus / elephant) → lions and tigersPrompt: 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? (dinosaurs / minerals / living fossils / extinct species) → 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 8 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? (extinct species / living fossils / dinosaurs / minerals) → living fossilsPrompt: They are still alive today.
2. Which living thing is most similar to this fossil: Archaeopteryx? (nautilus / the ginkgo tree / lions and tigers / modern birds) → 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.