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Fossils Tell a Story

4th grade nonfiction passage about earth science: 172 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction earth science 172 words

Fossils Tell a Story

A fossil is what is left of a living thing from long ago. Most fossils are found in rock. Some are bones or shells. Others are footprints, or the shape of a leaf pressed into stone.

How does a fossil form? Imagine a fish that dies in a shallow sea. Soft parts, such as skin, usually rot away. But the bones may be covered quickly by mud or sand. Over a very long time, more layers pile on top. Water seeps in, and minerals in the water slowly harden the mud and fill the bones. In the end, the bones turn to stone.

Much later, wind and water may wear away the rock above, and the fossil may show up.

Scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists. They dig carefully and brush away the dirt. Fossils show them which animals and plants lived long ago and how living things have changed. A fossil of a sea creature found on a mountaintop tells us that the place was once covered by the sea.

Questions

  1. What is a fossil? in the text

  2. What are two kinds of fossils? in the text

  3. Why do soft parts, such as skin, usually not become fossils? in the text

  4. How do minerals help make a fossil? in the text

  5. What do paleontologists do? in the text

  6. Why do you think the bones need to be covered quickly by mud or sand? think about it

  7. What does a fossil of a sea creature on a mountaintop tell us? think about it

Words to know

fossil
what is left of a plant or animal from long ago, often in rock
shallow
not deep
layers
flat sheets of material lying one on top of another
minerals
hard, natural materials found in rocks and in water
paleontologists
scientists who study fossils

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put fossil, shallow, layers, minerals and paleontologists on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 6 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Fossils Tell a Story"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 172 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.9. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are seven. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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