A Morning Studying Dinosaurs

Christ Church Primary School Pupils Study Dinosaurs

Year 1 pupils at Christ Church Primary School (Stoke on Trent, England), got the chance to get up very close to some dinosaur fossils as they studied prehistoric animals as part of their term topic.  Under the tutelage of one of the school’s Key Stage 1 tutors Miss Bryant, ably assisted by teaching assistant Mrs Dyer, the children have been learning about life in the past and how fossils are formed as they study dinosaurs over the spring term.

Schoolchildren Study Dinosaurs

A team member from Everything Dinosaur had been invited into the school to assist with the teaching work and to undertake a whole morning of dinosaur themed activities and exercises as part of a dinosaur workshop.  The classroom was very colourful with lots of dinosaur artwork and posters on display and the children were very keen to complete morning registration so that the dinosaur themed teaching activities could start.

Casting Fossils

The children were challenged to have a go at casting museum quality replica fossils from Everything Dinosaur’s own fossil collection and with one group of children led by Mrs Dyer and the second group supervised by Miss  Bryant, two lovely replica fossils were cast.  The size and scale of some dinosaurs was considered and the children were encouraged to compare bones in their body to those of famous dinosaurs.  The brain of an armoured dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous being confirmed as being about the size of a six-year old child’s fist, whilst the same dinosaur could happily sit five Year 1 pupils in its body cavity.

Thank you Letter Sent in by Ocean

Picture credit: Ocean (Christ Church Primary School)

There were lots of questions asked and the pupils showed a good degree of independent learning as the Everything Dinosaur team member discussed meat-eating dinosaurs and compared them to plant-eating dinosaurs.  Over the course of the morning, a lot of different types of fossil were examined and at the end of the visit an Everything Dinosaur “pinkie palaeontologists challenge” was set before the class.  Could the children demonstrate the ability to recall information and write a thank you letter to our dinosaur expert?

Dinosaurs as a Teaching Topic

Dinosaurs as a teaching topic lends itself to all sorts of innovative learning activities that dove-tail into the outcomes and aims expected from the National Curriculum.  Creating a thank you letter permits the teaching team to introduce a recounting element into the teaching work.  This helps to check understanding and reinforce learning.

Often a problem when developing literacy exercises for Year 1 pupils is how to give the children  a purpose for writing, a thank you letter to a school visitor fits the bill nicely.

School Children Send In Thank You Letters

Picture credit: Phoebe (Christ Church Primary School)

 All the letters that we received were carefully read by our team of dinosaur experts and we have posted them up onto a big display board, a special thank you to all the budding palaeontologists who wrote thank you letters.  It seems that the teaching staff had fun teaching about dinosaurs in school and the school children loved learning all about prehistoric animals.

To learn more about Everything Dinosaur’s range of toys and gifts including replicas of iconic fossil animals: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models including Fossil Replicas.