Post on 23-Sep-2020
Summer 2 – Topic -week 5 (wk. 29.6.20) – Darwin’s Delights
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
How a fossil is
made
Learn how a
fossil is formed
and explain.
Draw your own
fossil
Draw a fossil of
your choice and
describe it.
What is a
palaeontologist’s
job?
Explain what a
palaeontologist
does as a job.
R.E ultimate
question
Consider the
question ‘Who
am I?’
Marking
Mark your work
please and
correct if
needed.
Monday
Date: Monday 29nd June
Title: How are fossils made?
After an animal dies, the soft parts of its body decompose leaving the hard parts, like
the skeleton, behind. This becomes buried by small particles of rock called sediment. ...
Minerals in the water replace the bone, leaving a rock replica of the original bone called
a fossil.
Only a small fraction of ancient organisms are preserved as fossils, and usually only
organisms that have a solid and resistant skeleton are readily preserved.
TASK:
1. Write the date and title into your Topic book.
2. Watch the video and read through the information.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z9bbkqt/articles/z2ym2p3#:~:text=After%20
an%20animal%20dies%2C%20the,particles%20of%20rock%20called%20sediment.&tex
t=Minerals%20in%20the%20water%20replace,original%20bone%20called%20a%20foss
il.
3. Read through the PowerPoints ‘Fossils and Evolution’ and ‘How fossils are
made’
4. In your Topic book, explain how a fossil is formed using your own words. If you
have time, please add a diagram to support your explanation.
Example:
After an animal dies, the soft parts of its body decompose leaving the hard
parts, like the skeleton, behind. This becomes buried by small particles of rock
called sediment.
As more layers of sediment build up on top, the sediment around the skeleton
begins to compact and turn to rock.
The bones then start to be dissolved by water seeping through the rock.
Minerals in the water replace the bone, leaving a rock replica of the original
bone called a fossil.
Tuesday
Date: Tuesday 30th June
Title: Fossils
1. Visit the following website and have a look at the ‘Fossil Focus’ section:
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/time/fossilfocus/fish.html
If you have time, please also visit and have a look around:
https://geology.com/articles/green-river-fossils/
2. Look at the pictures of the fossils. Observe them carefully and have a think
about:
Some adjectives to describe the fossils.
Do the fossils resemble anything that you recognise that is alive today or are
they different?
How are they different?
2. Write the date and title into your Topic book.
3. Draw a diagram of a fossil you are interested in (see ‘Fossil information’ for help
or use the information from the websites) and describe it in as much detail as you can.
(You may wish to research your fossil further to provide more information.)
4. If you have time, please visit this website and have a look around to gain a better
understanding of the types of fossil there are.
https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-life/fossils/
4. Ideas: Does it look like anything that is alive today? How? What are the
similarities and differences between your fossil and what we have alive today?
Any questions you may have about your fossil?
Fossil Information
Ammonites
Ammonites are related to the squids and octopuses you can see today, but they're all
extinct - they died out at the same time as dinosaurs.Their shell is usually a flat spiral
shape. It is made up of chambers, like little rooms within the shell, connected by a
tube. The animal only lived in one of these chambers and used the other spaces to help
it float. Some ammonites were tiny, others as big as a person.
Ammonites lived in the sea. If you find an ammonite fossil in a rock, you know that
millions of years ago the spot where you're standing used to be totally underwater.
Good places to find ammonite fossils: Lyme Regis in Dorset and Runswick Bay in
Yorkshire
Common in rocks aged: about 201 to 66 million years old (Jurassic and Cretaceous
periods)
Dalmanites myops, a trilobite found in 420-million-year-old limestone rock at Dudley in
Worcestershire
Trilobites
These strange-looking creatures lived hundreds of millions of years ago. They are
distant relatives of crabs and lived in the sea. Some swam, while others walked on the
sea floor. By 251 million years ago they had all disappeared.
Trilobites were many different shapes and sizes. Their bodies had three main parts - a
head, body and tail. They had a hard cover on their back. This is usually what we are
looking at when we find a trilobite fossil.
We know that many trilobites could roll up, like woodlice can, as fossils often show
them in this position.
Good places to find trilobite fossils: Torquay in Devon, Marloes Sands in Wales and
Coniston in Cumbria. Two very famous sites are Wren's Nest in Dudley and Girvan in
Scotland.
Common in rocks aged: 485 to 419 million years old (Ordovician and Silurian periods)
A piece of rock containing a single shell of the bivalve Aviculopectin planoradiatus. This
fossil is unusual because you can still see the shell's original V-shaped markings.
Bivalves
Bivalves have two shells, known as valves. Their shells are usually mirror images of each
other.
Bivalves still live in the sea and in freshwater around the world. Some dig burrows in
sand or mud, others just lie on the surface, and some attach to a hard surface.
Oysters, mussels and cockles are probably the most well-known examples alive today.
The oldest bivalve fossils are over 500 million years old. But they are much more
common in younger rocks. Sometimes there are so many fossil bivalves that they form
whole layers of rock.
Good places to find bivalve fossils: beaches and cliffs around the coast of southern,
eastern and northern England, South Wales and southern Scotland
Common in rocks aged: 201 million years old and younger (Jurassic Period onwards)
Top and bottom views of the brachiopod Cyclothyris difformis. This three-centimetre-
long fossil was found in Devon.
Brachiopods
Brachiopods live in the sea, usually attached to a hard surface.
There aren't many different kinds of brachiopod around today, but there used to be,
so there are lots to find and identify. They are very common fossils in rocks over 66
million years old.
Brachiopods look very similar to bivalves, as they also have two shells. The best way to
tell the difference is to compare the size and shape of the two shells. In brachiopods
one shell is usually bigger than the other, and the larger shell has a small hole at the
top.
Good places to find brachiopod fossils: southern, eastern and northern England,
Wales and southern Scotland, particularly on the coast where rocks are exposed
Common in rocks aged: 541 to 66 million years old (Palaeozoic and Mesozoic eras)
A piece of flint broken open to reveal the fossil sponge Ventriculites inside
Sponges
Sponges are ancient animals that mostly live in the sea. Their bodies consist of simple
groups of cells which can arrange themselves into large and complex shapes.
Some sponges produce a skeleton made of silica (the hard substance that sand is
usually made of).
When sponges fossilise, the silica sometimes dissolves and then forms flint. This rock
sometimes preserves fossils, including other sponges. So you can often find fossil
sponges on beaches where most of the pebbles are made of flint. Look out for flint
pebbles with patterns of holes in them.
Flint is usually dark grey or brown but it often occurs in lumps with a thin, white outer
layer.
Good places to find fossil sponges: pebbly beaches in southern and eastern England,
particularly ones close to chalk cliffs
Common in rocks aged: 145 to 66 million years old (Cretaceous Period)
A common heart-shaped sea urchin, Micraster coranguinum
Sea urchins
Sea urchins are related to starfish. They live in the sea, either buried in sediment such
as mud or sand on the sea floor, or on top of it.
Sea urchins are often quite round, and about the size of an apple. They can also be
heart-shaped or a flat disc.
When the animal is alive, its skeleton is covered with skin and many sharp, needle-like
spines. When it dies, the spines fall off, so you won't often find them as part of the
fossil, but you can see the round lumps where they used to be attached.
If you look in chalk rock you might find lumps of flint that have sea urchin fossils in
them. And when you are on a beach keep a look out for a rounded pebble with a
starfish-like pattern on it - you might get lucky.
Good places to find sea urchin fossils: pebbly beaches in southern and eastern
England, particularly those near chalk cliffs
Common in rocks aged: 201 to 66 million years old (Jurassic and Cretaceous periods)
A collection of fossil teeth from the sand tiger shark, Odontaspis robusta. They were
found in Kent.
Shark teeth
A shark grows and loses a lot of teeth during its life. This means that in places where
shark's teeth are found as fossils, they are often extremely common.
The main part of the tooth is usually sharp and pointed, ideal for piercing the flesh of
its prey, and it's attached to a banana-shaped root.
Sharks have been around for a very long time - the oldest shark fossils discovered are
more than 400 million years old. But fossils of whole sharks are rare. This is because
their skeletons are made of cartilage, which is much softer than bone and rarely
becomes fossilised.
Good places to find shark teeth fossils: Sheppey in Kent and Bracklesham Bay in
Sussex
Common in rocks aged: 56 to 34 million years old (Eocene Epoch)
Part of the backbone of Liopleurodon. This huge reptile lived in the sea and was a
fearsome predator.
Bones of dinosaurs and other reptiles
Dinosaurs are probably the most famous prehistoric animals. At the same time as they
were walking about on land, other enormous reptiles were living in the sea. But around
66 million years ago, dinosaurs and most marine reptiles died out.
Because of where dinosaurs lived, their bones are usually found in rocks that formed in
swamps and river valleys. The bones are usually black or brown and you can see a
honeycomb structure on the inside of broken ones.
The vertebrae (parts of the backbone) of marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and
plesiosaurs are disc-shaped. But beware: pieces of flint can often look like bones.
Good places to find dinosaur bones: Isle of Wight. The best beaches to try are
Yaverland and Compton Bay. Or you may find dinosaur footprints at North Bay,
Scarborough or on the Isle of Skye.
Common in rocks aged: 201 to 125 million years old (Jurassic and Early Cretaceous
periods)
Good places to find marine reptile fossils: Charmouth in Dorset and Whitby in
Yorkshire
Common in rocks aged: 201 to 145 million years old (Jurassic Period)
Common UK fossils
The fossils above aren't the only ones you can find in the UK. Other common fossils
include creatures called belemnites, corals and gastropods, as well as fossil plants.
The Museum's app (National History Museum) covers nearly 90 fossil groups and will
help you identify fossils based on where you find them. It's free to download if you are
allowed by an adult and are able to do so. Follow link for app:
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/identify-nature/fossil-explorer-app.html
Date: Wednesday 1st July
Title: Palaeontology
Palaeontologists are people who study fossils. Palaeontologists find and study fossils all
over the world, in almost every environment, from the hot desert to the humid jungle.
Studying fossils helps them learn about when and how different species lived millions
of years ago. Sometimes, fossils tell scientists how the Earth has changed.
Task:
1. Write the date and title into your Topic book
2. Watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjhDV_GzTM8
Visit the two following sites to help you answer the questions:
https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/paleontology/353591
https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/paleontology
3. In your Topic book, write the subheading What is a Palaeontologist? and
answer/complete the following:
What is palaeontology?
• Write down at least three things you learnt about Palaeontologists.
• Write down three things you would like to ask a Palaeontologist.
• Would you like this job? Why or why not?
Thursday
Date: Thursday 2nd July
Title: Who am I?
Friday
Friday 3rd July
Mark topic work where appropriate- see topic answers for this.
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to email us.
Seahorses@signhillsacademy.co.uk
Mantarays@signhillsacademy.co.uk
Swordfish@signhillsacademy.co.uk
Year 6