Summer Camp Planning - Cenozoic II - Neogene

Please note, if you have arrived at this post out of chronological order, that this is part of my overall From Lava to Life summer camp planning.

At the bottom of the post I've updated with the actual lesson notes after teaching it... if you find my brainstorm-jumble frustrating, I hope this added information will help! Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Already Owned:

Horns and Antlers

Bought for Camp:

NEED TO BUY kelp

Planning:

read Neogene book from

Geologic Periods Book Set - Montessori Services

share fossils from Miocene Epoch - fossilized shark teeth from Scientists' Cliffs (where I grew up and the largest concentration of Miocene fossils in the world) - guide book Uncle Wally wrote? historical fiction excerpt from Peter Vogt's book? especially good for helping kids to picture the time period and all sorts of cool animals, not just Megalodon

Prehistoric World - Neogene

The Neogene Period

worldwide spread of grasses - horses

wheat stalks / heads
display of different grains (MD ag in the classroom) - the layered jars are very pretty

new animals (ruminants) - four stomachs - diagram in Horns and Antlers would be nice for museum display

Miocene also gave us the giraffe - great giraffe face art project


land bridges bring animals to new lands - armadillos, porcupines, opossums, dogs, cats, bears, horses

Bering strait - the isthmus of Panama
the great salt pump - Becca's MLB


kelp forests - taste kelp?

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Implementation:

THURSDAY AM - add fancy sparkly French yarn to outside of Layers of the Earth Rug, remove from loom, read Neogene book, discuss Darwin's theory of evolution (a little girl asked me, yes but how does evolution happen???), look at diagram of a ruminant's four stomachs in Horns and Antlers, look at Miocene shark's teeth, look at illustrations of animals from Miocene Era in Peter Vogt's book The Monster Shark's Tooth: Canoeing from the Chesapeake Bay Into the Ancient Miocene Sea, giraffe face oil pastel / watercolor resist, check on soaked pinto bean seeds (already germinated!)

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Reflection:

We have been working HARD to get ready for the Expo! We are brainstorming lists of all that still needs to be done, and students are working individually or in teams on projects and displays.

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