Activity 3: Do at School!

Reconstruct the Past

What was New York like 380 million years ago? If you could go back in time what wouldíve lived in your neighborhood? What would your neighborhood have been like? Water or land?

Look for clues about what used to live here by comparing the fossils on your rock with the fossil pictures in your booklet.

Circle all of the fossils that you find in your sample.

What animals are you finding as fossils? What things do you see lots of and what things do you see few of?

Now what was the environment like? Where do you think these animals lived?

Draw a picture of your neighborhood a long time ago.

Fact: Three quarters of the world is covered by sediment or sedimentary rock. The most common kind is mud, which becomes the rock shale.

Main Message: This activity demonstrates that particular fossil organisms lived in particular kinds of environments and that clues about environment are preserved in the sediment.

Connections: Fossils (activity 1) and settling sediment (activity 2) are what we use to reconstruct ancient environments.