Interpreting Fossils

Mrs. Lomas, my science teacher, had a very special trip planned for my class. We had been learning a whole lot about fossils and dinosaurs, so she took us on a trip to Central Park to be paleontologists¹ for the day. Paleontologists have the coolest job. They get to spend some days digging in the earth looking for fossils. How cool is that? Central Park had this special program for schools. They set up a large sandbox with fossils buried inside the soil. We all got special digging tools and took a spot around the sandbox. It sounds easy, but the soil was very rocky and tough. Once we started finding fossils, it got really exciting. We found fossils of bugs, fish, and small plants. One lucky person dug up a piece of amber² that had a whole bug inside of it. After the fossil hunting, we talked about what we found. Most of the fossils were thousands of years old. Fossils are remains of ancient plants and animals. They are found in the earth or in a rock. Some fossils are small, like the outline of a leaf. Other fossils are huge, like a dinosaur bone! Fossils are cool because they can tell you so much about the world thousands, millions, or billions of years ago. After the trip, everyone was really excited. Everyone wanted to become a paleontologist now. Of course, I had always wanted to be one, long before our trip.      

1 paleontologist: a scientist who studies past animal and plant life as shown by fossils

2 amber: a clear substance from ancient trees, sometimes containing insects or other materials

Question: The students looked for fossils using

• special digging tools
• a metal detector
• a magnifying glass
• climbing gear

Why does the author describe things that students found on their trip?

• to show that the trip was not fun
• to say who won the competition
• to give examples of fossils
• to describe how amber is formed

Based on the passage, why does the author state that fossils can “tell you so much about the world thousands, millions, or billions of years ago”?

• because people have been digging up fossils for thousands of years
• because fossils can teach you about plants and animals from the past
• because people forgot about fossils for thousands of years until recently
• because most fossils are books from long ago that describe human history

Read the following sentence: “Some fossils are small, like the outline of a leaf.”

The word outline means:

• an enlarged version
• something attached to another thing
• a large group
• a line in the shape of something

This passage is mostly about

• a class trip where students are allowed to work on their favorite types of sciences.
• why fossils are most easily found in the soil of North America.
• going digging for fossils, which are the remains of ancient living things.
• studying in college to become a professional paleontologist.