Grade 5 evolution and Earth history
Grade 5 Extinct Animals Word Search
An extinct species has no living members. Scientists use fossils, rock layers, anatomy, and environmental evidence to infer how extinct organisms lived and why populations may have disappeared.
Start with the printable
Use the words before and after the puzzle
Before solving, ask your child to circle unfamiliar words in the list. Afterward, choose three words to explain, draw, or use in a science sentence. Open the printable PDF below when you are ready.
What children can practice
- Distinguish extinction from an individual organism dying.
- Identify fossils and rock layers as evidence about past life.
- Explain how environmental change can affect a population.
For parents and homeschool
Make an evidence-based fossil profile
Choose a fossil photograph from a reliable museum, book, or reference source.
- Step 1
List only structures or patterns you can directly observe.
- Step 2
Write one inference about movement, diet, or habitat.
- Step 3
Explain which observation supports the inference and what remains uncertain.
Also useful for teachers
A quick classroom adaptation
Students can annotate fossil images, compare competing explanations, and label each statement as observation, inference, or unanswered question.
Questions to talk about
- What evidence shows that an organism once lived?
- How can habitat change affect survival?
- Why might an extinction explanation change?