The Great Escape

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The Great Escape
By Janelle Butler and Jaclyn Deter
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Hey Tom, I read that saber-toothed tigers once
lived in Utah a long time ago.
Mrs. Martinezs 4th grade class sat in the
classroom one rainy day. They had been learning
about fossils and how they tell about the Earths
environment millions of years ago.
I doubt it Geegee, those things only existed in
places like Africa
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Good Morning Class! Today we are going to take a
look at how Utahs climate has changed over time.
She brings in tubs of what looks like dirt,
leaves, rocks, and sticks. She describes that
these are materials that you would find in Utah
today but millions of years ago it would be very
different outside.
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We can see what Utahs environment looked like
over 300 million years ago by studying the
fossils we find today.
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Trilobite fossils found in Millard County tell
us of the hard-shelled segmented creatures that
existed in the ancient oceans. By finding these
fossils here in Utah, we know Millard County was
once covered by shallow oceans! Trilobites
existed 550 million to around 300 million years
ago. Trilobites are related to crustaceans of
today such as crabs and lobsters. They were
easily fossilized because as they died, their
bodies settled to the sea bottom where they were
covered by layer after layer of new soil.
I bet trilobites ate all the sharks back then.
Trilobites
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We are going to take a field trip to experience
for ourselves how Utahs environment was back
then.
All of the sudden the students feel themselves
being pulled into the Mrs. Martinezs computer!
They feel themselves spinning, twisting and
bumping into each other.
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I know where we are! We are in the Atlantic
Ocean!
When they feel themselves slow down, they open
their eyes and find themselves in an ocean! But
it was just not any ocean, it was the ocean that
covered the hills of Utah millions of years ago!
As they look around, they discover trilobites and
other ancient sea creatures.
No silly, we are in the ocean that was in Utah
millions of years ago! Come on, lets go explore!
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After exploring the ocean, they return to the
classroom so that they may have time for other
adventures that day.
Here they discuss their findings. They talk
about the trilobites that they got to see with
their own eyes!
I have a surprise for you class! As part of
learning about Utahs ancient environments, we
are going to take another field trip!
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This time we are going to see Utahs Emery County
environments.
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Allosaurus
Emery County was once a home of many different
dinosaurs. The Allosaurus was a large,
meat-eating dinosaur . It was the biggest
meat-eater in North America during the late
Jurassic period (around 150 million years ago.
Allosaurus grew up to 38 feet long and 16.5 feet
tall!
Oh! Squeak squeak squeak!
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I wonder what the biggest dinosaur was that lived
in Utah. Maybe we can research it later.
Stegosaurus
Scientists believe that Emery county was once
tropical and swampy. The stegosaurus, a dinosaur
whose fossils have been found in Emery county, is
proof of this since it lived during in a tropical
climate with warm temperatures and moist weather.
They are known for the plates that run up its
neck and back. It had a small head with a
walnut-sized brain! The stegosaurus was a
herbivore.
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Lets take one last field trip.
Camarasaurus
Camarasaurus means "chambered lizard" because
its backbones have hollow chambers in it. Because
of this, the Camarasaurus is lighter and could
move easily. These plant-eaters grew larger than
a quarry building.
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Ready to go again, the students crowd around the
laptop and transport to 150 million years ago.
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Mrs. Martinezs class lands in the swamp land of
ancient Emery County. The dark and eerie feeling
scares the kids. They explore the swamp finding
many great things. They then remembered that was
is a fossil in 2005 was a dinosaur 150 million
years ago.
Roar!!
Oh my gosh! I remember what that is! Its an
Allosaurus! Thats a carnivore! Run!
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Roar!!
Ahh!! Mommy!!
Its going to eat us!
The students scatter, scurrying in every direction
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The children quickly gather back to the lap top
just as Hammy the class pet came to the rescue.
Hi-YAH!!
Hammy fought the dinosaur while the class
transported back to the classroom. Who knew
Hammy could beat a dinosaur?!
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Back in the classroom, they all sat together
relieved that they made their great escapethanks
to the worlds greatest class pet, Hammy the
Hamster
Thats good Phillip. It was fun wasnt it?!
I wasnt scared, I knew we would be okay.
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The End
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Websites used www.webshots.com http//www.geology
.byu.edu/ps110b/characters.htm http//66.102.7.104
/search?qcacheAI2iHzdX6icJwww.nebo.edu/misc/lea
rning_resources/ppt/k-5/utah_fossils.pp file///e
/fossillocalities.htm