Ms. Revard's Class Prepares for Inquiry Presentations with Clay and Plaster Models of Prehistoric Life

Ms. Revard's first- and second-grade students have been carefully selecting bones, shells, and leaves to create realistic fossils. The children pushed the natural objects into a small clay block, creating an impression in the clay. The children understood that the clay represents the mud or dirt that would have made these prehistoric impressions millions of years ago. Next, they poured liquid plaster-of-paris into the clay molds. Students were surprised that the plaster hardened in only thirty minutes, when it took millions of years for dirt or mud to harden into a fossil or print (like a footprint). Lastly, just like paleontologists, they carefully brushed away the leftover clay that stuck to the fossil. The children used bins of water to help dissolve away the extra clay, revealing the fossil!

Students have also been working clay to make models. One group is forming prehistoric ocean animals, one group is working to make hollow dinosaur eggs, and another group is working to make dinosaur nests (or one large nest) and models of the dinosaurs themselves.

Posted on November 7, 2006 3:17 PM | Permalink