Lesson Plan on Fossils

Unit Topic:  Dinosaurs

Lesson Topic: Fossils

Grade Level: 2^nd Grade

Lesson Objectives:

• Students will be able to describe what a fossil is.
• Students can explain how fossils are created.
• Students can explain what a paleontologist does.

Introduction: On the night before the lesson begins, we are going to have the students log on to the Scholastic Magic School Bus website and explore the website. We will require that the students read the facts about fossils on the website and play 1 game. They will then write down on a piece of paper at least 2 things that they have learned from their exploration and bring it to class the following day. We will start with a class discussion on interesting new things the students have learned.

Instructional Techniques:

• Whole-class discussion
•  Students work independently on the website
• Students share what they learned in pairs
• Students work in groups on fun fossil-making activity

Instructional Material:

• http://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/paleontology American Museum of Natural History website where students will read interviews with paleontologists and play games regarding fossils
• http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/index.htm Fun interactive website that students will log on to at home and explore as an introduction. They will learn about fossils and dinosaurs through games, quizzes, and facts.

Step-by-Step Instruction:

• Students will log on to amnh.org/explore/ology/paleontology
• Hand out the worksheet with questions. Half of the students will get questions that pertain to “Face to Fossil” and the other half will get questions that pertain to “Meet the Ologist Mark Norell”
• Students will explore the interview that they received and answer the questions on their handout. Once they are done with this task, they are free to play games on the website and explore as much as possible. (35 minutes)
• Each student will find a partner with the opposite interview to share and discuss what they learned from their interview.
• Have a class discussion about the interesting new things that they learned about fossils and paleontologists.

Closure:

• The students will now get a chance to be paleontologists themselves!
• Then, we will split the class into groups of 4. They will be doing an activity on making their own fossils. We will then give them all the materials needed for the experiment along with a list of instructions. The students will then watch the teacher demonstrate what to do for each step of the activity so that the students know how it should look at each stage.

Adaptations for Different Learners:

• We made sure to give extra time for slower readers to take their time so that other kids could play games and explore the website while others finish the assignment.
• The American Natural History website that we chose allows visitors to choose what language they would like to view the website in. This way if there were an ELL students, they could view the website in their language.

 
Theoretical Perspective: This information is important for students to learn because it is part of history. It’s important and interesting for students to learn that the way we see Earth today is not the way it always was. It is also important that if this is of particular interest to any students there is an occupation out there that works with these discoveries. They will understand that so many things can become fossils if they were to ever discover something.

Evaluation:

• Students will be able to describe what a fossil is.

o   We will know that the students know what a fossil is because they will answer this question on one of the handouts and discuss it with their peers. They will also be making their own pretend fossil so that will give them a visual.

• Students can explain how fossils are created.

o   We will know that the students know how fossils are created because they will be watching an interview based on how fossils come to be and then will answer follow up questions and discuss it with their peers.

• Students can explain what a paleontologist does.

o   We will know that students know what a paleontologist does because they get an opportunity to pretend to be one and make their own fossils. They will also play multiple games and watch interviews on paleontologists so that they get the gist of what their work is like.