Ancient Sea Life

< Museum Kits

Mini-collections bring the museum to your classroom.

Encounter Kits

Large kits include a teacher's guide, specimens, and five fun activities for learning.

Teacher's Guide

Summary of Contents

ACTIVITY ONE - TIME TRAVEL

Learning Objective:
Students learn how to read time charts and time lines, and get an overview of the major events that have occurred through geologic time.

Contents:
Multicolored time line (25 feet long)
33 Event Cards (with popsicle sticks attached)
Event Record Sheet (template)
Quick Reference Card for teacher
How Much is a Million?
Nature Scope: Digging into Dinosaurs
Roll of yellow twine (166 ft, oversized)
3 Posters: Each depicting a different era (oversized)
Poster: Geologic Time Scale (oversized)

ACTIVITY TWO - MEET THE SEA LIFE

Learning Objective:
Students discover the types of animals that lived during the Paleozoic Era.

Contents:
12 Fossils of 6 ancient sea-dwelling animals:
     2 Horn corals, 2 Trilobites, 2 Belemnites, 3 Brachiopods, 2 Ammonites, 1 Crinoid (stem fragment & crown)
12 Pictures of ancient marine animals, matching each fossil
12 Pictures of ancient marine animal life
Paleozoic Story (template)
Poster: Geologic Time Scale (oversized)
Poster: Life on a Coral Reef (oversized)
3 Posters: Ancient Marine Life Scenes (oversized)

ACTIVITY THREE - LET'S SORT IT OUT

Learning Objective:
Students discover the types of animals that lived during the Paleozoic Era.

Contents:
6 Horn Corals
6 Moss Animals
6 Crinoids
6 Cards with Protozoans
6 Clams
6 Composita Brachiopods
Key to Fossil Invertebrates (template)
Fossil Background (template)
AIMS Activity

ACTIVITY FOUR - JAWS

Learning Objective:
Students understand that sharks lived in shallow seas that once covered Nebraska.

Contents:
Packet of 20 Shark teeth (piercing only)
1 Shark jaw (large blue box, oversized)
1 Clam
Modern and ancient shark teeth (template)
Sea Searcher's Handbook
Jaws: The Early Years (Explorer article)
All About Sharks (article from the Mini Page, Lincoln Star)
The Cellars of Time
Poster: The World's Most Dangerous Sharks (oversized)

ACTIVITY FIVE - FOSSILS AND THEIR LIVING KIN

Learning Objective:
By making observations, students learn about some of the differences between the fossils of ancient sea animals and the shells of their present day relatives.

Contents:
5 Pairs of fossils and their living kin:
      1 Fossil snail and 1 modern snail shell
      1 Fossil bivalve and 1 modern bivalve shell
      1 Fossil nautiloid and 1 Nautilus shell
      1 Fossil sea urchin and 1 modern sea urchin skeleton
      1 Fossil coral and 1 modern coral
5 Pictures of modern snails, bivalves, Nautilus, sea urchins, and corals.
5 Observe and Discover Cards (one per pair)
Fossils and Their Living Kin Chart (template)
5 Sea Animal Life Styles templates (one per pair)
Poster: Geologic Time Scale (Wards)
Poster: Life on a Coral Reef