In Science.....

In Chapter 1, students figure out how the mystery fossil formed inside the rocky outcrop at Desert Rocks National Park. In the first part of the chapter, students figure out the process by which fossils form. They then read an informational text about a paleontologist who studies fossils by observing them to make inferences about extinct organisms and their behaviors. They determine what inferences they can make about the mystery fossil and explore fossil formation in a digital app to learn that fossils form when an organism dies and is covered with sediment that turns to rock. In the second part of the chapter, they figure out how sedimentary rock forms. They observe a sample of conglomerate, reread a section of the book, and investigate in the digital app to construct an understanding of sedimentary rock formation. Students consolidate their understanding with a discourse routine and, together with the teacher, write an end-of-chapter argument about what Desert Rocks National Park was like in the past.