A five-layer rock diagram, labeled A at the top to E at the bottom, opens this 3-page 3rd grade science sheet. Each layer holds one fossil: a mammal tooth, a leaf, a fish, a shell and a trilobite. A note says the layers have not been flipped or folded. Students name the oldest layer and the youngest fossil, then put all five in order. Page 2 asks what the place was like when the sea animals lived and how it changed. The answers page gives the full order.
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 4 and 5 use the fossils in layers C, D, E and B to describe the place at different times.
“Use the position of rock layers to tell which fossil is oldest.”
Questions 1 to 3 ask for the oldest layer, the youngest fossil and the full order.
The labeled layers, a note on the layers, two answer boxes for the oldest layer and the youngest fossil, a fossil word bank and a five-box row from oldest to youngest.
Two written questions with five lines each. Layers C, D and E hold sea animals, and layers A and B hold a mammal tooth and a leaf.
Layer E as oldest, the tooth as youngest, the order from trilobite to mammal tooth, and a short answer for each page 2 question.
Build the layers
Stack five colors of clay in the same order. Students press in a fossil each, then slice the stack open to check their order.
Top and bottom rule
Have students write the rule in the margin before question 1: the oldest layer is at the bottom. Most errors come from reading the diagram the wrong way up.
Sea to land
Accept any answer to question 5 about the water drying up or moving away. Ask which fossil is the evidence for the change.
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