Check It Out!
Reserve the Earth Science Education Kit, Fossil Kit and Ventura County Fossil Kit for whenever you need it by calling E.P. Foster Library at 805-648-2715. The Library will send the kit to your nearest County Library for pick-up before the requested date.
Education Science Kit
The Earth Science Education Kit consists of the Rock Box, 150 page Teacher’s Guidebook filled with suggested classroom activities for different grade levels and 10 Information Sheets.
The Rock Box consists of three different trays that represent the three rock types: Sedimentary, Metamorphic and Igneous.
Each tray has 12 compartments for samples. The Rock Box weighs about 37 pounds filled and complete. It can be separated into three trays for easier transportation or if the instructor wants only one rock type displayed at a time.
The rock samples are among the most common rocks in their classification. They are fist sized specimens, large enough for the kids to see what the rock actually looks like.
The Ventura County Library System has also assembled grade level books to checkout for use with the Earth Science Education Kit.
Fossil Kit
The General Fossil Kit contains 18 common Fossils, 5 Information Sheets and a 160 page guidebook, “Pockets Fossils”.
The General Fossil Kit comes in a 15” x 8 ½” x 2”, easy to handle metal case that is lockable. It has 18 compartments with a fossil from each of the 18 Eras. The kits include samples from all 5 kingdoms that include such diverse samples as algae and trilobites to dinosaur bone and a marine mammal tooth.
Each sample is documented with a photograph, time period and location where it was found and some interesting information about the specimen. What a fossil is and the different forms of fossilization is given. There is a also a laminated chart with information on the “Tree of Life” and the “5 Kingdoms” are defined. Two classroom activities, “Making a Fossil” and instructions on creating a time line are included.
The two General Fossil Kits were developed, documented and assembled by Jim Brace- Thompson, acclaimed fossil collector from Ventura and the author of the instruction manual for the Earth Science Kit. Brace-Thompson, who has won many awards in this field, donated many of the fossils from his own collection.
The Ventura County Library System has also assembled grade level books to checkout for use with the General Fossil Kit.
The Tri-Club Education Committee of Ventura County, a Co-operative Effort of the Oxnard, Ventura and Conejo Gem and Mineral Societies donated the Kits to the Ventura County Library System. With our funding partner, The American Petroleum Institute (API), we have donated over 80 Earth Science Education Kits to Ventura County Public Schools.