learning about fossils and dinosaurs

Students know that fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and that scientists learn about the past history of Earth by studying fossils... Fossils

Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features Science Content

Nonfi ction Use Graphic

Organizers

• Captions

• Labels

• Diagram

• Glossary

Fossils and Dinosaurs

Scott Foresman Science 2.7

Standards Preview

Standard Set 3 Earth Sciences

3 Earth is made of materials that

have distinct properties and provide

resources for human activities As the

basis for understanding this concept:

3.d Students know that fossils provide

evidence about the plants and animals

that lived long ago and that scientists

learn about the past history of Earth

by studying fossils.

ISBN 0-328-23514-8

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Earth Sciences

by Kristin Cashore

dinosaur

fossil

skeleton

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publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the copyright of Dorling Kindersley, a division of Pearson.

ISBN: 0-328-23514-8

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by Kristin Cashore

Learning About

Fossils

Do you know what a fossil is? A fossil is a

print or part of a plant or animal that lived long

ago Some fossils are shapes that have been

left in rocks Other fossils are very old bones or

teeth

Fossils show what

plants and animals

looked like long ago.

3

There are scientists who study fossils These scientists want to know more about plants and animals They want to fi nd out what living things from long ago looked like

These scientists are working with fossils.

What Fossils Show

Fossils show the size of living things from

long ago They show the shape of living things

from long ago There are fossils of plants and

animals that no longer live on Earth

This is a fossil of a shell

Long ago an animal

lived in the shell.

5

A Fossil Forms

An animal dies

Sand and mud cover the body.

The sand and mud turn into rock.

Life Long Ago

Scientists can help teach us about life from

long ago Fossils show things about the past

The scientists below are working with fossils

They are using special tools to clean the fossils

These scientists are working

carefully Fossils can break easily!

7

Sometimes scientists fi nd fossils of bones

The scientists might put the fossil bones together

to make a skeleton A skeleton is all the bones

of a body

Scientists build dinosaur skeletons from fossils of bones.

Learning about Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs were animals that lived on Earth

long ago Scientists study dinosaur fossils

Scientists want to know how dinosaurs lived

and what they looked like

Fossils help us see

what dinosaurs might

have looked like.

9

We can see how Earth has changed over time by looking at fossils Here you see a picture of dinosaurs Earth might have once looked like this

Dinosaurs lived many years ago.

Finding New Dinosaurs

Scientists look for fossils in many places We

can learn new things by fi nding fossils

Scientists found two dinosaur skeletons in

Morocco One of the dinosaurs was called

Carcharodontosaurus

Carcharodontosaurus

had a big skull A human

skull is much smaller!

11

The other dinosaur was called

Deltadromeus It was very long Its arms and

legs were long and thin Deltadromeus and

Carcharodontosaurus both ate meat.

This Deltadromeus skeleton is at

a Chicago museum Compare it

to the human skeleton.

What do we know

about dinosaurs?

Scientists have learned a lot about dinosaurs

Some dinosaurs were very small Some

dinosaurs were very big

The Diplodocus was huge!

13

There were once many kinds of dinosaurs on Earth No dinosaurs are alive today

The Coelophysis was tiny.

Triceratops had horns.

What Dinosaurs Ate

Scientists want to know what dinosaurs ate

So they study dinosaur teeth Scientists learn

what dinosaurs ate from their teeth

Tyrannosaurus rex had sharp teeth It ate meat

15

Some dinosaurs had teeth that were long and sharp These dinosaurs ate meat Other dinosaurs had teeth that were short and fl at

These dinosaurs ate plants

Barosaurus ate plants

It had a long neck like a giraffe.

Animals Then and Now

Scientists learn about animals from footprints

Footprints show that some dinosaurs walked on

their toes

Look at the elephant footprints below

Elephants walk with their feet and toes fl at on

the ground

Four-legged dinosaur

Two-legged dinosaur

These footprints were

made by an elephant

living today.

Dinosaur footprints

17

Some birds from long ago were like birds today They had feathers and beaks

Some birds from long ago were not like birds today They had sharp teeth and long, bony tails Few birds today have these things

Archaeopteryx lived long ago This bird had claws on its wings.

Plants Then and Now

Plant fossils show the size of plants from long

ago They also show the shape of plants from

long ago Scientists study plant fossils to learn

about plants from the past They want to know

how these plants are like plants today

Do these plant fossils remind you of plants living today?

19

Redwood trees lived long ago Some redwoods grow today Redwoods from long ago looked like redwoods today

What color were plants long ago? Many plant fossils are black But most plants today are green Plants from long ago were probably green as well

A fern fossil looks a lot like

a fern growing today.

dinosaur animal that lived on Earth long ago

fossil a print or part of a plant or

animal that lived long ago

skeleton all of the bones of a body

1 Some dinosaurs ate plants What kind of

teeth did they have?

2 How did many dinosaurs walk?

3 Write about a time that you read a book about dinosaurs or saw

an educational television program about dinosaurs What did you learn about dinosaurs from that book or program? Make sure your answer includes a beginning,

middle, and end, along with specifi c details

4 Use Graphic Organizers Write what you

learned about dinosaurs Use a graphic organizer to help you