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Topic 27 "Fossils" — your read (29 September 2026)

Five lessons in the Earth & Space strand: what happens after a living thing dies, the word for the few that last, how to tell a fossil from a fresh shell or a chance rock, and the one move that turns a fossil into knowledge — what it SHOWS, and what we THINK from it, about the creature and about the place. Authored, then a non-author review (46 findings: 4 blocks, 24 fixes, 18 suggestions — all applied), then a cold read of every changed item (30 items, 30 of 30 keys agreed; one note — the typed "what covered the mountain" item takes water, sea or ocean, which it already does). Reply by number.

The four that need your word

1. Do the ten question types stand?

Ten types for five atoms, two per atom, one exemplar each.

Hard is typed, as you ruled: what once covered a mountain where crab fossils lie (water), and the word for a leaf shape a fern pressed into mud long ago (fossil).

The reviewer found four exemplars that were lesson items in disguise; all four are fresh scenes now.

One caution on the sheet: the teeth type has only two states (sharp, flat), so the bank should hold few of it.

Recommendation: approve. The ten types, coverage, the design-move inventory

Approve all / strike these / edit these

2. Amber is out of Grade 3. Do you agree?

The lesson's word for a fossil is "a part of a living thing from long ago, or a mark it made, that has lasted until today."

A whole insect in amber is neither a part nor a mark — it is the living thing itself — and it breaks L01's "soft bodies rot away".

The reviewer and the coordinator both ruled to drop it; the definition now holds for every member the lesson shows (a footprint, a shell shape, a leaf print, a bone, a trilobite's shell).

Recommendation: out. Keeping it needs a longer definition and two "usually"s.

Out / back in, with the longer definition

3. Does L01 keep the one line "over a very, very long time, the mud hardens into rock"?

The atom asks only that a buried print or hard part "lasts a very long time".

But L03 tells "from long ago" by "it is found in rock", and that only works if L01 has said once how mud becomes rock.

The layered-change story stays Grade 4's; this is one sentence in the footprint strip.

Recommendation: keep. The reviewer agrees.

Keep / cut

4. Add two register prerequisites?

L04 and L05 use Topic 16's words as taught there: what the fossil SHOWS is an observation; what we THINK is an idea about it.

L01 uses Topic 26's words as coined there: a dead thing rots and becomes part of the soil.

Neither atom is in the register's prerequisite lists for EAR3-029, 032 and 033.

Recommendation: add both (a register edit in the knowledge-graph repo).

Add / leave

Applied without asking: hard bank items typed · attached questions stand alone with their own drawing · no verdict + reason options · positive stems · colour figures, photos for every real fossil · "let's" at scene changes, never an imperative · the intro ends on a ready line and a poll and names no lesson · three summary questions · "fossil" not said before L02 coins it · footprints before bones · "before any people" kept, with the dinosaur named · the pumpkin on the ground by the porch step (Topic 26 owns the leaf pile) · L05 closes "Places change over a very, very long time. Long ago, the sea covered this hill. Today it does not." · one TRUE claim in L01 · US spelling.

The five lessons at a glance

LessonWhat a student can do after itItems
L01 What happens after a living thing diessay that a dead body usually rots away into the soil, and that a hard part or a print buried fast lasts a very, very long time10
L02 What a fossil isname a footprint, a shell shape, a leaf print, a bone or a trilobite's shell as a fossil — a part or a mark, from long ago10
L03 Fossil or not?sort a find with two questions: did a living thing leave it, and is it from long ago (in rock)10
L04 What the fossil creature was likeread sharp or flat teeth, or a long print, as what the fossil SHOWS, and say what we THINK from it10
L05 What the place was like back thenread fish or shells in a hill's rock as "this place was once under water", and say why nobody carried them up10

The lessons

L01 — What happens after a living thing dies

Here's Hal's pumpkin on the ground by the porch step, the day after Halloween.

By December, it is soft, brown and caved in.

By spring, there is only a dark patch on the soil by the step.

Where did the pumpkin go?

The rule: after a living thing dies, its body usually rots away and becomes part of the soil; sometimes a hard part or a print gets buried fast, and it lasts a very, very long time.

The trace comes first: a dinosaur's footprint in mud, dried, covered, hardened into rock. Then the buried shell. Then why almost nothing lasts (a hard part or a print, AND buried fast). "Fossil" is not said yet.

Quiz: a dead bird, a branch, a snail's shell in mud, deer prints on a beach and the same prints in mud, a pear for a year; two claims, one true.

L02 — What a fossil is

Here's Romy at a rocky riverbed.

Pressed into a flat gray rock is the curly shape of a shell.

There is no shell. There is only its shape.

What made this shape, and how long ago?

The rule: a fossil is a part of a living thing from long ago, or a mark it made, that has lasted until today.

Marks first (a dinosaur's footprint, the shell shape, a fern print), then parts (a bone, a trilobite's shell). Two beliefs answered: a fossil is not the animal itself; dinosaurs lived a very, very long time before any people.

Quiz: a tooth, a footprint, part or mark, worm tunnels; three claims; the word typed last.

L03 — Fossil or not?

Here's Bryn with a shoebox of things she found this summer.

Her sister says only some of them are fossils.

Which ones are fossils? How can Bryn tell?

The rule: two questions — did a living thing leave it? is it from long ago? — and two yeses mean it is a fossil.

Six cards: a beach shell (no), a shell shape in rock (yes), a footprint in rock (yes), a fern in rock (yes), a face-shaped rock (no — one no is enough), a footprint in wet sand today (no).

Quiz: seven drawn cards, one scaffold, two claims. Key string y y n y y n n n y n.

L04 — What the fossil creature was like

Here's Yolanda at the museum, at a fossil skull with teeth like knives.

The sign says: THIS ANIMAL ATE MEAT.

Nobody alive has ever seen this animal. How can anyone know?

The rule: a fossil shows a part, or a mark; compare it with living things today, and that gives us an idea about what the fossil creature was like.

Sharp teeth like a dog's → it ate meat. Flat teeth like a cow's → it ate plants. A print longer than your arm → it was very big. What the fossil shows is an observation; what we think is an idea about it. A fossil does not show its colour.

Quiz: the frame on fresh cases, two shows-vs-think items, three claims, one typed.

L05 — What the place was like back then

Here's Nils on a dry, rocky hill with his grandpa.

He splits a rock that sticks out of the hillside, and inside it is a fish.

Why is a fish on a hill? Did somebody carry it up here?

The rule: a fossil shows what lived in a place long ago; compare it with where that living thing lives today, and that gives us an idea about what the place was like back then.

Fish on a hill → under water. Sea shells in a field → under water. Palm leaves where it snows → once warm. A footprint in rock → the ground was once soft mud. The fish is inside the rock, and the rock is part of the hill: nobody carried it up.

Quiz: the frame on fresh places, one idea-vs-shows item, two claims, one typed.

What happens next

Your rulings on 1–4 → the bank fills to about fifty from the approved types → blind read of the bank → the hand-over folder for David (videos, and the pictures from the briefs: eleven photos, six cartoons).

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