This Week in Earth Science: April 13-17

• Monday will be a lab day. Students will be using a dichotomous key for common invertebrate fossils in the Michigan Paleozoic Seas lab. This lab was originally scheduled for last week but time did not allow for it.
• Tuesday is a delayed start day. The last NOVA Podcast Warm-up will be played today and the Warm-up Sheets will be collected and graded. A sciTunes music video will be featured ("Dark as a Dungeon") to introduce the topic: the coal formula and coal formation. Students will need to make a copy of the coal formula in their notes and study them. There will be an essay question on next week's Paleontology Test related to these notes.
• On Wednesday a new Warm-up Sheet will be assigned with the daily question on the chalkboard format. Michigan's missing Mesozoic will be discussed today. Computer animations will be used to demonstrate a theoretical Cretaceous extinction event. Students will participate in the "Tour the Triassic" activity as well. Homework will be assigned that will be due at the beginning of the class on Thursday ("Did T. Rex Taste Like Chicken?").
• A slide show "Secrets of the Cenozoic Bogs" will be shown on Thursday. Students will have an outline to complete during the slide show.

• Radioactive dating techniques will be demonstrated on Friday. This is the last day for the Geologic Time Quiz. Paleontology Review questions will be assigned for homework that will be due at the beginning of the hour on Monday.