Mary Beth Armstrong
Fossils and Earth’s History Lesson Plans
Week One Nov. 10-14
Monday (10) Sequencing Time Rope Activity
MS-ESS1-4 : Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how
the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6 billion year old history.
Learning Target – I can construct a scale model of the Earth’s 4.6 billion year history.
To begin class, the teacher will introduce the standard and learning target that will be
addressed. Students will then review the Personal Timeline they created in class on Friday.
Students will use think/pair/share to discuss with a partner the similarities between their
timeline and the Earth’s Geologic Time Scale. Students will then look at and sequence 8-10
items from Earth’s History. (This will be done to confront misconceptions about when life first
appeared on earth and in what order). Finally, students will go outside to construct a scale
timeline of Earth’s History where each 1 meter length of a rope will equal 100 million years.
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To begin this activity, I will ask four students to stand at the 1, 2, 3 and 4 bya areas
marked on the rope while the rest of the class stands at “Today”.
Then I will hand out flags to students to place along the timeline in the spot they think is
correct.
After all of the flags are placed, students will walk along the timeline looking at the
events that have been placed. I will also ask students to look at the general placement
of the flags along the timeline.
When students complete this walk, I will ask students if they saw anything that they
thought was out of order. Students will have a chance to explain their thinking.
Finally, I will ask the student with the “bacteria” fossil to go stand next to it on the spot
they placed it. I will ask the class to observe. They I will have the student move the flag
to the correct location at 3 bya. Next we will place algae at 1 bya.
After discussing why there was such a big gap in time before these events occurred and
why life took so long to appear (earth was hot and then it took awhile to get enough
oxygen in the atmosphere), I will ask all students except bacteria and algae to go get
their flags and I will have them place them in the correct location.
Students will then take a final walk along the time line noticing the huge gap between
the earth’s origins and first life, as well as how crowded with events the last 500mya
has been.
If time remains, show students the correct sequence to the events they ordered at the
beginning of class, and they ask students to reflect about what they learned from the
outside activity.
Tuesday (11)
Computer Lab
Students will explore the Geologic Timeline Websites in the "Class Files and Links" section on
my webpage. As students finish each website they will write about a different time period that
they explored at each site. Students will label their notebook paper with the title of the website
and write three to five sentences describing something that they learned or thought was
interesting at that particular site. Students will visit at least four of the five sites.
2nd Period – Veteran’s Day Program
Wednesday (12)
Learning Target – I can use accurate measuring skills to construct a scale model of the
Geologic Time Scale where 1 inch = 100 million years.
Sequencing Time Paper Timeline
Students will work with a partner to construct a scale timeline of Earth. Students will also
research dates using their textbook, school computers, or the Internet to find the dates of
specific events in Earth’s history. Students will place these events on the correct location on
their paper timelines.
MS-ESS1-4 : Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the
geologic
time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6 billion year old history.
Thursday (13)
Learning Target – I can use accurate measuring skills to construct a scale model of the
Geologic Time Scale where 1 inch = 100 million years.
Sequencing Time Paper Timeline
Students will work with a partner to construct a scale timeline of Earth. Students will also
research dates using their textbook, school computers, or the Internet to find the dates of
specific events in Earth’s history. Students will place these events on the correct location on
their paper timelines.
Friday (14)
Learning Target : I can differentiate between types of fossils and how they are preserved.
1. Students will copy learning target 2 into their journals and will pre-assess it. To open the
lesson, the teacher will show students a variety of fossils such as a carbon imprint, a trace fossil
(coprolite), and a cast or mineral replacement fossil. After showing the fossils to the students,
the students will be asked to read to find out the type of fossils that were shown, and how they
formed.
2. To do this, students will work with an elbow partner on an informational text reading
assignment in the Glencoe Blue textbook p. 242-249. To complete this task, students will read a
section at a time silently (about one page per section). After an appropriate time has been
given, the pairs of students will assume the roles of “teller” and “coach”. The teller must close
his or her text and summarize what he or she read to their partner. The partner (coach) will be
allowed to keep his/her text open and will coach the teller through the summary. The coach will
prompt the teller about points the teller has omitted. The pair of students will alternate roles as
they read each section.
3. To close class, have students identify the types of fossils they were shown at the beginning of
class: carbon imprint, trace fossil, cast, mineral replacement. Ask students to support their
ideas with evidence cited from the text.
Formative Assessment: Identifying fossils
Media/Technology: SMART presentation
Literacy Strategy: Summarizing Information Text/ Partner Reading