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This week we are starting our unit on dinosaur fossils.  If you don’t know what fossils are, how they form, the different types, or what it takes to find a fossil, this virtual field trip will answer all of your questions.  So let’s use our imaginations, pretend that we are paleontologists and get started on our adventure!

Fossils are what is left of animals that lived a long, long time ago, such as dinosaurs.  To find out more about what a fossil is, click the    and scroll down to Fossils and click on “What Are Fossils?”  Now that we know that fossils are made up of mostly stone, maybe you are wondering how does stone become a fossil?!  Click on the  and scroll down to “How Fossils Form” to find out how fossils form.  WOW!  Who would have thought that there are SIX ways fossils can form!  If there are six ways that fossils can be made, how many different types of fossils are there?    Click on “Types of Fossils”.  Okay, so far we have learned about paleontology and the study of fossils.  We have read about what a fossil is, the six ways a fossil can form, and the four types of fossils.

Now it is time for us to be the paleontologists!  Let’s grab our tools and get started!  Wait…what kind of tools will we need?   Finding fossils looks like hard work!  Are you ready?  Let’s take a look at some real students right here in the United States who were able to go to an excavation site and dig for fossils.   They looked like they had a really good time.  Do you think that would be something that you would like to do one day?

Are you ready to see what these fossils look like once they are all put together?  Click here  to take some virtual tours of the American Museum of Natural History Fossils Hall.  Be sure that you scroll down the page and click on every link that says Launch Virtual Tour.  Use your arrow keys to see all around the room.

We have seen and read about some pretty cool stuff.  Let’s see how much you learned.  Take this quiz, and just try your best.  Scroll down to Dinosaur Quizzes and click on “Interactive, Illustrated Dinosaur Quiz”.

Let’s review some of what we have learned.  Join Tim and Moby as they talk about fossils.

At the end of the week, after we have learned more about fossils, our class will be taking a trip to the Falls of Ohio.  Check out this website to get an inside look at what we will get to see and do.