A one-page check on fossils for 3rd grade comes with a second page answer key. Students number four steps of fossil formation, mark a bone, a footprint, a shell and a burrow as body (B) or trace (T), and label a three-layer rock diagram with leaf, shell and fish. They then name the oldest fossil and explain what a fish fossil on top of a dry hill tells us about the place long ago. The sheet matches NGSS 3-LS4-1.
3-LS4-1
“Analyze and interpret data for fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.”
Questions 3 to 5 use fossils in layers and a fish on a hill to describe the past.
“Put the steps of fossil formation in order and tell body fossils from trace fossils.”
Questions 1 and 2 cover the order of four steps and four fossil pictures.
Four sentences about a fossil forming, from an animal dying and being covered by mud to wind and water wearing the rock away. Students number them from 1 to 4.
Four pictures of a bone, a footprint, a shell and a burrow, each with a box for the letter B or T.
A diagram of three layers with pointer lines and a word bank of leaf, shell and fish. Students label each layer, then name the oldest fossil.
A short written answer on what a fish fossil on top of a dry hill shows about the hill long ago.
Numbers for the steps, B or T for each picture, the layer labels, the oldest fossil and a sample answer about the hill.
End of unit check
Hand it out at the end of the fossils unit. All five questions are on one page, and the answer page makes marking quick.
Layer rule
Before question 4, remind students that the oldest layer is at the bottom. It is the one fact they need for the diagram.
Share the hill answers
Read a few answers to question 5 aloud. Accept ocean, sea or lake, and ask what the fish itself tells them about the place.
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