Day 1 - Asher

    Today was the first day of Paleontology A-Term. Exciting! We started the day off by going over the schedule for the week. Monday and Tuesday are prep days before the paleontology trip. Wednesday to next Wednesday is when we are going to be gone for our trip. When we get back, we are cleaning the vans and creating our final presentation. After going over the schedule for the A-Term, we got our Permian Field Guide and journal. These are both items we will be using while digging for fossils in North Texas. Next, we set up the blog and got a chance to ask any questions that we had about the trip. Dr. Salem then talked to us about the expectations for the trip and the work we will be doing. One of my favorite expectations is to “put in the work.”

    After we did an introduction and overview, we got into pairs and picked topics to research for tomorrow’s presentation. Some of these topics include roadside geology Houston to Seymour, sedimentary rocks and stratigraphy, interpreting depositional environments, and geology of the arroyo formation. Once everyone picked their topic, we spent the next two hours before lunch working on our presentations.

    In the afternoon, the Paleontology group went to the Paleo Hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. Going to this hall was rather interesting, as we go to see the bones and fossils of a variety of different animals. Moreover, we got a tour from an esteemed paleontologist named Mr. Temple. He showed us around the Paleo Hall, explained to us what certain fossils were, and even showed us the paleo lab. In the paleo lab, we got to look at different fossils up close. We even got to see some fossil poop. Gross! After the Paleo Hall, we headed back to the school, shared what we found interesting, and headed home. I can already tell that this is going to be a fun A-Term. If you want to know more, you will have to read our next blogs.


Mateo Imitating the Dinosaur


Dr. Salem, Connor, Andy, and Andreas Listening to Mr. Temple


Andy and Tyler Working Hard on Presentations





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