Fossils and the types of fossils has always been something that is so fascinating to people. Why? They give us a snapshot of the past. Some fossils really allow us to see what organisms were like and some, like a tooth, just keep us guessing what the organisms were really like!
Some fossils show us organisms that lived in the past that are still on Earth today; however, some of the organisms we find fossils of are no longer with us and are extinct.
Although fossils are super cool, some students may not be totally interested! That’s why you should bring the WOW Factor to your classroom so that students are internally motivated to learn about the types of fossils!
In this post, to get things started, I will share some WONDER strategies that serve as engaging activities to get your students excited about learning. Then, I will share an interactive lesson so students can learn about the types of fossil formation and different types of fossils. Finally, I will share some WIDEN activities to help students expand their knowledge beyond state standards and dive deeper into the material.
What will you add to your types of fossils lesson plans?
Types of Fossils WONDER Activities
WONDER activities can be as easy or as complicated as you want. No matter the complexity, you want to get your students more interested in learning about a topic. Here are three ideas to get your students excited about learning about fossils and the types of fossils.
Dig for Shark Teeth
This WONDER activity does cost a small fee, but you might be able to get your school to cover it.
What will you need? You need a fossil kit from the Aurora Fossil Museum in North Carolina. You are given a huge amount of fossil dig where students can dig for shark teeth (and other fossils!).
It’s so much fun because there are usually a ton of shark teeth and students can take them home.
After they find their teeth, they can identify them. As a class, you can create a types of fossils chart to see what you collect as a whole!
Students will have a lot of fun with this and will become more interested in fossils!
Fossil Sort
Another WONDER activity that is simple is to have your students complete a fossil sort.
What do you do?
- Print out a bunch of different fossils!
- Put your students into groups.
- Have each group sort the fossils into categories based on their similarities. This can be by shape, size, the organisms they belong to, etc.
- Have each group compare their categories.
This will lead right to the different types of fossils. They will be able to see how scientists have classified them!
Fossil Models
Another thing that you can do, which will cost if your school doesn’t have any, is to obtain models or replicas of different fossils. It will be even better if you are able to obtain some that represent different time periods.
In groups, have your students observe each fossil and determine how they may give clues about the past.
You can encourage them to carefully examine them using magnifying glasses or hand lenses.
You can also ask them these guiding questions.
- What organism does it represent?
- Where do you think it lived?
- When do you think it lived?
- What clues does it give about the organism’s appearance?
- What clues does it give about the organism’s behavior?
- What can we learn about the past environment from this fossil?
This would be a great activity to set up in stations!
Types of Fossils and Fossil Formation Interactive Lesson
Now that your students are more interested in fossils, it’s time to dive into the lesson. I love interactive lessons! Interactive lessons are those that help students learn the content without the overwhelm, where they are able to retain the information!
Interactive lessons break the information down into chunks with embedded activities to help students to process the information before learning more. Research shows that when students are overwhelmed with too much information at a time, they end up not learning anything at all. That’s why I love these interactive lessons!
This Fossils Interactive Lesson introduces students the types of fossil formation and about the main types of fossils including molds and casts, petrified fossils, preserved fossils, carbonized fossils, trace fossils and true form fossils.
It’s a fun way for students to take their types of fossils notes!
Inside of the lesson are activities such as an anticipation guide, drag-and-drop activities, four corners vocabulary, exploring outside resources, and more!
This is great for lessons, review, stations, and so much more! It’s not your average types of fossils PowerPoint!
You can find this in the Bright in the Middle Shop.
You can also find this on TPT.
Are you interested in diving deeper into the types of fossil dating? Check out this interactive lesson!
Types of Fossils WIDEN Activities
As with any lesson, it’s great to expand upon the lesson with WIDEN activities. This give students a chance to show off what they already know and learn even more about a topic. Here are three WIDEN activities for your fossil lesson. Skip the types of fossils worksheet and try one of these!
Make Fossils in Different Mixtures
Creating fossil molds is a popular types of fossils activity in the middle school classroom, but you can take it a step further.
You can allow students to explore different mixtures to see which makes for a better mold. This will help students understand the process of fossilization and to make the connections with fossil preservation.
Here are some different mixtures you can use. You can have different groups of students use a different mixture or each group can try different things.
- Plaster of Paris: This is a common material used for this activity. This will set quickly and harden into a solid.
- Play-Doh: This is a fairly easy item to use. This also works well to make impressions and does harden when left out of the container.
- Clay: There are different types of clay, such as modeling clay, and can also be great to make a fossil mold. It does retain its shape after it dries. It also remains a bit soft, so it’s easy to remove the mold.
- Gelatin: This can be used for temporary molds. If you mix the powder with water and let it cool and solidify, students can create a mold that can be gently removed. This is not as durable as the others.
- Wax: This can be carefully poured over the object and allowed to cool and solidify.
Before using these different mixtures, students will need a fossil to preserve! This can be seashells, small toys, leaves, and any other object that could be considered a “fossil”.
See what works best and compare this to real fossil preservation! You can look at the types of rocks fossils are found in. Most fossils are found in sedimentary rocks. Which one of the molds best compares? What are other types of preservation on fossils?
Fossil Art
This can be so much fun! So, what do you do.? This is where you can show students a fossil and have them create a masterpiece to show what this organism may look like!
Examples:
- You can show them a shark tooth and have them draw a shark just based off of that tooth.
- You can show them a whole T-rex skeleton, and they can draw a dinosaur based on these fossils.
- You can create a made up fossil and see what they come up with!
- You can have your students to come up with their own imaginary fossils and organism as well!
Fossil Virtual Field Trip
Here is a no prep WIDEN activity. You can check out this virtual field trip from the Nevada State Museum. It takes you through just a few of the fossils that they have at the museum, but it comes with an awesome worksheet that students can complete as they go through the slides.
I think that my favorite fossil is the ichthyosaur!
Help your students master science content!
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