By Mike|2023-12-31T20:23:49+00:00November 13th, 2019|Early Years Foundation Reception|Comments Off on Foundation Stage 2 Have Fun Learning About Animals
Foundation Stage 2 – Animal Skeletons
Whilst on a visit to a school to conduct a dinosaur themed workshop with some eager and excited Reception class children, our dinosaur expert spotted some super animal skeletons that the children had created. Using straws and cotton buds to represent bones, the Foundation Stage 2 children had made skeletons of various animals. The children had made skeletons of birds, people, dinosaur skeletons, cats, dogs and even a fish.
Dinosaur Skeletons
Anatomy Class – Reception Class Make Animal Skeletons
A dinosaur made from straws. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The skeletons that the children had created certainly made a colourful display outside in the corridor adjacent to the hall where we were conducting our dinosaur and fossil themed workshop.
By Mike|2023-12-31T15:47:52+00:00October 24th, 2019|Early Years Foundation Reception|Comments Off on Reception Children Make Dinosaur Landscapes
Reception Children Make Dinosaur Landscapes
The children in the three Reception classes at Broughton Primary (Flintshire), have certainly enjoyed learning about dinosaurs this term. A team member from Everything Dinosaur visited the school this morning to deliver three dinosaur and fossil themed workshops to help round off the scheme of work for the first half of the autumn term.
During the visit, our team member was shown some amazing dinosaur landscapes that the children had built.
Children in Class 1 (Reception) have Created a Prehistoric Landscape
A very colourful prehistoric landscape created by a Reception class.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
The Reception classes have been learning about animals and what they need to keep them safe and happy. The children created a river to allow the dinosaurs to catch fish to eat. The river would also provide water for the prehistoric animals to drink. The plant-eating dinosaurs have plenty of leaves to chew but all the dinosaurs have to be careful as the volcano has erupted and bright red lava is spilling out down its slopes.
Class 1 Children Constructed a Volcano as part of their Dinosaur Landscape Project
The prehistoric scene created by a Reception class (Dosbarth 1). The three fossil hard hats donated by Everything Dinosaur can be seen in the background. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Class 3 also constructed a home for their dinosaur models. Their very own version of “Jurassic Park” included a big forest for the dinosaurs to hide in so that they felt safe and a huge cave for them to explore. The hard hats we provided with the lamps on their front might come in handy when it comes to exploring the depths of the cavern.
The Prehistoric Scene Created by Class 3 (Dosbarth 3)
The prehistoric landscape created by class 3. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The Reception classes enjoyed their dinosaur workshops and demonstrated some amazing counting and recall of dinosaur facts during the morning. We hope they like the dinosaur hokey cokey activity we provided too.
Another busy few days at Everything Dinosaur with a series of school visits to deliver dinosaur and fossil themed workshops. Our week concluded with a series of workshops with the Key Stage 1 and Reception classes at Newport Infant School (Shropshire). The whole school is studying dinosaurs over a two-week period and Everything Dinosaur was invited into the school to help kick-start the scheme of work.
As our visit came to an end, we were presented with a set of dinosaur and prehistoric animal drawings that had been produced by one of the classes that we had worked with.
Drawings of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals Presented to Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur drawings presented to Everything Dinosaur from schoolchildren. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Drawings
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“We try to set lots of cross-curricular extension activities when working with children in Foundation Stage 2 and Key Stage 1. This helps to support the lesson plans that have been devised by the teaching team. We challenged the children to draw a dinosaur and to label body parts using some of the new terms that we had introduced to the class during our workshop. It is always a pleasure to receive such wonderful drawings and the writing element of this exercise helps the children to develop important motor skills.”
For further information on Everything Dinosaur’s outreach work and our contribution to the community: Contact Everything Dinosaur.
Visit the award-winning and easy to use Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.
Children in the Foundation Stage at Almondbury Community School have started a term topic all about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. The budding young palaeontologists in the Nursery and Reception classes took part in some dinosaur-themed workshops today to help kick-start their summer term topic.
The walls of the well-appointed and tidy classrooms at the Greenside Centre were already crammed full of lots of colourful and creative artwork. Our dinosaur expert who visited the school, spotted some beautiful drawings of monsters that had been created by the Foundation Stage 2 children. There was some very imaginative artwork on display and many of the drawings were accompanied by a sentence or two. The vibrant posters highlighted the children’s development of fine motor skills, they must have had lots of practice holding pencils and forming recognisable letters and words.
Spotting Drawings of Monsters in the Foundation Stage Classrooms
Dinosaur drawings and illustrations of monsters spotted outside the classroom. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Drawings
As part of the work with the children, our dinosaur expert set a challenge – could they draw him a dinosaur? As a further extension for the Reception-aged children, could they label the body parts of their dinosaur including its skull? During the workshop with the Reception class, it was explained that palaeontologists call your head a skull and when working with the Nursery children, the eager, young learners confidently asserted that the helmet that a palaeontologist wears fits on their head!
At this school, there is a strong emphasis on giving every pupil access to a stimulating and balanced curriculum, lots of tactile activities were being prepared for the children by the dedicated teaching team. In one part of the spacious classroom, a cargo net had been brought in and facts about dinosaurs posted up on the walls, as this area was soon to be turned into a “dinosaur den” for the children to explore.
All Set to Build a “Dinosaur Den” in the Classroom
Dinosaur drawings feature in the dinosaur den. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Footprints and a Dinosaur-themed “Hokey Cokey”
The Foundation Stage wing of the Greenside Centre was very busy with lots of activities for the children set out and the during the workshops the pupils demonstrated some super listening skills and they were very enthusiastic ammonites catching fish. When pretending to be a giant, armoured dinosaur moving through the forest, our dinosaur expert witnessed super-sized steps, but slow moving dinosaurs keeping very quiet in case a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex came by.
The handy pronunciation guide we provided for the teachers should help with the scheme of work, along with the dinosaur footprints to measure and a special prehistoric animal-themed “hokey cokey” song for the children to learn. Can they remember how many figures T. rex had? How did a T. rex move its arms?
A very colourful and informative dinosaur and prehistoric animal display created by the Reception class at Micklehurst All Saints Primary school. When visiting a school to conduct a series of dinosaur workshops with the Foundation Stage classes, our team member delivering the workshops, spotted a super, prehistoric animal themed display on the wall of a classroom “dinosaur den”.
A Colourful Dinosaur Themed Display Spotted in the Classroom
A dinosaur display in the children’s dinosaur den. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A spokesperson for Everything Dinosaur commented:
“It was such a beautiful dinosaur display in the classroom, we asked permission of the teaching team so that we could take a photograph of the children’s work.”
Dinosaurs Helping to Encourage Tactile, Creative Play
Team members praised the teaching team for having such a well-organised and spacious dinosaur den. We spotted this simple but very effective play area whilst on a visit to a school to conduct a series of dinosaur and fossil themed workshops with Reception classes. The teaching team had laid out a number of play areas related to the term topic of dinosaurs. One play area involved the children building their own “dinosaur world”. A second play area was dedicated to digging for dinosaur bones.
Tactile Exploration and Developing Creative Play
A spacious and tidy dinosaur den spotted in a Reception classroom. Picture credit; Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A Tidy Dinosaur Den
Such a play area encourages creative play, the concept of sharing and working together. We spotted some simple guidelines and instructions stating how many children can play at a station at any one time. The children have the opportunity to explore a range of materials and different types of dinosaur model. This is a great resource for children to help them learn about the properties of materials and of great assistance to kinaesthetic orientated learners.
A simple play area with dinosaur models and other tactile objects helps children to explore the properties of materials. This is a wonderful resource to help encourage creative, independent, imaginative play.
It is an example of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals helping to encourage creative play amongst Foundation Stage children.
The children in the Reception class at Micklehurst All Saints Church Primary (Ashton-under-Lyne), have been learning all about dinosaurs this term and they have been taking part in a wide range of dinosaur and fossil themed activities under the expert supervision of the teaching team.
Whilst on a visit to conduct a workshop with the enthusiastic young learners, a team member from Everything Dinosaur was given the opportunity to admire some of the displays in the classroom which highlight the children’s work.
A Colourful Dinosaur Display with Lots of Labels
A colourful dinosaur display with lots of labels. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
One of the key objectives within the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage (EYFS), is to inspire children and to help them develop an enthusiasm for learning. Dinosaurs inspire children and prehistoric animals such as Tyrannosaurus rex certainly engages their curiosity. The children were eager to show what they had been doing in class and pointed out the colourful display which included pictures of dinosaurs that they had labelled.
The pupils were keen to demonstrate their knowledge about dinosaurs, even dinosaurs that were omnivores! A dinosaur themed display dovetails beautifully into the national curriculum, it assists with literacy development and helps to expand vocabularies as well as providing the children with lots of opportunities to express themselves and to explore the properties of materials through creative art.
The dinosaur foot measuring resources we provided linked into the teacher’s scheme of work as the children had been getting used to using measuring cubes and standard units. We also challenged the class to draw for our dinosaur expert their very own prehistoric animal, as an extension we suggested that the children have a go at measuring their own drawings. The pronunciation guide we gave the teacher, might come in handy with all those long dinosaur names.
A Dinosaur Den
Part of the classroom had been turned into a dinosaur den. There were lots of stimulating activities for the children to try, including digging for dinosaur skeletons in sand and lots of books about dinosaurs (fiction and non-fiction), for the children to read. The dinosaur den was very tidy and well organised.
A Tidy and Well Organised Dinosaur Den
A dinosaur display in the children’s dinosaur den. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Children in the Reception class at Whirley Primary in Cheshire have started a topic all about dinosaurs and fossils. The eager palaeontologists have been keen to demonstrate their knowledge about prehistoric animals to their enthusiastic teachers.
One of our team members visited the school today to conduct a morning of dinosaur-themed activities with the children. Prior to the start of the school day, our team member was given a short tour of the well-appointed Foundation Stage/Key Stage 1 teaching area. Although, the children have only been studying dinosaurs for a short while, there were lots of amazing prehistoric animal-themed learning to admire.
Dinosaurs and Fossils
Counting with Dinosaurs – Dinosaurs Helping Young Minds to Get to Grips with Subtraction
Dinosaurs and fossils help young children with numbers. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A Carefully Planned Scheme of Work
The Reception class are getting to grips with subtraction. The innovative teaching team had set up a number of work stations around the tidy and spacious classroom and on one table a dinosaur inspired subtraction exercise had been set up. Could the children work out how many dinosaurs were on one side of the paper compared to the other side of the paper?
Unsurprisingly, gaining confidence with mathematics is one of the key learning and development goals of the Early Years Foundation Stage national curriculum. The children in the Reception class at Whirley Primary are certainly being provided with plenty of opportunities to develop and improve their counting skills.
During our workshop we set the children a special challenge, could they draw their very own dinosaur and label the body parts including the skull? As well as supporting the literacy component of the topic area, our dinosaur expert suggested that the class could use measuring cubes to measure the size of the dinosaur drawing that they produced.
A Successfully Completed Dinosaur Inspired Subtraction Exercise
Dinosaurs and fossils help children to become more confident with numbers. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Learning to Recall
Whilst our team member was admiring the special dinosaur activity area where the children could dig for dinosaur bones and fossils in a sand tray, the teacher (Miss Egerton), highlighted some of the work the children had produced in their topic books. As an introduction to the topic, the children had taken part in a dinosaur egg hunt, one of the exercises in the topic book involved the recalling of information and putting events in chronological order.
Learning to Recall and Retell with a Reception Class
Going on a dinosaur egg hunt. Can you remember? Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
It looks like the dinosaur and fossil themed term topic is proving to be a big success.
The children in the Nursery Class at Hilton Lane Primary (Worsley, Manchester), are learning all about dinosaurs and fossils along with the Reception-aged children at this “good school” as officially rated by Ofsted. One of Everything Dinosaur’s experts was invited along to meet the children and following a workshop with the Reception class in the school’s spacious and well-appointed hall, he was invited to visit the Nursery located on nearby Prescott street. The Nursery class were keen to show their visitor the clay dinosaur fossils that they had made.
The Nursery Class at Hilton Lane Primary School Have Been Busy Making Fossils
Dinosaur fossils on display at a nursery. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Clay Dinosaur Fossils and Exploring Materials
Under the expert tutelage of Miss Bolton and with the support of the teaching assistant Miss Wall, the enthusiastic, young palaeontologists were keen to show what they had made. Making clay fossils is a great way for the children to learn about the properties of materials. This exercise forms part of a diverse and challenging scheme of work that the teaching team had prepared.
In the recent Ofsted report the quality of the teaching was described as “consistently good” and the progress made by the pupils was commented upon. The Ofsted report also highlighted the careful planning conducted by the teaching team. Teachers know in detail what pupils already know and can do, they take this into account when devising their lessons.
Clay Fossils Created by the Nursery Class
Dinosaur fossil created by Hilton Lane Primary Nursery class. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Confident Learners, Attentive Listeners and Lots of Pre-knowledge
The children confidently explained about herbivores and carnivores and enjoyed handling the dinosaur plant food that had been brought along. Fossils felt cold and they were very hard, just like a stone. They were as hard as the hard hat that one of the children wore when the clothing of a palaeontologist was explored. The Nursery children have their very own soft toy Triceratops to look after. She is called Trudy and we think Trudy would be most impressed by the knowledge about dinosaurs demonstrated by the children.
Looks like the Foundation Stage classes at Hilton Lane Primary are going to have a great time learning all about dinosaurs this term.
The children in the Reception classes at Lum Head Primary (Cheshire), have been busy looking after two dinosaur eggs. The topic for the spring term is focused around dinosaurs and entitled “We are explorers an egg-citing discovery!” The enthusiastic teaching team with the support of the dedicated learning support providers, have developed a rich and engaging scheme of work centred around the discovery of a dinosaur egg in each classroom.
The Dinosaur Egg is About to Hatch!
A hatching dinosaur egg spotted in a Foundation Stage (Reception) classroom. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Children in the two Reception classes at Lum Head Primary have been waiting for their two dinosaur eggs to hatch. They have built a nest and worked out what the baby dinosaur needs to keep it safe and warm. Our dinosaur expert visited the school to deliver two workshops helping to kick-off this exciting topic.
The teacher who organised the visit from Everything Dinosaur emailed to thank us for our efforts, she wrote:
“Thank you for today. The children absolutely loved it and were buzzing all day!! Thanks too for all the additional resources you left us – we will definitely be using them”.
To learn about Everything Dinosaur’s fossil and dinosaur themed workshops in school, and about our outreach work: simply drop us an email: Email Everything Dinosaur.
