Objectives
Devise a workable inch-to-year scale for a geologic timeline in the
classroom.
Measure and create a geologic timeline to scale for each era.
Sequence the geological eras on the timeline.
Write a poem or story about a prehistoric animal trapped in the tar
pits (optional).
Materials
Pictures of insects in amber from Suggested Books
Pictures of mammoths and saber-toothed tigers from Suggested Books
Sample of amber if available
For each student: Geologic Eras sheet (attached)
For each of four groups: a ball of yarn or roll of paper receipt tape,
yardstick
Suggested Books
Arnold, Caroline. Trapped in Tar: Fossils from the Ice Age.
New York: Clarion, 1987.
Benton, Michael. The Story of Life on Earth. New York: Warwick
Press, 1986. Examines each geologic era and shows positions of the continents
and illustrations of the life that existed then. Contains very good pictures
and information on Pleistocene animals including a picture on page 70 of
a mastodon caught in a tar pit being stalked by a saber-toothed cat and
on page 23, an insect trapped in amber.
Burton, Virginia Lee. Life Story: The Story of Life on Earth from
Its Beginning Up to Now. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962. Burton cleverly
portrays Earth's time as a drama with scene changes every few million years
or so. The last section documents how the arrival of humans affected the
scene. She ends, "And now it is your Life Story and it is you who play
the leading role. The stage is set, the time is now, and the place wherever
you are. Each passing second a new link in the endless chain of Time."
Cole, Joanna. Saber-Toothed Tiger and Other Ice Age Mammals.
New York: Morrow, 1977.
Farndon, John. How the Earth Works. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's
Digest, 1992.
Grimaldi, David. Amber: Windows on the Past. New York: Harry
Abrams, 1996. This book by a curator of the American Museum of Natural
History in New York accompanied the museum's exhibit of Amber in Nature
and Art. The color photographs are exceptional and include many examples
of insects and flowers locked in amber. The text discusses origins of amber,
what types of trees are most likely to produce it and focuses on some of
the ancient communities preserved in amber.
Lauber, Patricia. Dinosaurs Walked Here and Other Stories Fossils
Tell. New York: Bradbury, 1987. "One day, forty million years ago,
a gnat was crawling over the bark of a pine tree..." On page 13 Lauber
describes how insects were preserved in amber and how the bodies of woolly
mammoths became preserved in ice. There is a large color photo on page
12 of the gnat in amber.
Levy, Elizabeth. A Mammoth Mix-Up. New York: HarperCollins,
1995. A brother and sister find a mammoth tusk in the backyard and use
it for a science fair project in this funny mystery.
Matthews, Rupert. Ice Age Animals. New York: Bookwright, 1990.
Includes illustrations of mammoths and mastodons as well as Smilodon, a
saber-toothed cat.
Osborne, Mary Pope. Sunset of the Saber-Tooth. New York: Random
House, 1996. This story of two children who travel back in time is part
of the Magic Tree House series.
Russell, William. Fossils From the Earth. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke
Corp., 1994.
Shehan, Angela ed., Prehistoric World. New York: Warwick, 1975.
Full of illustrations of fossils including an insect in amber on page 14.
On page 146 there is an illustration of dire wolves and a saber-toothed
cat attacking a mastodon mired in tar.
Taylor, Barbara. Earth Explained: A Beginner's Guide to Our Planet.
New York: Henry Holt, 1997.
Web site
http://www.amnh.org/Exhibitions/Amber
This American Museum of Natural History web site features pieces of
amber; click on them to see close-up photos of the creatures trapped inside.
Teacher's Note
Yarn, string or paper receipt tape can be used to make a timeline.
Yarn of different colors can distinguish one era from another. Be sure
to give the Precambrian Era group the lion's share of the yarn, string
or paper because their timeline represents 80% of geologic time, 33.5 feet.
While they are called the "tar pits," the substance in the excavations
at LaBrea is not tar. It is asphalt. Crude oil bubbles up through the Earth's
crust. The more volatile part evaporates leaving asphalt. The tar pits
formed about 40,000 years ago and are still entrapping animals today.
Procedure
Ask: What are fossils? (remains of living things preserved for thousands
or millions of years) Remind the students that last lesson they learned
how fossils were formed. Remind the students that under the right conditions,
evidence of plants and animals such as bones, teeth, shells, tracks and
impressions in mud, can be preserved in stone.
Show the students pictures of animals or plants preserved in amber
from Suggested Books. Ask: Does anyone know what amber is? (hardened tree
sap) Ask: How do you think insects came to be inside the amber? (They crawled
or landed on the sticky sap and became trapped and then covered with it.
Over time, the sap became petrified and preserved the insects inside.)
Tell the students that frogs and small reptiles have been preserved in
amber, too. If available, show the students a sample of amber. Read them
the following poem written by a British amber collector:
Amber -- the freezing gold
That is not hot and is not cold
Has caught within its dreaming arms
The insects and the flower's charms.
Time has kept as still as death
Holding instant, every breath
Now from out our fading past
A scene which can forever last.
Garry Platt
Tell the students that another way animals were preserved was in asphalt.
Ask a student to describe hot tar or asphalt. (very sticky, oozy) Ask:
What do you think would happen if an animal stepped into a pool of asphalt?
Would it be easy to get out? Tell the students that there are places in
Los Angeles, California where black, sticky asphalt comes oozing out of
the ground and up through cracks in the sidewalk. This is the area of the
LaBrea Tar Pits. Tell the students that about 40,000 years ago there were
open pools of asphalt all over this area. When it rained, water covered
the tar. In summertime, when the tar became hot and sticky, animals came
to the pools to drink and got stuck in it. Mammoths, horses, camels, bison
and giant ground sloths were caught in the tar and became easy prey for
dire wolves and saber-toothed tigers. The predators jumped on the trapped
animals but then became stuck themselves in the sticky tar. Scavengers
such as vultures, condors and eagles landed on the dead bodies to feed
and they, too became stuck in the tar. Eventually the bodies of the animals
sank and were preserved by the asphalt. Show the students pictures of mammoths
and/or saber-toothed tigers from Suggested Books. Ask: Are there any mammoths
or saber-toothed tigers alive today? (No. They died out, became extinct.)
Tell the students that scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists
(PAY-lee-on-TOL-oh-jests).
Write this word on the board and point out that paleo means old
or ancient. What do you think paleontologists can learn from studying
remains of animals in the tarpits or insects and lizards trapped in amber
or fossilized dinosaur bones? (Accept all answers.) Tell the students that
paleontologists study fossils to find out what the world was like in the
past. Fossils are a record of life on Earth. Show the students pictures
of other prehistoric animals from Suggested Books. Tell them that from
looking at the many fossils of extinct plants and animals, paleontologists
have guessed that for every species of living organism today there are
at least 100 other species who lived in the past but became extinct.
Ask: How old do geologists think the Earth is? (four and a half billion
years) Write 4,500,000,000 years on the board. Tell the students
that these 4.5 billion years, beginning with the formation of the Earth
until now, are called geologic time. Tell them that geologic time
is different from human time. When humans think about time they usually
think in terms of lifetimes -- seventy or eighty years. We can picture
how many years have passed since our grandparents were children. We can
even count the years backward to the Revolutionary War, or count the centuries
back to the building of ancient cities. But nothing people have experienced
gives them the scale they need to count back 4.5 billion years to the beginning
of the Earth. People only began writing things down 6,000 years ago. We
call the time before that prehistoric because no one was recording events
-- it was pre-history. The only record of events we have for that huge
expanse of time is the record of clues in rocks and fossils. Rocks and
fossils tell the story of prehistory.
Tell the students that decades, centuries and millennia are much too
small for geologic time. Instead geologists divided geologic time into
four eras. Divide the class into four groups to represent the four eras
of geologic time. Name the first group Precambrian (pre-CAM-brie-in) Era,
the second group Paleozoic (PALE-ee-oh-ZOH-ik), the third group Mesozoic
(MESS-oh-ZOH-ik) and the fourth group Cenozoic (SEN-oh-ZOH-ik). Write these
names on the board. Give members of each group the sheet for their particular
era (attached) and a ball of yarn. Tell them that the yarn can be unwound,
tied into one long string and stretched out around the classroom to make
a geologic timeline of the Earth's 4.5 billion years.
Remind the students that just like making a map, they need to establish
a scale for the timeline. Write 1 inch=1 year on the board. Ask:
If our scale was 1 inch of yarn for every year of the Earth's existence,
how many inches of yarn would we need? (4.5 billion) Would that be a practical
scale? (no) What if we made each inch of yarn represent 1 million years?
Write 1 inch=1,000,000 years on the board. Ask: How many inches
of yarn would we have in the timeline? Count the number of zeros in one
million and cross out that many zeros in 4.5 billion. Tell the students
that by dividing 4.5 billion by 1 million, they can find out how many 1
millions, or inches of yarn would be needed for a timeline with this scale
(4,500 inches) Is that a practical scale for the classroom? Are there 4,500
inches of yarn in these balls of yarn? (no) Write
1 inch=10,000,000 years. Divide and cross out the zeros. Ask
the students to change the 450 inches into feet (37.5 feet) Ask: Is this
a practical scale for the classroom? (yes) Erase the other scales. Show
the students that the scale for the timeline will be 1 inch=10,000,000
years.
Tell the students that each group will create their part of the timeline.
Give each group a yardstick. Ask them to determine with the scale on the
board and the information on their sheet, how long their part of the time
line should be. Use the yardstick to measure the yarn and cut the proper
length to be tied into the timeline.
When the groups have completed timelines for their eras, have the groups
come together, arrange the eras in the proper order and tie them together
to make one long timeline around the room representing all of geologic
time. Ask: Which is the longest geologic era? (Precambrian) How long did
the Precambrian last? (4 billion 30 million years) Tell the students that
during the Precambrian Era the Earth began -- oceans formed, mountains
began to rise, oxygen built up in the atmosphere, life formed in the oceans.
Paleontologists have found very few fossils from this very long time period.
Ask: Why do you think that is? (Life on Earth was just beginning.) Tell
the students that the only Precambrian fossils are of algae and bacteria.
Ask: What was the next era called? (Paleozoic) How long did the Paleozoic
last? (345 million years) Tell the students that at the beginning of the
Paleozoic there was an explosion of life in the oceans. Ask: What kinds
of plants and animals appeared during the beginning of the Paleozoic? (sea
plants, jellyfish, coral, sponges, trilobites, fish, sharks) What kinds
of plants and animals had appeared by the end of the Paleozoic? (land plants
-- mosses and ferns -- insects, amphibians, reptiles) In which era did
dinosaurs appear? (Mesozoic) What else appeared in the Mesozoic? (mammals,
birds, flowering plants) When did the dinosaurs die out? (at the end of
the Mesozoic) Which is the shortest era? (Cenozoic) Point out that the
Cenozoic Era is 65 million years long. Ask: What life appeared in the Cenozoic?
(many mammals -- horses, woolly mammoths, giant sloths, humans) Remind
the students that humans and human ancestors have been around for only
4 million years. Show the students the little less than 2
inch at the end of the timeline that represents human existence. Ask the
students to compare the amount of time that dinosaurs were on Earth during
most of the Mesozoic to the amount of time humans have been on Earth. Ask:
Were humans and dinosaurs on the Earth at the same time? (no) Ask: How
do we know about these animals that appeared and disappeared before humans
were on Earth? (fossil evidence)
Possible Homework
Ask the students to write a poem or story about an animal that becomes
trapped in the tar pits.
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 20 - Geology
Objectives
Describe the movement of continents during the Mesozoic.
Hypothesize from descriptions of dinosaur fossil evidence.
Materials
Era sheet from Lesson 19
Continental movement sheet for transparency (attached)
Six Fossil Find Sheets (attached)
Suggested Books
Calhoun, B.B. Night of the Carnotaurus. New York: W.H. Freeman,
1995. Part of the Dinosaur Detective series, this story of Fenton
Rumpelmeyer, son of dinosaur experts, focuses on a mystery at a Hollywood
special effects studio where they are shooting scenes for an upcoming dinosaur
movie.
. Scrambled Eggs. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1995. Fenton Rumpelmeyer,
dinosaur detective, goes on a dig with his father and solves the mystery
of the dinosaur nest.
Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs.
New York: Scholastic, 1994.
Conrad, Pam. My Daniel. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. A grandmother
reveals a long-kept and heartbreaking secret about the fossil dinosaur
exhibit in the Natural History Museum. This novel is exquisitely written.
Highly recommended.
Crenson, Victoria. Discovering Dinosaurs. Los Angeles: Price
Stern Sloan, 1988.
Dixon, Dougal. The Search for Dinosaurs. New York: Thomson Learning,
1995. This book focuses on old discoveries and the days of dinosaur bone
prospecting.
Eldridge, Niles, Gregory and Douglas. The Fossil Factory. A Kid's
Guide to Digging Up Dinosaurs, Exploring Evolution and Finding Fossils.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1989.
Elting, Mary and Ann Goodman. Dinosaur Mysteries. New York:
Platt & Munk, 1980. Focuses on several mysteries posed by fossil evidence
and some possible explanations to them. It is an older book and new evidence
has shed light on some of these mysteries, but the approach is commendable.
Granowsky, Alvin. Meat-Eating Dinosaurs. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn,
1992. Simple text and dramatic dinosaur illustrations.
Gurney, James. Dinotopia. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1992.
A popular fantasy story with wonderful illustrations of dinosaurs.
Horner, John. R. and James Gorman. Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up.
Philadelphia: Running Press, 1985. Duckbill Maiasaur mothers tend to their
babies in a common nesting area. Beautiful illustrations.
Lauber, Patricia. Living With Dinosaurs. New York: Bradbury,
1991. Beautiful illustrations of three dinosaur environments and evocative
text make this a perfect read aloud for this lesson.
Lessem, Don. Dinosaur Worlds: New Dinosaurs, New Discoveries.
Honesdale, PA: Boyd Mills, 1996. Packed full of facts on dinosaur ecology,
dinosaur life styles, new discoveries and profiles of paleontologists now
working in the field.
Sattler, Helen Roney. The New Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary.
New York: Lothrop, 1990.
Weishampel, David. Plant-Eating Dinosaurs. New York: Franklin
Watts, 1992. This well- written book is by a world-famous palentologist
who lives in Baltimore. His daughters have grown up working with him at
dinosaur digs during the summers. Included are illustrations of what a
species of dinosaur might have looked like along with a drawing of its
skull and tooth design. The illustrations of dinosaur environments are
outstanding.
Teacher's Note
There is such an abundance of dinosaur books, many with beautiful illustrations
of both dinosaurs and their environments, that it should be possible to
provide the students with a good assortment to peruse in the classroom.
Web sites
http://www.amnh.org/Exhibitions/Fossil_Halls
The American Museum of Natural History in New York houses one of the
best dinosaur exhibits anywhere. Included on their web site is a photo
of their mounted Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil skeleton, interviews with paleontologists,
and timelines.
http://www.dinosaursociety.org
This site includes a visit to a dig, a pen pal network for dinosaur
lovers, and a special dinosaurs of Jurassic Park feature.
http://dinosauria.com
Dinosauria Online contains articles and discussions on recent dinosaur
finds, a guide to dinosaur name pronunciations, and links to other dinosaur
web sites.
Procedures
Have the students share their poems or stories about animals trapped
in the tar pits. Ask: If the animals were trapped in tar pits 40,000 years
ago, in which geologic era did they live? (Cenozoic) In which era do we
live? (Cenozoic) Remind the students that the Cenozoic was the shortest
era on their geologic timeline. Ask: Which was the longest? (Precambrian)
Tell the students that throughout all geologic time the Earth has been
constantly changing. The shape of the land has changed. The climate has
changed. The life on land and in the oceans has changed. Ask: In which
era did the dinosaurs live? (Mesozoic) Tell them that during the 150 million
years that dinosaurs were here, the face of the Earth changed drastically.
Continents broke up, land sank, huge inland seas formed, climates changed,
deserts grew and shrank, mountains were pushed up and worn down again by
water and wind.
Show the students the transparency of continental movement. Point out
the first map and tell the students that this is what geologists think
the continents looked like during the early Mesozoic Era when dinosaurs
were first appearing. Point out that all the land is clumped together on
one side of the globe. This super continent is called Pangaea (pan-GEE-uh).
Point out the next map and tell the students that this is what the continents
may have looked like in the middle of the Mesozoic in a time known as the
Jurassic period. Ask: What has happened to Pangaea? (It has broken apart.)
Does the shape of any of those pieces remind you of a continent on our
modern maps? (Africa, South America) Have a student come and point out
the familiar-looking continents. Point out the third map and tell the students
that this is what the continents may have looked like during the end of
the Mesozoic when the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. Ask: What
has happened to the continents? (They have moved farther apart.) Point
out that animals could not move from one continent to another as they could
at the beginning of the Mesozoic. Ask: Why not? (The oceans were barriers.)
Also point out the skinny continents in the upper left. Ask: What continent
do you think this is? (North America) Show the students the large, shallow,
inland sea that has formed in the center of the continent. Remind the students
that they learned in earlier lessons how tectonic plates move a few inches
a year. Over hundreds of millions of years those inches add up to many
miles and a lot of continental movement. Remind the students that the continents
are still moving. Ask: What do you think the continents might look like
100 million years from now? (Accept all answers.)
Ask the students to think about what the Earth was like during the
Mesozoic -- the time of the dinosaurs. If available, read the first section
of Living With Dinosaurs by Patricia Lauber. Tell the students that
the Earth's climate was warmer then, even at the North and South poles.
Dinosaurs lived just about everywhere, even in Antarctica and Alaska. There
were dinosaurs living in what is now Maryland, too.
Remind the students that what we know about dinosaurs and their environment
comes from what paleontologists can learn from fossils. Tell the students
that paleontologists often work together to solve dinosaur mysteries. Besides
wanting to know what dinosaurs looked like,
here are some other questions they want to find answers to: What was
dinosaur family life like? How did dinosaurs take care of their babies?
Did dinosaurs migrate like birds do? How did huge plant-eating dinosaurs
find enough to eat? What affect did all those big twig- and leaf-eating
dinosaurs have on the forests? Were there special leaders in triceratops
herds? Did bonehead dinosaurs really have butting contests with their heads
to prove who was the strongest? How fast did dinosaurs grow? If T-Rex lay
down and took a nap, how did he get back up again with only those tiny
little arms to push himself up? What sounds did dinosaurs make?
Tell the students to imagine they are young paleontologists working
together on some puzzling fossil evidence sent in from a dinosaur dig.
The experts are stumped and need some fresh eyes and fresh ideas about
their fossil finds. Ask them to look over the descriptions and illustrations
of the fossils, to find clues and propose some possible answers to the
questions. Divide the class into groups of four or five and distribute
evidence sheets to each group. Have the students in each group discuss
different theories concerning their fossil finds. Have a recorder in each
group write down ideas. Perhaps the students might want to do drawings
to illustrate their ideas. At the bottom of the sheet have the students
write down any further questions they have about the evidence. What more
do they want to know in order to test their theories? When the groups have
finished, ask the recorders to share the evidence, questions and possible
theories with the rest of the class.
Possible Field Trip
Smithsonian Natural History Museum has an excellent dinosaur exhibit
and includes many other fossils of animals that shared the dinosaurs' world
in the Mesozoic.
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 20 - Geology
The Fossil Find:
A skull of a plant-eating duckbill dinosaur with a huge crest on top.
Inside the crest is a curving hollow tube that connects with the inside
of the dinosaur's snout.
Question: Why did the dinosaur have a crest? What was it for?
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 20 - Geology
The Fossil Find:
The crushed skull of a small adult dinosaur with a short beak and strong
jaws.
It was found in a nest of fossilized dinosaur eggs that belong to a
different kind of dinosaur.
Question: What was the strange dinosaur doing in the nest? Why was
its skull crushed?
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 20 - Geology
Fossil Find:
Found in what was once a river bed -- A pointed, five-inch-long tooth
from an unknown dinosaur. It was found among the fossil skeletons of thirty
plant-eating dinosaurs that seem to have died at the same time.
Question: What might have happened?
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 20 - Geology
Fossil Find:
The skeleton of Ultrasaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur with a long neck.
This dinosaur stood taller than a six-story building.
Inside its rib cage, in the place where the stomach would be, were
found ten round perfectly smooth stones.
Question: What were the stones doing there?
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 20 - Geology
Fossil Find:
A skeleton of a dinosaur called Amargasaurus was found with two rows
of spines several feet long down its neck and back. These spines might
have been covered with skin to form two sails or might have been exposed
like spikes.
Question: If the dinosaur had two sails on its neck and back, what
were they for? If the spikes were exposed, what purpose did they serve?
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 20 - Geology
The Fossil Find:
The skeleton of a small dinosaur with sharp teeth.
Around the arms are the impressions of what look like feathers.
Around the legs there is what looks like the impression of fur.
Question: Was it a dinosaur? A bird? Something else?
What might it have looked like?
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 21 - Geology
Objectives
Construct some possible Mesozoic food chains.
Create dioramas showing dinosaurs in their environments.
Materials
Pictures of Mesozoic landscapes from Suggested Books
Pictures of flying and swimming reptiles from Suggested Books
Picture for transparency of rock layers (attached)
For each group of four students: cardboard box, modeling clay, colored
paper, glue, greenery, crayons, pipe cleaners, scissors, dinosaur books
for reference
Suggested Books
Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs.
New York: Scholastic, 1994.
Crenson, Victoria. Discovering Dinosaurs. Los Angeles: Price
Stern Sloan, 1988. Contains pictures of pterosaurs, plesiosaurs and an
illustration of the possible asteroid collision as well as dinosaur illustrations.
Granowsky, Alvin. Meat-Eating Dinosaurs. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn,
1992. Pages 6-7 show a scene of dinosaurs fishing in the inland sea.
Horner, John. R. and James Gorman. Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up.
Philadelphia: Running Press, 1985. Includes memorable scenes of dinosaur
communal nesting grounds.
Lauber, Patricia. Living With Dinosaurs. New York: Bradbury,
1991. Contains pictures of both hunting and plant munching dinosaurs as
well as underwater scenes of plesiosaurs.
Lessem, Don. Dinosaur Worlds: New Dinosaurs, New Discoveries.
Honesdale, PA: Boyd Mills, 1996. Includes hundreds of illustrations of
dinosaurs and many Mesozoic scenes.
Sattler, Helen Roney. The New Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary.
New York: Lothrop, 1990.
Weishampel, David. Plant-Eating Dinosaurs. New York: Franklin
Watts, 1992. Pages 8-9 show a panoramic view of shoreline dinosaur life.
Teacher Resource
Gore, Rick. "Dinosaurs." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Magazine,
January, 1993. Includes "Dawn
on the Delta, a poster map of North America 74 million years ago.
Teacher's Note
The plants living today that are most like the ones dinosaurs nibbled
are ginkos, Norfolk Island pines (sold in pots as miniature Christmas trees),
ferns, cypress, palms and junipers.
Procedure
Remind the students that during the Mesozoic, there was a large, shallow
inland sea in the middle of North America. The climate was warmer than
it is now. Show the students pictures of Mesozoic landscapes from Suggested
Books. Ask the students to describe the kinds of plants and animals they
see. If available, show the students modern day plants that resemble the
plants from the Mesozoic. Ask: Does anyone know the names of some of the
dinosaurs that lived during the Mesozoic? [(Possible names might include
tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, apatosaurus (formerly brontosaurus) diplodicus,
iguanodon, pachycephalosaurus (also known as boneheads), maiasaurus (a
duckbill dinosaur)]. Remind the students that dinosaurs were land animals.
They didn't fly or live in the water, but other reptiles did. Pterosaurs
were flying reptiles. Plesiosaurs were swimming reptiles with long snaky
necks and big teeth. Show the students pictures of flying and swimming
reptiles from Suggested Books.
Ask: What do you think dinosaurs might have eaten? Have the students
think about food chains today and then think about all the possible food
sources in the dinosaurs' world during the Mesozoic. Have them help you
make a list of food sources on the board. The list might include: other
dinosaurs, mammals, insects, leaves, twigs, flowers, worms, dinosaur eggs,
dead animals, birds and their eggs, lizards, turtles and their eggs, fish,
shellfish, seaweed, etc. Ask students to come to the board and construct
some possible Mesozoic food chains. Examples: worms to fish to bird to
small meat-eating dinosaur to large meat-eating dinosaur or leaves to plant-eating
dinosaur to meat-eating dinosaur who dies and is eaten by scavenger birds
and worms. Point out that paleontologists study fossils of all these plants
and creatures. They want to learn more about dinosaur ecology. Ask: What
does dinosaur ecology mean? (the relationship between dinosaurs
and their environments)
Remind the students that dinosaurs lived on Earth in great numbers
for 150 million years. While the Earth went through many changes, the dinosaurs
adapted to the changes. They adapted to new climates and food sources.
They formed herds and probably migrated. They raised their young in groups
for protection. They also hunted together in packs. Over those 150 million
years the kinds of dinosaurs that could not adapt to new conditions died
out. New kinds of dinosaurs evolved. But then at the end of the Mesozoic,
there were no more dinosaurs. Show the students the transparency of the
rock layers. Point out the last rock layer of the Mesozoic in which dinosaur
fossils are found. Ask: How do paleontologists know that dinosaurs disappeared?
(There are many dinosaur fossils in the last Mesozoic layer and no dinosaur
fossils found in the next layer. They disappear from the fossil record.)
Point out the line between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic rock layers. Tell
the students that in the time this layer of sedimentary rock was being
formed, something big must have happened -- something really big. It had
to be something big because during this time in the fossil record, half
of all life on Earth suddenly disappeared. Tell them that paleontologists
call what happened at the end of the Mesozoic a mass extinction because
so many plants and animals on land and in the oceans became extinct about
the same time. Point out that the last Mesozoic layer is full of fossils.
Then there is a thin layer of grayish-red clay with almost no fossils.
The layer on top of that is full of fossils of many new kinds of creatures.
Tell the students that there are different theories as to why there
was a mass extinction. Ask: What do you think might have caused the dinosaurs
and many other plants and animals that shared their world to become extinct?
(Accept all answers and list them on the board.) Tell the students that
one theory that has been proposed is the asteroid theory. Write
this on the board. Ask: What are asteroids? (chunks of rock in space) Tell
the students that the asteroid theory says that a giant asteroid from space
struck the Earth 65 million years ago. The impact from the asteroid hitting
the Earth caused environmental disaster -- huge dust clouds were thrown
up that blocked the sun. There were earthquakes, violent storms, tsunamis,
acid rain, and global fires. Many animals and plants could not survive
all these catastrophes.
Point to the line between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic rock layers again.
Tell the students that the evidence for the asteroid theory is found in
the thin layer of grayish-red clay between the two rock layers. Geologists
collected samples of this layer from all over the world. When they examined
the samples, they found that all of them contained large amounts of something
called iridium. Iridium is very rare on Earth. Ask: Where do you
think iridium comes from? (from space) Some scientists think that when
the asteroid hit, it was pulverized and its iridium dust was blown around
the world and eventually fell to the ground and was covered by layers of
sediment. Point out on the transparency that the Cenozoic era layers that
follow contain fossils of many new plants and creatures. They also contain
the fossils of species that survived the mass extinction.
Tell the students that you would like them to create 3-D scenes of
what the Mesozoic world may have looked like when dinosaurs and pterosaurs
and plesiosaurs were alive before the mass extinction. Ask them to recall
the kinds of plants and animals they have seen in dinosaur books. Remind
them that something fossils cannot tell us about dinosaurs is what color
they were. Could they have been pink or blue or yellow? Divide the class
into groups of four and distribute boxes and other materials to each group.
Arrange for a display of Mesozoic scenes in the classroom.
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 22 - Geology
Objectives
Review characteristics of mammals.
Speculate how humans might have adapted to climate change during the
Ice Age.
Create drawings of Ice Age animals in the style of cave paintings.
Materials
Pictures of prehistoric mammals from Suggested Books
Pictures of cave paintings from Suggested Books
For each student: sheet cut from brown paper bag, piece of drawing
charcoal, colored chalk
Suggested Books
Bahn, Paul. Images of the Ice Age. New York: Facts on File,
1988.
Berger, Melvin. Prehistoric Mammals. New York: Putnam, 1986.
Bush, Timothy. Grunt, The Primitive Cave Boy. New York: Crown,
1985. Story of a young cave painter during the Ice Age.
Cowley, Marjorie. Dar and the Spear-Thrower. New York: Clarion,
1997. A fast-paced novel about a boy living in southeastern France during
the Pleistocene.
Fadin, Dennis. Maria De Sautuola: Discoverer of the Bulls in the
Cave. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett, 1997. Tells the story of
the young girl, daughter of an amateur archaeologist, who discovered paintings
in a cave at Altamira, Spain during the last century.
Gallant, Roy. The Ice Ages. New York: Franklin Watts, 1985.
Gibbons, Gail. Prehistoric Animals. New York: Holiday House,
1988.
Hayward, Tim. Rand McNally Picture Atlas of Prehistoric Life.
Chicago: Rand McNally, 1992.
LeBrun, Francoise. Days of the Cave People. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Silver Burdett, 1985.
LeDuc, Mary. Life After the Dinosaurs. Mahwah, NJ: Troll, 1989.
Examines the proliferation of mammal species after the Mesozoic.
Matthews, Rupert. Ice Age Animals. New York: Bookwright, 1990.
Contains many illustrations of mammals from the ice ages and interglacial
periods.
Oliver, Rupert. Ice Age Monsters: Cave Bear. Vero Beach, FL:
Rourke, 1987.
Peters, David. Strange Creatures. New York: Morrow, 1992. Describes
some prehistoric mammals as well as other unique animals.
Pope, Joyce. Fossil Detective. Mahwah, NJ: Troll, 1994.
Ruspoli, Mario. The Cave of Lascaux: The Final Photographs.
New York: Abrams, 1986.
Steele, Philip. Prehistoric Animals. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: J.
Messner, 1991.
Stern, Philip Van Doren. The Beginnings of Art. New York: Four
Winds, 1973. Great pictures of cave paintings.
Turnbull, Ann. Maroo of the Winter Caves. New York: Clarion,
1997. Maroo is an Ice Age girl in this adventure story, who must
lead her family to their winter quarters.
Watson, Lucilla. An Ice Age Hunter.Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Co.,
1987. Part of the How They Lived series, it includes information
about tools, shelter and food sources for Pleistocene hunting and gathering
groups.
Teacher Resource
"Lascaux Revisited: Exploring Cave Art." Video. Crystal Press,
1996.
Rigaud, Jean-Philippe. "Art Treasures from the Ice Age: Lascaux Caves." National Geographic, October, 1988.
Web site
http://www.colophon.com/gallery/minsky/caves
Features a large color photo of the bull painting from the Lascaux
cave.
Procedure
Ask: What are the four geologic eras? (Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic
and Cenozoic Eras) Remind the students that the Mesozoic was dominated
by dinosaurs. Some people refer to the Mesozoic as the Age of Reptiles.
Tell them that the next geologic era, the Cenozoic which began 65 million
years ago and continues into the present, is often called the Age of Mammals.
Ask: What makes a mammal a mammal? What are some mammal characteristics?
Write these on the board. (Mammals have hair or fur. They are endothermic
or warm-blooded. Almost all mammals have live young instead of laying eggs.
They feed their young with milk.) Tell the students that after the disappearance
of the dinosaurs in the fossil record, the rock layers of the Cenozoic
contain many fossils of mammals. There seems to have been an explosion
in the variety of mammal life once there were no dinosaurs with which to
compete. There is one particular type of mammal that has had a bigger effect
on the Earth than all of the dinosaurs and mammals put together. Ask: Which
mammal is that? (human)
Show the students pictures of some of the prehistoric mammals of the
Cenozoic such as giant ground sloth, mastodon, woolly rhino, giant wolves,
saber-toothed cats, bison, cave bears, primitive horse, camel and deer
as well as early humans from Suggested Books. Tell the students that climate
has changed drastically during the Cenozoic. Areas that in the beginning
of the Cenozoic were warm and tropical have been covered in ice. The last
few million years of the Cenozoic, the part we are living in now, geologists
call The Great Ice Age. Write this on the board. Remind the students
that they learned about glaciers (Lesson 16). Ask: What is a glacier? (a
huge mass of ice) Ask: Why do you think geologists call it The Great
Ice Age? Remind the students that they learned (Lesson 16) about enormous
glaciers that moved down from the north and covered much of North America,
Europe and Asia with sheets of ice. Tell the students that the Great Ice
Age is really made up of several ice ages with warmer periods in between.
Glaciers have moved down from the north and then melted away at least five
times during the Great Ice Age. Ask: Do you think we are in one of the
ice ages or the warmer periods right now? (warmer periods) What do you
think happened to plants and animals in the Cenozoic as the ice sheets
crept down from the north and brought bitter cold weather with them? (They
migrated, adapted or died out.) Ask: How could mammals adapt to the cold?
(grow thick coats of fur) Point out that woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos
did just that. Tell the students that advancing glaciers wiped out forests.
In the frozen ground near the ice sheets, only grasses, scrubby bushes
and pine trees could grow. Animals that didn't move south adapted to these
food sources. Ask: What do you think the people who lived during the Ice
Ages did as the weather grew colder and colder? (Possible answers might
include moved south to warmer areas. Those that stayed hunted animals for
meat and made warm clothing from their thick fur; found shelter in caves
or built houses of mammoth bones, ate berries from scrubby bushes.)
Tell the students that we know more about prehistoric people and animals
of the Ice Age because of an accidental discovery made by some boys in
France. Tell them that one day about 50 years ago, four boys were playing
in the woods near their homes in southern France. They were exploring when
one of them found, hidden between the roots of a big tree, what looked
like a hole in the ground just big enough for a boy to wiggle through.
The boys dropped stones down the hole and listened for them to hit bottom
but they heard nothing. The hole was very deep. They put a rope down into
the dark hole and dared each other to slip inside. Finally, they all wiggled
through the hole and went down the rope. The hole was an entrance to a
hidden cave. No one had been in the cave for thousands and thousands of
years. By the light of their lamp, the boys saw that the walls of the cave
were covered with paintings of animals. Some of the animals they recognized,
but many were animals long since extinct. People of the Ice Age had painted
the animal pictures on the walls of the cave 20,000 years before.
Show the students pictures of cave paintings from Suggested Books.
Ask: Do you recognize any of the animals? Ask: Why do you think Ice Age
people went deep into dark caves to paint pictures of animals on the walls?
(Accept all answers.) Remind the students that Ice Age people were hunters.
They depended on the animals for food and for warm furs. Perhaps the reason
for painting the animals was magical. The hunters wanted to create symbols
of the animals so they could control them. Tell the students that paintings
of animals have also been found in other caves throughout southern Europe
and in Africa. Along with the pictures of animals are also the handprints
of the hunters. Ask: Why do you think the hunters painted their handprints?
(Accept all answers.) Tell the students that some scientists have suggested
that the caves were used for special rituals. Perhaps they were used for
ceremonies when boys became hunters.
Ask: What colors did the cave artists use? (red, black) Ask: Where
do you think they found the paint for these pictures that have lasted 20,000
years? (Accept all answers.) Tell the students that one possibility is
that the Ice Age people burned bones and iron ore to make powders and then
mixed the powders with plant juices and animal blood to make paint.
Ask the students to imagine they are Ice Age people living near the
glaciers in mammoth bone huts. With stone-tipped spears they hunt the woolly
mammoth, the rhino, the bison and the smaller animals of the cold and windy
grass plains. Success in the hunt means food and warm clothes. Failure
means starvation. Show the students the pictures of the cave paintings
again and ask them to create drawings of the Ice Age animal they might
hunt to feed their tribe. Distribute the materials.
Possible Homework
Write a paragraph about what modern humans might do to adapt if the
glaciers moved down from the north again and our climate became very cold.
How would we use our technology to adapt to the new conditions of an Ice
Age?
Fourth Grade - Science - Lesson 23 - Benjamin Banneker
Objective
Design a stamp in honor of Benjamin Banneker.
Materials
A farmer's almanac and a modern almanac
A portrait of Banneker from Suggested Books
For each student: crayons or colored pencils, a blank stamp sheet (attached)
Suggested Books
Clark, Margaret Goff. Benjamin Banneker: Astronomer and Scientist.
Champaign, IL: Garrard, 1971. (8-116-4564-9) This storybook approach to
Banneker's life focuses on his childhood and gives a feel for what life
was like in Maryland during this time period.
Conley, Kevin. Benjamin Banneker: Scientist and Mathematician.
New York: Chelsea House, 1989. (1-555-46573-0) An excellent biography with
many illustrations, maps and photos of Banneker's equipment. Introduction
by Coretta Scott King.
Ferris, Jeri. What Are You Figuring Now?: A Story About Benjamin
Banneker. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 1988. (0-876-14331-1)
Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Dear Benjamin Banneker. New York: Harcourt,
1994. (0-152-00417-3) Pinkney touches on Banneker's many accomplishments
but emphasizes his writing of a letter to Thomas Jefferson urging Jefferson
to live by the words he wrote in the Declaration of Independence concerning
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all by freeing his slaves
and working to abolish slavery. Brian Pinkney's scratchboard illustrations
are outstanding.
Teacher Resources
Benjamin Banneker and Other Famous Black Inventors. Reston,
VA: Sylvestre Watkins Co., 1984. 30-min. video.
The Man Who Loved the Stars. New York: Phoenix/BFA Films, 1981.
52-min. video. A local production sponsored by the Catonsville Historical
Society and featuring Ossie Davis as Benjamin Banneker. This drama depicts
an imaginary day in the life of the astronomer and mathematician as he
aids some escaped slaves.
Procedure
Ask: Does anyone know what an almanac is? Tell the students that an
almanac is a yearly calendar with notes about coming events and helpful
information about the weather, full moons, eclipses, tides and good planting
times. Show the students a farmer's almanac and a modern almanac. Point
out that modern almanacs contain much, much more information than the older
style farmer's almanacs, but that people still use farmer's almanacs as
their guides for planting and for weather predictions. Tell the
students that during colonial times and after, there was an almanac in
every home. It was considered indispensable. An almanac gave farmers a
calendar of the phases of the moon and a chart of planting and harvesting
times. It gave sailors star charts for navigation and tables of times for
high and low tides. It offered helpful information on food preparation
and home remedies. For people who were lucky enough to own a watch or clock,
it gave them the information they needed to set them. If they didn't own
either, the almanac gave precise times for sunrises and sunsets throughout
the year.
To write an almanac, a person had to observe and track the stars and
planets and be able to make the calculations necessary to predict their
positions every day of the upcoming year. It required a lot of knowledge
of astronomy and a great deal of mathematical ability. Benjamin Banneker
had both.
Tell the students that Benjamin Banneker was America's first black
man of science, an astronomer and talented mathematician who wrote several
published almanacs. If available, show the students a portrait of Benjamin
Banneker from Suggested Books. If available, read Dear Benjamin Banneker
by Andrea Pinkney to the class. Tell them he was born on a farm in Maryland
in 1731. Banneker's father was a freed slave. His mother was the daughter
of an African prince sold into slavery. All his life Banneker showed again
and again his curiosity about how things worked and his genius in figuring
them out. Once Benjamin borrowed a pocket watch. He examined the insides
and then designed and built a full-size wooden clock that kept perfect
time for 50 years. People knew of Benjamin's talent with math and came
to him to pose math puzzles. More often he posed them himself just for
the fun of solving them.
Here is a problem he wrote down: "Suppose there is a ladder 60 feet
long placed in a street so as to reach a window 37 feet high and, without
moving it at the bottom, will reach another window on the other side of
the street that is 23 feet high. What is the width of the street?"
Benjamin's interest in math was something he shared with his neighbor,
George Ellicott whose family owned flour mills on the Patapsco River. George
lent Benjamin a telescope and some surveying and drafting equipment with
which to experiment, plus a large sturdy table to support the telescope.
Benjamin spent many nights observing the stars and their movements through
the seasons and doing the calculations for his almanacs.
When it came time to survey the new capital city of the United States,
to lay out its streets, boulevards and circles, George Washington chose
George Ellicott's cousin to head up the surveying team. Andrew Ellicott
needed surveyors who knew how to make precise calculations. He selected
Benjamin Banneker to help him lay out the streets of the new city -- Washington,
D.C.
If Pinkney's book is unavailable, tell the students about Banneker's
letter to Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State. Banneker questioned
how Jefferson could write in the Declaration of Independence that all men
are created equal and yet be a slave owner. Here is a partial text of his
letter: "Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, Sir, I am fully sensible
of the greatness of that freedom which I take with you on the present occasion;
a liberty which seemed to me scarcely allowable when I reflected on the
distinguished, and dignified station in which you stand; and the almost
general prejudice and prepossession which is so prevalent in the world
against those of my complexion. Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect that
although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of
mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and
privileges which he had conferred upon them that you should at the same
time counteract his mercies in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous
a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that
you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act which
you professedly detest in others, with respect to yourselves."
With his letter and by his many accomplishments, Benjamin Banneker
reminded Jefferson and the world that black people were as capable as anyone
else if only they were free to study and learn. All people are created
equal.
Ask the students to think about the life of Benjamin Banneker. Suppose
they were asked to design a postage stamp celebrating his life and his
many accomplishments. What elements would they include in their design?
Distribute materials and have the students design Benjamin Banneker commemorative
stamps.
Possible Field Trip
The new Benjamin Banneker Historical Park in Oella, MD, one mile from
Ellicott City, displays his equipment and the table he borrowed from his
friend George Ellicott.
Read Aloud
Arnold, Caroline. Trapped in Tar: Fossils from the Ice Age.
New York: Clarion, 1987. (0-899-19415-X)
Buck, Pearl S. The Big Wave. New York: John Day Co., 1973. (0-381-99923-8)
Burton, Virginia. Life Story: The Story of Life on Earth from Its
Beginning Up to Now. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962. (0-395-26071-X)
Bush, Timothy. Grunt, The Primitive Cave Boy. New York: Crown,
1985. (0-517-779967-7) Calhoun, B.B. Night of the Carnotaurus. New
York: W. H. Freeman, 1995. (0-716-76592-6)
________ . Scrambled Eggs. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1995. (0-716-76584-5)
Conrad, Pam. My Daniel. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. (0-060-21314-0)
Cowley, Marjorie. Dar and the Spear-Thrower. New York: Clarion,
1997. (0-395-79725-X)
Gurney, James. Dinotopia. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1992.
(1-878-68523-6)
Horner, John. R. and James Gorman. Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up.
Philadelphia: Running Press, 1985. (0-894-71691-3)
Levy, Elizabeth. A Mammoth Mix-Up. New York: HarperCollins,
1995. (0-060-24815-7) McNulty, Faith. How to Dig a Hole to the Other
Side of the World. New York: Harper, 1979. (0-06-024148-9)
Turnbull, Ann. Maroo of the Winter Caves. New York: Clarion,
1997. (0-395-64795-4)
Reference
Asimov, Isaac. About Earthquakes. New York: Walker, 1978. (0-8027-6306-5)
Bahn, Paul. Images of the Ice Age. New York: Facts on File,
1988. (0-816-02130-9)
Baker, Wendy and Andrew Haslam. Make It Work! Earth. New York:
Macmillan, 1992. (0-689-71662-1)
Benton, Michael. The Story of Life on Earth. New York: Warwick
Press, 1986. (0-531-19019-6)
Berger, Melvin. Prehistoric Mammals. New York: Putnam, 1986.
(0-399-21312-0)
Bonnet, Robert and G. Daniel Keen. Earth Science: 49 Science Fair
Projects. New York: Tab, 1990. (0-8306-9287-8)
Branley, Franklyn. Volcanoes. New York: HarperCollins, 1985.
(0-690-04431-3)
Catherall, Ed. Exploring Soil and Rocks. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn,
1990. (0-8114-2595-9) Clifford, Nick. Incredible Earth. New York:
Dorling Kindersley, 1996. (0-7894-1013-3)
Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs.
New York: Scholastic, 1994. (0-590-44688-6)
________. Saber-Toothed Tiger and Other Ice Age Mammals. New
York: Morrow, 1977. (0-688-221203)
Crenson, Victoria. Discovering Dinosaurs. Los Angeles: Price
Stern Sloan, 1988. (0-843-12221-8)
Curtis, Neil and Michael Allaby. Planet Earth. New York: Kingfisher,
1993. (1-85697-848-6) Dixon, Dougal. The Search for Dinosaurs. New York:
Thomson Learning, 1995. (1-568-47396-6)
Dudman, John. Earthquake. New York: Thomson Learning, 1992.
(1-56847-000-2)
Elting, Mary and Ann Goodman. Dinosaur Mysteries. New York:
Platt & Munk, 1980. ( 0-448-13617-1)
Fadin, Dennis. Maria De Sautuola: Discoverer of the Bulls in the
Cave. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett, 1997. (0-382-39470-4)
Fourth Grade - Science - Bibliography - Geology
Farndon, John. How the Earth Works. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's
Digest, 1992. (0-89577-411-9)
Gallant, Roy. The Ice Ages. New York: Franklin Watts, 1985.
(0-531-04912-4)
Ganeri, Ann. Earth Science. New York: Dillon, 1993. (0-875-18577-0)
Gibbons, Gail. Planet Earth/Inside Out. New York: Morrow, 1995.
(0-688-09681-6)
________. Prehistoric Animals. New York: Holiday House, 1988.
(0-823-40707-1)
Granowsky, Alvin. Meat-Eating Dinosaurs. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn,
1992. (0-811-43254-8)
Grimaldi, David. Amber: Windows on the Past. New York: Harry
Abrams, 1996. (0-810-91966-4)
Hayward, Tim. Rand McNally Picture Atlas of Prehistoric Life.
Chicago: Rand McNally, 1992. (0-528-83525-4)
Lambert, David. Earthquakes and Volcanoes. New York: Bookwright,
1986. (0-531-18058-1)
Lasky, Kathryn. Surtsey: The Newest Place on Earth. New York:
Hyperion, 1992. (1-562-82301-9)
Lauber, Patricia. Dinosaurs Walked Here and Other Stories Fossils
Tell. New York: Bradbury, 1987. (0-027-54510-5)
*________. Living With Dinosaurs. New York: Bradbury, 1991.
(0-027-54521-0)
________. Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens.
New York: Bradbury, 1986. (0-02-754500-8)
LeBrun, Francoise. Days of the Cave People. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Silver Burdett, 1985. (0-382-09128-0)
LeDuc, Mary. Life After the Dinosaurs. Mahwah, NJ: Troll, 1989.
(0-816-71639-0)
Lessem, Don. Dinosaur Worlds: New Dinosaurs, New Discoveries.
Honesdale, PA: Boyd Mills, 1996. (1-563-97597-1)
Levine, Ellen. If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco
Earthquake. New York: Scholastic, 1996.
Lye, Keith. Mountains. Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett, 1987.
(0-382-09498-0)
Markle, Sandra. Earth Alive! New York: Lothrop, 1991. (0-688-09361-2)
Matthews, Rupert. Ice Age Animals. New York: Bookwright, 1990.
(0-531-18300-9)
Oliver, Rupert. Ice Age Monsters: Cave Bear. Vero Beach, FL:
Rourke, 1987. (0-865-92844-4)
Parker, Steve. Science Project Book of the Earth. New York:
Marshall Cavendish, 1986. (0-863-07629-7)
Peacock, Graham and Jill Jesson. Science Activities: Geology.
New York: Thomson Learning, 1995. (1-56847-193-9)
Pellant, Chris. The Earth. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1992.
(1-56458-138-1)
Peters, David. Strange Creatures. New York: Morrow, 1992. (0-688-10155-0)
Pope, Joyce. Fossil Detective. Mahwah, NJ: Troll, 1994. (0-816-72781-3)
Ritter, Rhoda. Rocks and Fossils. New York: Franklin Watts,
1977. (0-531-00358-2)
Robbins, Ken. Earth: The Elements. New York: Henry Holt, 1995.
(0-8050-2294-5)
Ruspoli, Mario. The Cave of Lascaux: The Final Photographs.
New York: Abrams, 1986. (0-810-91267-8)
Russell, William. Fossils From the Earth. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke
Corp., 1994. (0-865-93358-8)
Sattler, Helen Roney. The New Illustrated Dinosaur Dictionary.
New York: Lothrop, 1990.(0-688-08462-1)
________. Our Patchwork Planet: The Story of Plate Tectonics.
New York: Lothrop, 1995. (0-688-09313-2)
Shuttlesworth, Dorothy. The Story of Rocks. Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, 1966.
Simon, Seymour. Earthquakes. New York: Morrow, 1991. (0-688-09634-4)
________. Icebergs and Glaciers. New York: Morrow, 1987. (0-688-06187-7)
________. Volcanoes. New York: Morrow, 1988. (0-688-07411-1)
Silver, Donald. Earth: The Ever-Changing Planet. New York: Random
House, 1989. (0-394-99195-8)
Sipiera, Paul. I Can Be a Geologist. Chicago: Childrens Press,
1986. (0-516-01897-3)
Snedden, Robert. The Super Science Book of Rocks and Soils.
New York: Thomson Learning, 1995. (1-56847-224-2)
Souza, D.M. Powerful Waves. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 1992. (0-87614-661-2)
Steele, Philip. Prehistoric Animals. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: J.
Messner, 1991. (0-671-72241-7) Stern, Philip Van Doren. The Beginnings
of Art. New York: Four Winds, 1973.
Taylor, Barbara. Earth Explained: A Beginner's Guide to Our Planet.
New York: Henry Holt, 1997. (0-8050-4873-1)
Van Rose, Susanna. Volcano & Earthquake. New York: Knopf,
1992. (0-679-81685-2)
Vogt, Gregory. Volcanoes. New York: Franklin Watts, 1993. (0-531-20151-1)
Watson, Lucilla. An Ice Age Hunter. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Co.,
1987. (0-865-92143-1) Weishampel, David. Plant-Eating Dinosaurs.
New York: Franklin Watts, 1992. (0-531-11021-4)
Whitfield, Philip. Why Do Volcanoes Erupt? New York: Viking,
1990. (0-670-83385-1)
Zoehfeld, Kathleen. How Mountains Are Made. New York: HarperCollins,
1995.
(0-06-024510-7)
Teacher Resources
"Lascaux Revisited: Exploring Cave Art." Video. Crystal Press,
1996. (6-304-08652-0)
Rigaud, Jean-Philippe. "Art Treasures from the Ice Age: Lascaux Caves."
National
Geographic, October, 1988.
*Required or strongly recommended for lessons