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

Ocean says thank you to Everything Dinosaur for school visit.

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

Wonderful writing from Year 1.

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.

School Children Make Models of Fossils as they Study Dinosaurs

Year 1 and Year 2 children at Hoylandswaine Primary School showcased their dinosaur and prehistoric animal knowledge this week during a school visit from a dinosaur expert at Everything Dinosaur.  Under the tutelage of Miss Birkinshaw, the class teacher, the children had been studying dinosaurs and fossils with a special emphasis on food chains and the role of carnivores/herbivores in ecosystems.

Dig Site in the Classroom

A dig site had been created in the classroom, with Miss Birkinshaw and the children providing fossils for the budding young palaeontologists to excavate.  A grid system had been overlaid and the children had been set a number challenges to identify and describe the objects located on various parts of the dig site.  This reflects what we actually do when it comes to mapping an actual fossil excavation.

Primary School Children Map Out Their Own Fossil Excavations

Palaeontology in schools – a wonderful exercise to help children learn more about fossils. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Some super ammonite fossils can be seen in the picture.

As part of the morning’s activities the children examined a variety of fossils including teeth from a giant prehistoric shark (O. megalodon) and with Harry’s help the size of the backbone of a Stegosaurus was compared to our own vertebrae.  Mrs Burr (Teaching Assistant) and Miss Burkinshaw were appointed team captains as one half of the class were given the task of casting a replica shark fossil tooth, whilst the other half were challenged with casting a dinosaur toe bone which had come from a huge and very old duck-billed dinosaur, a specimen of a dinosaur called Edmontosaurus.

The children asked lots of questions and they learned some facts about Tyrannosaurus rex which meant that their poster display on the “King of the Tyrant Lizards” would have to be altered in the light of the information that they had been provided with.  Lots of artwork and creative writing was on display and in the corridor close to the school office there was was a display that had been populated by various dinosaur themed objects and a special workbook that showed some of the areas of study that the children had been looking at.

School Dinosaur Project Book on Display

Children write about fossils and fossil discoveries in a superbly illustrated book all about prehistoric animals. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

On the left-hand side of the book shows pictures of plesiosaur fossils (a marine reptile), fortunately, our expert had a piece of a plesiosaur vertebrae on hand to show some of the children who had stayed behind during lunch to ask further questions.  Young Jack had brought in some of his own fossils.  His fossil collection proved very handy when Harriet exhibited the fossil model she had made out of clay.  Our expert was able to talk about the lines of symmetry in Harriet’s colourful model and then compare the clay fossil to a real “sand dollar” fossil in Jack’s fossil collection.

Comparing a Clay Model to a Fossil “Sand Dollar”

Sand dollar fossil compared to a clay model. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Models of Fossils

Harriet had done a wonderful job of making and painting her fossil.  The lines radiating out from the centre reminded our dinosaur expert of the fossilised calcite plates associated with a type of sea urchin (Echinoids – pronounced “eck-in-oids”), often referred to as a “sand dollar”.  “Sand dollars” fossils are relatively common, these animals are part of a group of sea creatures that originated around 480 million years ago (Ordovician), but most of the “sand dollar” fossils seen today are much more recent.  Still, Jack’s fossil could be over twenty million years old.

The rigid external skeleton of a “sand dollar” is called a “test”.  On the top surface, is a five pointed star-like structure, these are five paired rows of pores, like look a little like the petals on a flower.  These pores can seen on Jack’s fossil.  When the sea urchin was alive, tube feet projected through theses pores and these feet were multi-purpose, they helped the little animal to burrow into soft sediment,  to move about and they also helped the animal breathe and to gather food.

Sand Dollars

“Sand dollars” are around today and often tests are washed up onto the beaches of the Western United States.  These tests look like coins hence their common name, but they are also sometimes called “Mermaid coins”, in the past sailors used to believe that if they found one it would bring them good fortune on their next voyage.

Note for Harriet

Lots of different types of “sand dollar” sea urchins are alive today, and some are indeed coloured green and blue.

To conclude the visit, our dinosaur expert set the class a challenge.  The children could write a thank you letter but they must use capital letters and connectives correctly.  Perhaps they could write about their favourite dinosaur or indeed, include a special dinosaur fact in their letter.

We shall see what the budding young palaeontologists from Hoylandswaine Primary School come up with…

For further information on Everything Dinosaur’s range of toys, models and gifts: Dinosaur Toys, Gifts and Models.

Primary Schoolchildren Write Thank you Letters to Everything Dinosaur

After a busy few weeks with Everything Dinosaur team members carrying out a lot of dinosaur workshops in schools, team members are busy preparing free downloads for the company’s new “dinosaurs for school” website.  As well as all this teaching activity we have also been keeping up with the huge volume of correspondence that we receive.  Amongst all the drawings, pictures, feedback forms, information requests and such like we get letters from schoolchildren who have been involved with our dinosaur teaching in schools.  One such letter was sent from Holly from Yorkshire, we were so impressed that we thought we would post Holly’s excellent letter on our blog site.

Everything Dinosaur

Holly Says Thank You to Everything Dinosaur

Schoolchildren thank Everything Dinosaur after team members from the UK-based dinosaur company visited their school.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Holly

Thank You Letter

Naturally, our team members respond to all those letters, enquiries and contacts that require a reply.

We wrote to Holly saying:

“We are glad that you like dinosaurs and we were very impressed with your writing skills, your letter was very well laid out, the first word that you wrote started with a capital letter and you remembered to use full stops.  You also remembered to put your name on the letter at the bottom, well done Holly!”

We look forward to working with Holly and her classmates in the future and undertaking more dinosaur teaching in schools.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website to see the huge range of soft toys available: Prehistoric Plush – Dinosaur Soft Toys.

Nursery Children Build their own Dinosaur

Whilst on a visit to teach about dinosaurs in school in Yorkshire, one of the Everything Dinosaur team members took a picture of a dinosaur that the nursery class had built as they too studied dinosaurs for the day.  As part of the dinosaur workshop, we were working with Year 2 and Year 3 children, but the nursery children also joined in the day of dinosaur themed activities with some colouring in of pictures of prehistoric animals and an exploration of dinosaurs using the sensory play area.

Dinosaur

Nursery School Children Build a Dinosaur

Nursery school children construct a dinosaur in the playground.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Using the tyres and building blocks from the outside play area along with some crates that the class had borrowed the children were able to build their very own dinosaur.  One of the little palaeontologists pointed out the yellow feet, whilst another explained that they had put building blocks on the tail just like the plates on a Stegosaurus.

The Everything Dinosaur team member was not quite sure what name the children had come up with, but one of the nursery school children said that their dinosaur was “definitely a plant-eater”.

We suggested that this dinosaur should be called “Nurseryosaurus”.

To read more about Everything Dinosaur’s huge range of dinosaur themed toys and games: Everything Dinosaur – Toys, Models and Gifts.