School Pupils Say Thank you for Dinosaur Teaching Session

The Everything Dinosaur mail bag was even bigger today than normal.  The postman handed us a big envelope which contained thank you letters written to us by school pupils after a recent visit from one of our dinosaur experts to carry out some prehistoric animal themed experiments.

Thank You Letters

The Year two pupils (aged 6-7 years), at Rode Heath Primary School in Cheshire have been busy studying dinosaurs this term with their teacher Mrs Woollam and Miss Moss, Miss Gater and Mrs Hulse.  The children have been doing all sorts of dinosaur themed activities, we saw some amazing artwork in their classroom and we did our best to answer all the questions from the eager young palaeontologists that we met.

A Thank you Letter from Ayshia

Ayshia shows her appreciation of Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Ayshia/Everything Dinosaur

Encouraging Creative Writing

By working on a thank you letter, the children can be encouraged to write creatively.  Learning and understanding can be checked along with sentence construction and writing ability.  It is always a good idea for a teacher to encourage her charges to write about any school visit and every letter that we receive at Everything Dinosaur is read by our team members.

Thank you Noah.

Picture credit: Noah/Everything Dinosaur

As a special treat, the class are going to the Great Orme, a prominent headland situated at Llandudno (North Wales).  The limestone rocks at the top of the Great Orme contain lots of fossils.  The children should be able to find fossils of brachiopods (look like clams but brachiopods are not closely related to shellfish) and fossils of ancient corals.  The fossils are very easy to find, there are lots of small rocks to examine around the man made limestone exposures and scree slopes.

North Wales in the Carboniferous

Around 330 million years ago (Carboniferous geological period), this part of North Wales was at the bottom of a shallow tropical sea.  There were extensive coral reefs and the waters teemed with life, the fossils are the ancient remains of these reefs and they are all at least 100 million years older than the vast majority of dinosaur fossils.

Thomas Thanks Everything Dinosaur for their Visit to his School

Thomas says thanks.

Picture credit: Thomas/Everything Dinosaur

We are sure that the children will have a great time and it is a lovely way to round off the teaching topic.

Our thanks to the teaching staff and the children at Rode Heath Primary for the lovely letters, examples of which we have reproduced below.

Thank you for your flying reptile drawing – Olivia the Oviraptor.  Good luck finding your own fossil on the school trip Amelie and we appreciate your comment about the dinosaur claws Ashton (A).  Aiden now knows that Spinosaurus was very probably bigger than T. rex and Ellie can draw super fossil bones and Hope can create a spotted dinosaur.  Aki was just brilliant wearing the hard hat and demonstrating some of the equipment that we use and we loved your letter Sam.

Dinosaur Teeth and a Fearsome Sea Monster

Emma drew us some dinosaur teeth and Sam (N) sent us a picture of a fearsome sea monster, whilst Jasmine told us she loved looking at the claws best.  Jonny (H) wrote that he was amazed when the size of the Ankylosaurus was revealed and Lucas sent us a picture of a big smiley face!  Lovely writing Codie and thank you for your red dinosaur it looks really good next to the ammonite picture that Millie kindly included in her letter to us.  James chose to put a bright red, meat-eating dinosaur on the top of his letter to us whilst Lottie sent us a picture of a purple Diplodocus feeding on some leaves.

Colourful Illustrations

We noted that the school now has a pupil called Ashtonosaurus (thanks Ashton), along with a Leilasaurus (thanks Leila).  A very colourful letter was sent in by Poem, the border was illustrated with pink and yellow and the writing was very neat – well done!

Thomas remembered what we said about dinosaurs and their teeth, whilst Noah ended his letter by wishing that dinosaurs were not extinct.  Esmee sent us pictures of three long-necked dinosaurs with her letter and we are pleased to hear that her mummy likes dinosaurs too.  Ayshia just loved learning about dinosaurs especially Dracorex and Albie sent us a bright yellow thank you letter which included a picture of a yellow, stripped dinosaur and a fact about Giganotosaurus.

Esmee says thank you.

Picture credit: Esmee/Everything Dinosaur

Encouraging school children to write a thank you letter after a school visit makes a great extension activity.  Once again our thanks to the pupils and teachers at Rode Heath Primary.

To view the range of dinosaur themed educational items available from Everything Dinosaur: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

Blackford CE Primary School goes “Walking with Dinosaurs”

Last Friday, Everything Dinosaur travelled to Cumbria to provide some dinosaur teaching sessions to the eager, young palaeontologists at Blackford CE Primary School.  The morning was spent working with the juniors under the tutelage of Miss Thompson.  The children had been studying dinosaurs as their term topic and they has posted up some super dinosaur themed poems.  These poems made a great display on one of the walls of the classroom.

A Dinosaur Inspired Poetry Corner

Prehistoric animal poems.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Blackford CE Primary School

Dinosaur Teaching Workshop

There were lots of different prose writing techniques on display and it was interesting to note the various prehistoric animals that the children had chosen as the subject for their poems.  If we ever need to think up some rhymes for the likes of Triceratops and Diplodocus, Blackford CE Primary School will be our first port of call.

A Poem Entitled Ten Angry Dinosaurs (by Amy)

Ten angry dinosaurs poem.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Blackford CE Primary School

Creative Extension Work

As a teaching topic, dinosaurs does lend itself to all sorts of creative extension work.  The subject area can touch upon design and technology, maths, geography as well as science and history.  With these poems Miss Thompson has encouraged her pupils to consider how poems are constructed as well as encouraging their creative writing skills.

An Ode To Triceratops Written by Grace

“Three horned Face” has a poem written about it.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Blackford CE Primary School

If the likes of Charles Dickens can write about dinosaurs (Bleak House), then it seems that the juniors at Blackford CE Primary are following in some very famous footsteps.

The children’s artistic talents were also encouraged by Miss Thompson, aided by teaching assistant Miss Turner.  Working in small groups the pupils had designed their own colourful dinosaur posters.  Each poster focused on a single genus of prehistoric animal and as well as drawings and pictures the children had researched facts about the animal and reproduced this information on their posters.

A Poster All About Triceratops

A Triceratops dinosaur poster.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Blackford CE Primary School

A very informative poster all about a very famous horned dinosaur made by Zach, J.J., Ellie, Chloe and Freya.  We loved the drawing on the left of the picture (as you look) showing a huge, brown volcano.  We talked about Triceratops during the dinosaur teaching session and we set the class a puzzle concerning this particular dinosaur.  The children had to consider the evidence and then come up with a theory to explain what they thought might have happened – interesting stuff!

Another group of juniors had created a poster of Diplodocus.  As the poster was being laminated the laminating machine chewed it up a bit creating a rippled effect on the poster. Undaunted,  the pupils decided that the texture was probably like that of the skin of this particular long-necked dinosaur.  We had some casts of dinosaur skin with us on the day, but with all the other activities and experiments including testing to see if your tongue sticks to fossil material (an experiment inspired by budding dinosaur hunter Jack), we did not get round to showing these items.

Diplodocus Takes Centre Stage

A dinosaur poster by children at Blackford CE Primary.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Blackford CE Primary School

In the afternoon,  it was time to work with the younger children in the school.  Miss Cruickshank’s class were treated to some tactile fossil handling which involved an exploration of the properties of materials interspersed with some physical activities.  There were lots of questions, Nigella wanted to know all about Diplodocus and Elizabeth asked about Tyrannosaurus rex.  One of the pupils (Katie) had even made a set of dinosaur fact cards featuring the likes of Stegosaurus and the fearsome Spinosaurus – nice work Katie!

The Dinosaur Fact Cards Made by Katie

Katie’s dinosaur fact cards.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Blackford CE Primary School

We loved Katie’s illustrations on her “bite sized” fact cards, but all too soon it was time to pack up and go home.  However,  the pupils at Blackford CE Primary along with their teaching staff are going to have a few more weeks of this teaching topic and with the creative teaching team we are confident that there will be lots of exciting dinosaur themed teaching activities carried out.

To view the range of dinosaur themed toys and gifts available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

Primary School Children Have Fun with Dinosaur Eggs

With the advent of a more creative curriculum in the United Kingdom, teachers and teaching assistants have more freedom in how they deliver lessons which dovetail into the teaching objectives and expected outcomes as provided in the framework of the national curriculum.  For children aged between five and seven years of age (primary school children in years 1 and 2), a suitable topic for the spring term might be “Dinosaurs”.  With the spring term ending at Easter, the addition of an imaginative series of lesson activities designed around looking at dinosaur eggs would help to tie in the term topic with the holiday period that comes immediately at the end of this term.

Dinosaur Nest

A dinosaur egg can be made very simply using a balloon and paper mache to create the desired effect.  A single, large egg can be created by the teacher and the teaching assistants or if school resources allow, the children themselves can have a go at making and painting their own paper mache dinosaur eggs.  Often the eggs that are made and represent a dinosaur egg are quite large, many people think that the dinosaurs hatched from huge eggs, this is not the case.

Although a number of dinosaur genera are known to have laid large eggs, most dinosaurs laid very much smaller eggs than most people imagine.  Egg size in egg-laying, terrestrial vertebrates is limited by a number of factors.  For example, the egg has to be strong enough to hold the volume of liquid that each one contains, but the egg shell cannot be too thick otherwise the baby inside would not be strong enough to break out of the egg (to hatch).

The largest dinosaur eggs known to science have been ascribed to a genus of titanosaurs (long-necked dinosaurs), which may have measured more than fifteen metres in length.  Even so the eggs of these prehistoric animals are about the same size as a football.

To read an article about the size of dinosaur eggs: The Big Eggs of a Dinosaur – Hypselosaurus.

When the egg has been made and painted, simply create a little nest for it, using leaves, twigs and such like.  If the class has a pet hamster or guinea pig, using some hay or straw that is normally reserved for this class pet also works well.   Then over the course of the spring team the children can observe their egg and record any differences in how it looks.  For example, once the egg has been put in the nest, take a picture of it and post it up on the class notice board.  Then after a week or so, turn the egg round in the nest and get the children to compare what they see with the earlier photograph.

A teacher can use this simple exercise to get children to think about what differences can they see and why might the differences have occurred?  What does it mean when the egg has moved, what may be going on inside the egg?

Over the next two weeks, the egg can be given a crack and the children made ready for the “hatching of their own dinosaur), again the change in the state of the egg can be used to encourage the children with a creative writing exercise as they compose short letters to their “baby dinosaur”.

A Typical Dinosaur Nest (Fossils)

A replica of a typical theropod nest showing typical nest composition and layout.

Finally, the school day dawns (towards the end of the term topic) when the baby dinosaur hatches.  However, rather than have to go to the trouble of creating a baby dinosaur for the class, here is a simple tip for any teacher or teaching assistant, allow your dinosaur to escape.  To show the escape, simply break the egg open using a sharp pair of scissors before the children come in and ask the caretaker to move one of the ceiling tiles on the suspended ceiling (a feature of most classrooms).

The children can learn of their dinosaur’s escape into the roof space and the moved tile in the ceiling would be proof to them of the escape of their pet dinosaur.  The teacher can easily leave a trail of three-toed (tridactyl) dinosaur prints from the nest area to the floor immediately below the ceiling tile, creating a trail for the young pupils to follow.

Then it is simply a question of developing plenty of extension activities around the school’s pet dinosaur project.  For example, the children can be encouraged to draw what they think the dinosaur may have looked like, what name should it have been called and why?  In addition, the children can be asked to think up stories that they might want to read to the dinosaur, or to imagine the adventures that their escaped dinosaur might be having.

Such imaginative and creative ideas can help teachers and teaching assistants to develop interesting lesson plans that challenge pupils to observe, explore and ask questions about living things.   Reference materials can be used to find out what palaeontologists know about the fossilised eggs of dinosaurs.   As well as covering aspects of the science element of the national curriculum, cross curricula activities such as creative writing and grammar usage which relates to the objectives of the English element of teaching can be incorporated.

To learn more about Everything Dinosaur’s range of educational, dinosaur themed toys and games: Replica Fossils, Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

Having your own dinosaur egg and watching the egg change and eventually hatch provides an excellent basis for the development of many enriching and challenging lesson ideas with key stage one children.