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Fossils: KS2 power-point presentation.
This presentation can be used as a series of lessons or as an overview about fossils. There are opportunities for pupils to talk about fossils, watch YouTube clips and a make a fossil mold with salt dough. Each set of slides contains images to help pupils ‘get a feel’ for fossils and palaeontology.
Links with cross curricular topics such as ‘Fossils’, ‘Rocks’, ‘Dinosaurs’, ‘Palaeontology’, ‘Our Planet’, ‘Life on Earth’.
Learning Objectives
• To know that fossils are the remains or traces of plants and animals that lived long ago.
• To understand that fossils are formed when living things are trapped in sedimentary rock, and their remains are preserved.
• To list the two types of fossils and give examples of each kind.
• To give examples of how fossils give clues to life in the past.
• To explain the work of real-life fossil hunters like Mary Anning and how their work contributed to our understanding of the past.
• To explain how fossils have helped us to learn about prehistoric life such as dinosaurs.
Slide 1-2 Cover page and learning objectives.
Slides 3-5 What is a fossil? Talk partner activity and dictionary work.
Body fossils and trace fossils.
Slide 6 Worksheet – write a definition of a fossil in your own words with key word prompts.
Slide 7-10 Guess the fossil activity.
Slide 11 -13 How are fossils made? Watch a youtube clip of a decaying apple and identify what happens to it as it decays.
Slide 14-16 Activity – identify soft (decaying) and hard body parts (that don’t decay).
Slide 17-23 the process of fossilisation in sedimentary rock.
Slide 24 Writing worksheet with earth layers and sediment/beginning the process of fossilisation.
Slide 25-27 Fossilisation over millions of years.
Slide 28 Cut and order worksheet – the stages of fossilisation.
Slide 29-30 Reminders!
Slide 31-35 Types of sedimentary rock around the world and images.
Slide 36-37 amber fossils
Slide 38 Trace fossils
Slide 39 Salt dough mold fossils recipe and task.
Slide 40-41 Reasons why fossils are interesting – talk partners.
Slide 42 you tube clip – what we can learn from a dinosaur footprint (trace fossil).
Slide 43-48 Fossils and dinosaurs
Slide 49 match the dinosaur with its skeleton worksheet
Slide 50 – 56 The evolution of the horse – what have we learnt from fossils. Prehistoric horse to present day and evolution/characteristics.
Slide 57 Worksheet – evolution of horse matching characteristics.
Slide 58 Writing task – how have horses evolved over 50 million years.
Slide 59 – 64 The work of palaeontologists.
Slide 65 Youtube clip of child palaeontologists who discovered a dinosaur fossil in USA.
Slide 66-67 Tools used by palaeontologists.
Slide 67- 74 famous palaeontologists Georges Cuvier and Mary Anning.
Slide 75 Mary Anning fact sheet which can be used to support writing, guided reading or comprehension or a prompt for research.
Slide 76 Challenge activity – write a short quiz for the class.