Lions, Zebras and Giraffes Learn All About Dinosaurs – Dinosaur Workshop in School

Children in the Reception classes at Mead Primary in Romford (Essex, south-east England), have been learning all about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals this term, their learning was supported by a dinosaur workshop in school.

Dinosaur Workshop in School

The children discovered a giant egg in each of the three Reception classrooms (Lions, Zebras and Giraffes) and with the support of their enthusiastic teaching team, the children were encouraged to write letters to one of the dinosaur experts at Everything Dinosaur so that these strange objects could be investigated.  The discovery of the eggs is all part of a coordinated approach to help motivate and enthuse the pupils when it comes to writing.  Our dinosaur expert who visited the school, was shown some wonderful examples of the children’s work including some of the invitation letters that were on display.

One of the Eggs Discovered in the Classroom

What will happen when it hatches?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Colourful Dinosaur Displays

There were lots of colourful dinosaur themed displays in the classrooms and outside in the corridor which links the Key Stage 1 classes to the rest of this, larger than average, primary school.

One of the Bright and Colourful Prehistoric Animal Themed Displays

Lots of different dinosaurs on display.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Designing Dinosaurs

The children had been designing their own dinosaurs and there were lots of examples of hand-writing too, including some very informative fact books that the pupils had made.  The volcano in the picture had been made using fabric with coloured tissue paper as the lava, this was just one example of the use of lots of different materials and media having been incorporated into the scheme of work.  The dinosaur workshops that were delivered continued the focus on writing and vocabulary development, with the visitor challenging the children to come up with lots of describing words for the fossils and other objects that they handled.

The Foundation Stage Two children certainly knew their dinosaurs and they were keen to demonstrate their acquired knowledge.  Prior to the visit to the school by Everything Dinosaur, the teachers had encouraged the children to think of questions to ask, the budding palaeontologists had come up with a super assortment of queries.  For all those questions not answered on the day, our expert suggested a couple of writing themed extension activities to help support the classes with their enquiries.

Some of the Questions That the Children had Come up With

Questions, questions and even more questions!

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To help the children understand how most fossils are formed our expert discussed a simple experiment the children could conduct using the water play area.  This extension activity also dove-tailed nicely into an exploration of the properties of materials in which children investigate why some objects float whilst others sink.  Dinosaurs make a great topic for primary school children to study.

Demonstrating Learning

The children clearly enjoyed learning all about prehistoric animals and we look forward to hearing how they got on with the dinosaur footprint measuring exercise we provided.  One of the aims of the teaching scheme of work for next week is to help the children gain a little more confidence in measuring and using numbers, the footprint exercise we provided will help the teaching team to achieve their learning objectives, providing the children with a dinosaur themed activity in support of their numeracy development.

Everything Dinosaur stocks a wide range of prehistoric animal themed toys and games: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

Inspiring Displays with Lots of Evidence of Learning

Lots of examples of hand-writing on display.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

One of the classrooms even had its very own dinosaur museum.   The teachers had been inspired by the topic to come up with some very creative lesson plans and the children were clearly inspired by all things dinosaur!

To request further information on Everything Dinosaur’s educational activities: Email Everything Dinosaur.