Science IMB lesson plan

Introduction to fossils
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Central Focus/Big Idea: What a fossil is, and making comparisons
Subject of this lesson: Science- Fossils
Grade Level: 4th
NC Essential Standard(s): 4.E.2.1 Compare fossils (including molds, casts, and
preserved parts of plants and animals) to one another and to living organisms.
Next Generation Science Standard(s): 4-ESS1-1. Identify evidence from
patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for
changes in a landscape over time.
21st Century Skills: Using the 21st Century Skills Map-Science available on
Moodle, choose the two or three skills that apply to your lesson. Explain why you
chose these.
Academic Language Demand

Language Function: I chose compare and contrast because students will be

observing fossils and learning about them and then making observations and
comparing different types of fossils to one another and to living organisms.

Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contr Describe Explain

ast
Interpret Predict Question Retell Summarize
Scientific Vocabulary: Fossils, Molds, Cast, Bone, Imprint, Trace fossil

Instructional Objective: Students will understand what fossils are, what different
types of fossils there are, and how fossils are formed, and be able to independently
compare a plant and animal fossil using a Vann-diagram and earn 5 out of 6 points.
Prior Knowledge (student): Students should know the differences in
characteristics between plants and animals, and how each one grows and lives and
depends on the environment.
Content Knowledge (teacher): Before teaching this lesson a teacher needs to
know the definition of a fossil and how the four different types of fossils are formed.
The four types of fossils are molds, casts, trace fossils, and petrified fossils. The
teacher should also watch the YouTube video before playing it so that they know
what it says and can reference the video in the lesson.
Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group): For students
who are ELL, I would prepare a vocabulary list of Spanish to English words for the
keywords in the lesson so that they can understand what I am explaining a little
better. For students will a learning delay, I will give them sentence starters for their
observations and inferences in the explore activity. For students with a visual
impairment, I would have a 3-d version of a fossil that they can feel in order to
make observations, instead of looking at a 2-d picture.
Materials and Technology requirements: I will need a smartboard and computer
to play the YouTube video. I will need the pictures included in this lesson for the
explore and elaborate activities. The students will need pencils and paper to
complete their activities.
Total Estimated Time: 45 minutes
Source of lesson: Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHM3J6igfZ8
and pictures of fossils provided below (from google images)
Safety considerations: There are no safety considerations for this lesson since we
are analyzing pictures of fossils and staying in our seats.

Content and Strategies (Procedure)

In your procedure, be sure to include all of the following 5 Es. Your procedure
should be detailed enough for a colleague to follow. If you will be relying on
technology (e.g., a YouTube video), describe your back up plan thoroughly. Imagine
your most novice colleague needing to teach from your plan. Dont just answer the
questions. Additionally, I expect you to include possible questions you could ask for
each section. This needs to include higher-order questions.

Engage: I will begin with a 5 minute YouTube video that introduces the topic of
fossils https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHM3J6igfZ8 This video says what a fossil
is, states the different kind of fossils, demonstrates how they are formed, and how
they are rare and important to scientists to build on our knowledge of the past. If
this video malfunctions, I will begin by telling students that we will be learning
about fossils today and ask who can tell me something they know about fossils. I
can make a KWL chart and begin writing things that students tell me in the K
section on the white board.
Explore: After the video I will tell students that we are going to be scientists,
examining fossils on our own. Before passing out one picture of a fossil per partner
group, I will discuss how students will examine the photo and make observations
and inferences like a real scientist does. They will record what they see and record
inferences like what the fossil would feel like, or what they think the fossil might be
of. I will then pass the photos out. I will walk around during the activity and ask
questions such as: Do you think your fossil is a plant or an animal? What do you
think your fossil would have looked like when it was alive? After students have
talked about their fossil and recorded their thoughts, I will tell them that when I say
go, switch with the partner group next to you, and make observations about their
fossil in comparison to yours. What is different about the fossils? Is it a plant or an
animal? What type of environment did it live it?
Explanation: I will briefly re-explain fossils and then talk about the difference
between casts, molds, and preservation fossils and ask certain students to hold
their photos up as an example and ask some questions about their observations.
As the video talked about earlier, fossils are preserved remains or traces of living
things. Fossils can show us what animals and plants looked like a long time ago, or
they can show us what the activity of an animal looked like. If it shows us an
activity, it is called a trace fossil. Who has fossil number 4? Can you hold that up?
This fossil shows footprints, so it is a trace fossil, because we can follow them to see
where the animal went and possibly what they were doing, or where they died.
What observations did you and your partner write down? If a plant or animal made
an imprint in mud that turned into rock this is an example of a type of fossil called a
mold. Its kind of like when you push an object down into play dough, and it leaves
an imprint. Okay, who has fossil number 7? Can you hold it up? This is a mold. Who
else thinks they have a mold? Can you hold yours up and share what you wrote
down in your inferences and observations? Is that a plant or an animal? What do
you think it would have looked like when it was alive? What kind of environment do
you think that lives in? Another kind of fossil is called a cast. This happens when a
mold fossil fills up with sediment and forms a new fossil. Who has fossil number 6?
Can everyone look at this fossil? Do you see how it is a 3-d fossil, and not an
imprint? What happened was, this shell made an imprint in mud, and that imprint
filled up with sediment, like sand and rocks, and then when the mud washed away,
this fossil was left in this shape. The last kind of fossil is called a petrified fossil.
Fossil numbers 5 and 9 will you hold up your pictures? This happens when animal or
plant remains are petrified and preserved in what seems like the original condition.
Slowly, pores are created in the original organism and filled in with minerals which
turns the organism into a hard- rock like fossil.
Elaborate: After the explore activity and class discussion, students will individually
create a Venn-diagram to compare a plant fossil to an animal fossil, in order to
apply their new knowledge of a fossil, and satisfy the requirements of the standard.
The fossils that I will use are a dragonfly fossil and a Pennsylvanian plant fossil. I
will ask them to make at least 6 statements total. I will ask someone to remind the
class what a venn diagram is before we start. I will walk around during the activity
asking questions to help them get new ideas of what observations to make, such as
what do these two pictures have in common? What kind of environment do you
think they lived in? What type of fossil is this?
Evaluate: I will use the students Venn-diagram of a dragonfly fossil to a plant fossil
as my summative assessment. Students will need to earn 5 out of 6 points. They
will do so by correctly writing 5-6 comparisons/observations about the two fossils.
As for my formative assessment, I will check for understanding by how students are
answering my questions that I will be asking throughout the lesson.
To be complete after the lesson is taught as appropriate
Assessment Results of all objectives/skills:
Reflection on lesson:
CT signature/confirmation: _________________________________ Date: ________________

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