By DONNA BURROUGHS, EDS
Superintendent, Triton Community School Corporation

BOURBON — Third graders at Triton Elementary School learn that clues found in rocks tell us about the plants and animals that lived long ago. How can we learn about those creatures that are extinct? By finding fossils, of course.

Fossils can tell us what once lived in an area, what it may have looked like, how it moved, its size and much more. Students discovered that a fossil can come in three types. First there is the “imprint,” which is a fossil made when something presses into the soil or mud. They even created their own imprints with shells.

A fossil may also come from a “mold.” This happens when soil or mud covers the remains of an animal, which eventually rots away leaving a hole in the shape of the animal. Finally, learners found out that when a mold is filled in with minerals it can become a “cast” and looks just like the animals that were covered.