What the Rocks Kept: teacher key

Fossils, grade 6 edition, written for 6th grade. Fossils are what is left of plants and animals from long ago. Read how they form, what tracks and amber show, and why fossils are our best evidence for the history of life.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What are scientists who study fossils called?
   • Paleontologists (answer)
   • Cyanobacteria
   • Plesiosaurs
2. According to the pages, what does the spacing of a dinosaur's prints show?
   • Its age in years
   • How long its stride was (answer)
   • Which rock it lived on
3. A dead animal lies on the ground and is never covered up. Using the pages, what is most likely to happen to it?
   • It will rot away and not become a fossil (answer)
   • It will quickly turn to stone
   • It will become a trace fossil
4. How can scientists work out how old a rock is?
   • By counting its layers of sand
   • By using radioactive atoms in the rock like a clock (answer)
   • By measuring its stride
5. As of November 2026, what may not be collected in national parks?
   • Fossils (answer)
   • Amber only
   • Plesiosaurus eggs

Words

• paleontologists: fossil scientists
• minerals: rock materials
• stride: one long step
• radioactive: giving off energy
• amber: hard old sap