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Earth History, Fossils, and Layers in the Earth
Farmersville Elementary
School, Spring 2009
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 giant
painting by the office, and there was a display case
in our hallway with all sorts of beautiful rocks. 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.
The beginning of the painting shows the Earth when it
was forming, almost five billion years ago. The other
end of the painting shows dinosaurs and more modern
plants and animals.
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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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Dr. DeLeo showed
us models of dinosaurs, and then he took us on a tour
of the Timeline painting. While we were looking at the
painting, he also showed us some real fossils. He showed
us where on the Timeline painting these animals lived.
We all got to pet a trilobite fossil. Trilobites no longer
live today; they are extinct like the dinosaurs. Here
are some pictures of us looking at dinosaur models, the
Timeline painting, and fossils.
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Dr. DeLeo left
a big plastic container that he filled with colored sand,
just like the layers in the Earth. We put things in the
layers that represented different times during the year,
like a picture of a pumpkin for Halloween. Of course,
the things that happened first during the year were in
the bottom layer.
We had lots of fun learning about the Earth and layers
in the Earth! |
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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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