Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
A parcel has arrived from a natural history museum: six fossil cards from six continents, and a note. "Our new gallery is called Then and Now. Under each fossil we need a label saying what the place was like when this living thing was alive. Can you crack the clues?" Your team's job: use each fossil and its living relative as evidence, and write a museum label that says what the place was like long ago.
Teams of three, with jobs that rotate after every two cards: Reader (reads the card aloud), Detective (finds the clue in the clue key) and Recorder (fills in the table).
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
9 printable pages
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Fossil cards
- Worksheet: Clue key
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My predictions
- Fossil detective table
- Sort the cards
- Our museum label (then, now, our evidence)
- Fossil cards
- Clue key
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 for all 4 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Uses a fossil as evidence
- Compares then and now
- Judges the evidence
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “What can fossils tell us about long ago?” take?
45–60 min. Group size: teams of 3.
How much prep does it need?
10 minutes: print the fossil cards (one set per team, cut apart along the lines) and the clue key, and copy the student sheet. Clear six spots around the room if you want the cards as stations.
What materials do I need?
None. No materials needed: just the printed sheets.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
NGSS (US): 3-LS4-1. It also matches England National Curriculum, Year 6 and Cambridge Primary Science, Stages 3 to 5 (not endorsed by Cambridge).
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My predictions”; “Fossil detective table”; “Sort the cards”; “Our museum label (then, now, our evidence)”; “Fossil cards”; “Clue key”; “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 for all 4 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$199 a year.