Changing Over Time: Evolution and Fossil Evidence

About This Resource

A complete Grade 5 science pack on evolution: how living things have changed over very long periods of time, how variation and natural selection work, the famous examples of Darwin's finches and the peppered moth, and how fossils give evidence that animals and plants long ago were different from those living today. Students act out natural selection in a camouflage game. Includes slides with notes, a lesson plan, worksheet, quiz, homework, flashcards, a rubric and answer keys.

Overview

Students learn that living things have changed over millions of years and that this process is called evolution. They see that offspring are similar to their parents but not identical, so every population has variation. When the environment favors some features, the living things with those features are more likely to survive and have young, and they pass the features on. Over many generations, the population changes. This is natural selection, explained by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Students explore Darwin's finches and the peppered moth, play a camouflage game, and use fossils as evidence of how living things have changed.

Resource Details

Subject: Science
Topic: Evolution and Fossils
Category: Living Things
File Type: PDF
File Size: 367.1 KB
Published: 08 Nov 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 5 (ages 10–11) 55 minutes Life science explaining change using evidence modeling comparing

Learning Objectives

Explain that living things vary and that offspring are similar to, but not exactly like, their parents.
Describe how natural selection can change a population over many generations.
Explain how fossils give evidence that living things have changed over time.

How to Use This Resource

Start with the slides: show pictures of a horse and its small, early ancestor and ask what has changed.
Teach variation, natural selection and fossil evidence with the slides and flashcards, then play the camouflage game and do worksheet activities 1 and 2 together.
Students complete activities 3 to 6, then use the quiz and send the homework page home.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Camouflage game: scatter paper moths of two colors on newspaper and on dark paper; students act as birds and pick up the moths they can see in 20 seconds.
Beak buffet: use tweezers, pegs and spoons as beaks to pick up seeds, rice and water, and discuss which beak suits which food.
Fossil timeline: place fossil pictures along a long paper strip showing millions of years.

Differentiation

Support: give a picture strip of the peppered moth story to put in order. Challenge: students explain why evolution usually takes many generations and research one more example, such as antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

Assessment

Use the worksheet and quiz to check understanding of variation, natural selection and fossil evidence. Use the rubric during the camouflage game and for the homework explanation.

Teacher Tips

Watch for the common idea that animals change because they want or need to. Stress that variation is already there by chance, and the environment decides which features help living things survive and have young.

What's Included

12-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (8 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Quiz / assessment (3 parts)
Homework practice page
Printable flashcards: 8 A5 picture cards (separate PDF)
Assessment rubric (4 levels)
Lesson slides (editable PowerPoint)
Editable Word version of all student pages
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)