3rd grade · Science · Unit 9 of 10
Fossils & Long Ago
What fossils tell us about life and places long ago.
What your child practices
Practices how fossils form and what they show about plants, animals and environments long ago, such as sea fossils found on dry land and Ice Age fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
California Content Standards learning standard: 3-LS4-1 · fossils as evidence of organisms and environments of long ago
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Animals got stuck in sticky tar long ago. Today the tar holds…
- live animals
- their bones as fossils
- nothing at all
- new rocks only
their bones as fossils
Hint: The tar kept the bones safe.
Question 2
In rock layers, older fossils are usually…
- lower down
- in the middle only
- in the air
- on top
lower down
Hint: Layers stack over time.
Question 3
Mud covers a leaf and hardens. Later we find…
- a green cloud
- a leaf print in rock
- a live leaf
- nothing at all
a leaf print in rock
Hint: Prints can be fossils.
Question 4
Amber can hold a fossil of…
- an insect
- a whale
- a mountain
- a cloud
an insect
Hint: Tree sap traps small things.
Question 5
Palm leaf fossils in a cold place show it was once…
- warm
- underwater ice
- in space
- frozen
warm
Hint: Palms grow where it is warm.
Question 6
How can fossils help us learn about animals living today?
- Fossils make food
- We can compare old and new body parts
- Fossils predict weather
- Fossils are alive
We can compare old and new body parts
Hint: Compare to find changes.