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Earth History, Timelines, and Layers in the Earth
Asa Packer Elementary
School, Academic Year 2010-2011
Grade K |
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Dr. DeLeo came into our classroom
and told us about a special program for the entire school.
He called it “Timeline: Planet Earth!” We knew that
something was going on because there was a big rock display by the door to the school. He told us about some of the things going on in other classes:
for example, first graders were studying rocks, and
third graders were studying magnets. There was even
a weather station on the roof of the school. |
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Dr. DeLeo told us about the history
of the Earth, and how scientists know so much about
the Earth’s past. We already knew that there were
dinosaurs and other animals on the Earth a long time
ago that are no longer around today. Many of us even
knew what the word “extinct” means. It means
that those plants or animals no longer live today –
they all died. The dinosaurs disappeared – went
extinct - a long time ago, about 65 million years ago.
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Dr. DeLeo used a computer and a projector in our classroom, and he even showed movies! We asked a lot of questions! He began the computer slide show by describing "timelines" to us. A timeline is like a clock or a calendar. In fact, you might call a clock a "time circle" instead of a timeline. The numbers go around in a circle on a clock, but they go in a straight line on a timeline. The pictures below show timelines for a day in school - the one in the middle for morning (AM) Kindergarten, and the one on the right for afternoon (PM) Kindergarten.
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A timeline that goes longer than one day is more like a calendar than a clock. It is like taking the weeks on a calendar, and stringing them together end to end. Most timelines go on for longer than one day, usually much longer than one day! Below are some timelines. The one on the left is for three school days, the middle one is for 20,000 years, and the right one is for the age of the Earth, about four and one half billion years!
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| It's fun to make timelines using photos or drawings. The timeline just to the left shows Dr. DeLeo's life in photos and drawings. With these pictures, Dr. DeLeo was getting us ready to see a gigantic timeline painting, painted by a real artist. It shows the history of the Earth from the time it was formed, right up to now! |
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This amazing timeline painting is hung on the wall on the other side of the school - the side with the older kids. Dr. DeLeo walked us and our teacher over to the big timeline painting, and he explained it to us. At the left end of the painting, we see what the Earth was like a long time ago. As we move toward the other end of the painting, we get closer to what we see on the Earth today. On this scale, one foot is about 100 million years!
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We walked along the timeline painting from left to right.
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| The left side of the timeline shows the beginning of the Earth, when it was being hit by rocks from space, and was covered with lava. As the Earth began to cool, steam started to turn into water, filling lakes and oceans. |
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It took a long time - billions of years - but eventually life formed on the Earth. The dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago. That might seem like a long time ago, but it really isn't when you compare it to the age of the Earth. Most of the animals that are alive today are only a few inches from the end of the painting. Dr. DeLeo told us that all of human history would fit in the last thousandth of an inch on the right side of the painting.
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Dr. DeLeo said that our questions and answers were so good that we could be teachers. So, he gave some of us a chance to explain what was happening on the timeline painting. Below are some photos of us as we practiced being a teacher. It is harder than it looks!
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| Dr. DeLeo took movies of us explaining the timeline. You can see the VIDEO by clicking the play button on the photo on the left. |
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Dr. DeLeo told
us that we could tell a lot about what happened in the
past by digging underground. We learned that the Earth’s
surface is made of layers of dirt. The deepest layers
are the oldest because they were laid down first. This
is just like making a sand bottle using layers of colored
sand. The bottom layer goes in first. We knew that –
we’re really smart!! So, if you dig down deep into
the Earth, you are actually looking back in time. Often,
we don’t need to dig since nature sometimes carves
away the ground for us. You can often see the layers easily.
We find the remains of plants and animals (fossils) in
the ground. And the ones that lived a really long time
ago leave fossils really deep underground.
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| When we got back to our classroom, we were surprised to see heavy boxes filled with different colors of play sand. |
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But, we shouldn't have been surprised. Dr. DeLeo told us that not only would we be making our own sand bottles, but that he also gave us enough sand to fill a big display case. Each time we added a layer of sand, we would bury an object connected with that time of the year. |
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Dr. DeLeo started us off by burying a little clay Halloween pumpkin, made by our art teacher, in a blue layer of sand. He did this during the morning class. A photo is shown below on the left. Then, in the afternoon class, he buried the wishbone from a Thanksgiving turkey in the next layer, which was red. This is shown in the below in the middle photo. We got to pick the colors. Of course the pumpkin went in before the wishbone, because Halloween comes before Thanksgiving! The photo below on the right shows the layers after the wishbone was buried. This is just like it would happen on Earth!
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We had lots of fun learning about timelines and layers
in the Earth! We can't wait until Dr. DeLeo comes back with fossils!
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I hope you have enjoyed this web presentation as much as we enjoyed sharing the actual learning experience with your son or daughter. Although we have endeavored to exclude photographs where permission has been denied, it is possible for errors to occur. If you would like us to remove a photograph of your son or daughter for any reason, please send me an e-mail message at lgd0@lehigh.edu or call me at 610-758-3413, and we will remove it promptly. Please note that we will never associate a child's full or last name with a photograph except in circumstances where special permission was explicitly provided. Thank you. Gary DeLeo. |
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