What a Trip, Amber Brown
What is a Fossil?
CHALLENGING WORDS
covereddinosaurs
leaf
might
millions
prints
saber-toothed
sank
swam
woolly mammoth
SUMMARY
This is an educational book that teaches about fossils. It explains the types of fossils and what can be learned from them. Keep your eyes open, you might find a fossil someday.--- Conversation Questions---
(1) / Retell where the first fossil in our book was formed.(Answer) / The mud, at the bottom of a lake.
(Follow Up) / Would other fish feed on the dead dinosaur?
(2) / Estimate the amount of time it would take a leaf to form a fossil.
(Answer) / Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) / Have you ever made a fossil with clay or plaster?
(3) / Imagine you were a scientist looking for fossils, what signs might you look for?
(Answer) / Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) / Would you like to be a scientist?
(4) / Describe how you would feel if you found a fossil of a dinosaur.
(Answer) / Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) / Name a fossil you have found before.
(5) / Define sap.
(Answer) / Yellow and sticky, drips out of some trees.
(Follow Up) / Use sap in a sentence.
(6) / Recall the first animal in the book.
(Answer) / A dinosaur.
(Follow Up) / What was the animal doing in the first picture?
(7) / State what a fossil is.
(Answer) / Part of all of an animal or plant that lived very long ago.
(Follow Up) / Name one fossil.
(8) / Find what happened to the ant in the book.
(Answer) / Got stuck in sap and fossilized.
(Follow Up) / Did it rot? (No)
(9) / Name the big cats that have been found in California.
(Answer) / Saber-toothed tigers.
(Follow Up) / What were they found in? (tar pits)
(10) / Recall what the fossils in Scotland helped the scientist to figure out.
(Answer) / Scotland was once warm.
(Follow Up) / What were the fossils of? (palm trees)
Activities
1. / Make a list of the fossils that were used in the book.
2. / Write a paragraph describing a place you would like to look for fossils, and what you would look for.
3. / Write a few sentences describing how fossils are formed.
4. / Write a few sentences stating what can be learned from fossils.
Introductions
1. / Copy a few pictures from the book. Ask children what the pictures are. Engage them in a discussion about fossils. Then tell them our book is about fossils; lets see what we can learn!2. / Bring in a few examples of fossils. Display them on the table. Ask students where these items might be found. Let’s read our story for clues about fossils.
3. / Make a few fossils with plaster and common items. Bring both to class. Ask students to match the items with the correct fossil. Explain that our story is about fossils. Let’s read to learn some more.
Book Title: What is a Fossil?
Author: Meish Goldish / Illustrator: Ivan DierufISBN: / # of Text Pages: 14 AR: 3.3 LEX: N/A
Building Oral Vocabulary
4 / fossils / 8 / rot / 18 / sap
Prediction Questions
6 / What happens to it next?
14 / What can be learned from the footprints?
28 / How big might the eggs have been?