1. Fossil Foldable
Use the websites below to read about different fossils.
Answer questions 1-4 for each type of fossil shown.

2. Create Your Foldable! *You will need 13 full sheets of paper.
Fold 6 pieces of paper in half – hamburger
Cut all six in half along the fold.
Fold along dotted line.
Cut all six along line. 11
8 1/2

3. Template Take only one half sheet.
Fold it three times hamburger style.
3. Leave the paper folded in
the smallest size.
4. Fold once more hot dog
style.

4. Open your half sheet.
Fold it twice hot dog style.
Open - You end up with 32 boxes.

5. Final Result

6. Place the sheet that you folded (32 squares) on top of one half sheet.
Cut the bottom right hand square out of both sheets.
Set this sheet aside.

7. Repeat this process with another one of the half sheets except cut the first and second squares.
Place this sheet on top of the first.

8. 6. Repeat 5 times cutting one more square each time.
7. Place each sheet on top.
You will end up with 7 pieces of paper with tabs.

9. Take the top sheet and set it to the side.
Place the next sheet on top of it.
The sheet that was on the top should now be on the bottom and vice versa.

10. Turn the entire stack over.
Place three half sheets on top of your stack and three behind your stack.
14. Staple together down the left side.

11. Title Your Foldable
FOSSILS
WINDOWS TO THE PAST

12. Open to the first page – write the following information.
PALEONTOLOGY –
The study of past life forms
Paleontologists use fossils to
study past life forms.
FOSSIL –
The preserved remains or
evidence of a living thing
Hard parts of an organism are
preserved (bone, teeth).
Soft parts decay or get eaten.
(muscle, skin, fur).
Fossils are found in sedimentary rocks.
Not in igneous or metamorphic rocks

13. Turn to the second page…
How do fossils form?
1. Organism dies
2. Organism gets buried
3. Sediments harden/preserve creature
What can fossils tell us?
How life has changed over time
Parts of timeline are more
complete because some
fossils were destroyed &
others haven’t been found
Clues to past environments
Ice Cores
Tropical Plants = warm climate
Marine Fossils on Mountains
Ancient Coastlines

14. Turn to the second to last page…
What are index fossils?
Fossils of a creature that existed for
a short period of time, the fossils are
present in a limited number of rock layers
To be an index fossil, a fossil must
be found in rock layers all over the world.
What can they tell us?
If we determine the age of rock layers above
and below a fossil, we know the time span in
which the organisms lived.
What is the most famous
index fossil? - TRILOBITES

15. Place this information on the inside of the Back sheet
Trilobites - Phacops
Extinct today
Closest relative is a horseshoe crab
400 million years ago
When we find this fossil we know the rock layer is _____ million years old!

16. Go ahead and setup your foldable. Write each type of fossil on one tab.
Amber Fossils
Frozen Fossils
Tar Pit/Asphalt
Molds & Casts
Impressions
Petrified Fossils
Trace Fossils
Coprolites/Gastroliths/Dried Fossils

17. Describe a(n) __________ fossil?
Answer the following for each fossil type. Write the information on the front of each sheet.
Describe a(n) __________ fossil?
What can we learn from a ______ fossil?
How is this fossil formed?
Provide examples of this fossil.
Draw a couple of pictures of ______fossil.
In what Era did this animal(now fossilized) live?

18. Amber

19. Frozen Whole Body

20. Tar Pits

21. DIRTY JOBS
Goes to
the
Tar Pits

22. Mold & Cast

23. Impression

24. Petrified (Permineralization)

25. Trace Fossils

26. Coprolites/Gastroliths

27. Dry/Desiccated Fossils
SHARK