Dinosaurs – End of Topic “Wow”!

For the Reception class at St Lawrence CE Primary, today was a special “dinosaur day”, as to help draw their term topic to a close, a visit from Everything Dinosaur had been arranged to assist with the children learning about dinosaurs.  The eager explorers and budding young palaeontologists have been studying dinosaurs and fossils since the beginning of the Spring Term and there was a lot of lovely dinosaur themed writing and prehistoric animal inspired artwork on display in the classroom.

Learning About Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs on Display in the Classroom

Lots of literacy and numeracy activities displayed.

Picture credit: St Lawrence CE Primary/Everything Dinosaur

The children had certainly been enjoying their topic.  Teacher Mrs Rogerson, ably supported by the two teaching assistants, had put together an exciting and diverse scheme of work for the children.  The Reception class had been involved in a wide range of activities, all aimed at helping to develop everyday skills and to support learning.  The children had even brought in some of their dinosaur models and toys from home.  The classroom had been turned into a Lancashire’s very own “Jurassic Park”!

Inspiring Confidence with Numbers

The extension ideas and additional resources provided by our fossil expert will help develop the children’s confidence with numbers.  Will they be up to one of our “pinkie palaeontologist challenges” and have a go at calculating just how big some dinosaur footprints could be?  Working in small groups, the children demonstrated a good grasp of simple subtraction and they were confident when it came to using the measuring cubes and comparing their own hands to the feet of some dinosaurs.

One of the other extension activities involves an unusual way of measuring a fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, perhaps the class can try this activity in the hall, as quite a bit of space will be needed.

Encouraging Writing and Learning About Dinosaurs

The children demonstrated lots of existing knowledge, using terms like Cretaceous and Mesozoic, which was most impressive.  We set some writing challenges, all based around non-fiction writing.  We wonder if any of the children’s dinosaur facts will get posted up onto the display wall, next to all their wonderful artwork?

Chalk Drawings of Dinosaurs on Display

Reception class uses different materials to explore dinosaurs.

Picture credit: St Lawrence CE Primary/Everything Dinosaur

Linking Dinosaurs and Space

After half-term the children will be moving on to learn all about space and the planets.  Whilst Everything Dinosaur worked with the children in the spacious hall, the teaching assistants could prepare the classroom in readiness for the new topic.  How to link dinosaurs and space?  Fortunately, our expert was on hand to explain which dinosaur fossils have been into space and to send links to Mrs Rogerson to help support the topic transition.

In addition, when the extraterrestrial object slammed into planet Earth, marking the end of the “Age of the Dinosaurs”, the explosion was so powerful that sea creatures were shot so high into the air, that they may have left Earth’s orbit.  Some ammonites could have landed on the moon!

Ammonites Shot into Outer Space

How many Ammonites can you count?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur supplies several ammonite figures and replicas of prehistoric invertebrates including trilobites and nautiloids. To view this range: Replica Fossils and Prehistoric Animal Models.

Reception Classes Get Creative with Dinosaurs

As Everything Dinosaur team members visit schools up and down the country delivering dinosaur workshops, they get to meet lots of teachers and it is always a pleasure to see the engaging and imaginative ways in which teaching teams are delivering the national curriculum.  Take for example, the two Reception classes at Higher Openshaw Community School (Manchester).  These two classes have been learning all about dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals this term.

Touring the Classrooms

A tour of the classrooms provided an insight into the highly creative and imaginative teaching activities that the children had been enjoying.  It seems even the playground had been taken over at one point as teachers, Miss Burke and Mrs Ashworth had made painted outlines of dinosaurs to help the children appreciate the size and scale of some prehistoric monsters.

Reception Children Explore Ideas About Extinction

Reception children explore ideas about dinosaur extinction.

Picture credit: Higher Openshaw Community School/Everything Dinosaur

There were lots of examples of children’s writing on display in the well-organised classrooms.  There was even a special dinosaur exploration area to help the children understand more about life in the past.  As the term topic draws to a close, the Reception classes will be looking at extinction theories and during Everything Dinosaur’s visit, a number of the children were keen to point out that “a rock fell from the sky and killed all the dinosaurs”, well, these budding palaeontologists seem to have grasped the fundamentals of the extraterrestrial impact theory that’s for sure.

Dinosaur Workshop

However, the teachers are keen to look at other extinction theories, such as the influence on our planet’s climate as a result of the massive amount of Late Cretaceous volcanic activity.  Hence the very colourful volcano display in Miss Burke’s classroom.  Coloured tissue paper makes great lava and the volcano provides a focal point, around which examples of the children’s hand-writing and independent research can be exhibited.

Some of the children have started to use examples of similes in their hand-writing exercises, this demonstrates excellent progress for Foundation Stage 2.  The children have obviously been as speedy as Velociraptors in picking up simile usage.

Dinosaurs as a term topic provides excellent opportunities to move the children gradually away from free flowing play activities to more structured formal learning, in preparation for the move up to Year 1.  The children had certainly been having a lot of fun, the scheme of work for this term topic had been skilfully crafted by the teachers with the able support of the enthusiastic teaching assistants.

Fossil Themed Sand Tray Activities

Both classrooms had sand trays so that a mini-dinosaur excavation activity could be set up for the children.  Ms Saylaby explained that she had placed some real fossils into the sand so that the children could learn about how fossils form, where they are found and how they are excavated.  We supported this element, by letting the children handle real fossils during our workshop, some of which, as the children discovered, felt very cold and were really, really heavy!

Reception Children Learn About Fossils

Real fossils and fossil models to explore in a sand tray activity.

Picture credit: Higher Openshaw Community School/Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Themed Lesson Plans

Some of the fossils in the sand tray in Mrs Ashworth’s class are shown in the photograph above, the fossil expert from Everything Dinosaur explained how the fossils formed and which animals they represent.  There were some particularly nice examples of Gryphaea in the tray.  Gryphaea (graff-fee-ah) formed dense beds, very much like oysters today and they are common as fossils on the North Yorkshire and Cleveland coasts.  Palaeontologists can learn a lot from these fossils, as growth rings are often preserved on the fossilised shells.  They also suggest that these fossils formed in shallow seas, close to an ancient coastline.  The specimens in the tray date from the Jurassic.

The fossil models also seen  in the sand tray come from a set that we at Everything Dinosaur know very well.  This is the Ancient Fossils Set, which is from the: Safari Ltd. Prehistoric Animal Toob Range they are great for creative play.

Our dinosaur workshop and the extension activities provided will help the teaching team to round off the term topic.  Clearly, the children have really enjoyed all the activities and benefited from such an enriching learning environment that the hard-working staff at Higher Openshaw Community School have created.

Reception Classes Study Dinosaurs

It has been a busy day at Mount Carmel RC Primary (Manchester, England) as the two classes of Reception children have been learning about dinosaurs and fossils with a special workshop conducted by an Everything Dinosaur team member.  The workshop was entitled “Dinosaurs and Reception Class”.  The children in Foundation Stage Two, have been studying dinosaurs and life in the past over the course of this half-term and they were keen to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the subject.  With the help of the enthusiastic teaching team, the eager pupils had created lots of artwork and some super examples of hand-writing in their dinosaur workbooks.

Reception Children

The bright and well-organised classrooms were adorned with lots of prehistoric animal themed work that the children had produced.  Our dinosaur expert has heard a rumour that one of the teachers has found some dinosaur eggs, we hope the children have thought about what materials might make a good nest for a dinosaur!

What will happen when the egg hatches?  We will have to wait and see…

A Busy Morning

Splitting the morning into two roughly equal sessions, divided by the mid-morning break, we were able to deliver very tactile learning with lots of fossil handling.  It was a good job that some of the children had managed to have a hearty breakfast, several of the fossils and other artefacts were heavy, but thanks to the helpful teaching assistants, the children were able cope.  Lots of photographs were taken, we especially liked the snarling dinosaur faces on the big class photograph at the end of each workshop – very scary!

Everything Dinosaur stocks a substantial range of dinosaur themed toys and gifts for children: Dinosaur Themed Toys and Gifts for Children.

The children in the two Reception classes have even been doing some homework, what a bunch of enthusiastic palaeontologists they are.  One of the teachers showed our dinosaur expert a beautiful picture that Edith had brought in to show her friends at school.  It is a wonderful picture of a Tyrannosaurus rex.  Can you remember how many fingers T. rex had altogether?

A Wonderful Dinosaur Picture Sent in by Edith (Reception Class)

Edith painted a lovely dinosaur picture.

Picture credit: Edith (Mount Carmel RC Primary School)

Dinosaurs and Reception Class

What a colourful picture Edith!  Lots of reds, blues and yellows and even a splash of white to help the green dinosaur feel at home.  We like the black eyes that you gave your Tyrannosaurus rex.  His eyes match the black stripe running down his back, at least we presume it’s a boy, it could be a girl T. rex.  Can the children remember the special fact our dinosaur expert told them about the Tyrannosaurus rex girls?

Extension Activities

After the visit, it was straight back to the office to email over the promised extension activities and fact sheets to help support the teaching team and their scheme of work.  We did set some of our “pinkie palaeontologist challenges”, including the design of the children’s very own dinosaur and an exercise which involved the careful measuring of dinosaur footprints.  We even sent over a picture of a T. rex and asked if the children could have a go at labelling the various parts of his body, those small arms, the fingers and the skull of course.

Reception Children Challenged to Label a Dinosaur

A smiling T. rex dinosaur model. The PNSO Aaron the little T. rex.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The T. rex model (above) come from the PNSO range of dinosaurs.

To view this range: PNSO Age of Dinosaurs Models.

We are glad all the children had a great time and thanks again for the super drawing Edith.

To learn more about the team at Everything Dinosaur: About Us.

Jupiter and Saturn Classes Study Dinosaurs

It certainly was a “dinotastic” day for children in Jupiter and Saturn classes at Weston Rhyn Primary, as these two classes spent the day learning all about prehistoric animals and fossils.  In a morning of dinosaur themed activities, the Year5/6 class (Jupiter), learned that sometimes animals believed extinct prove to be very much still with us, a little bit of homework for Mrs Jones (teaching assistant), as she was challenged to conduct some research into Coelacanths.  In addition, under the enthusiastic tutelage of the class’s teaching team the children had created a Mesozoic timeline listing all the geological periods that make up the so called “Age of Dinosaurs”.

Children Make Dinosaur Fossils

This gave our dinosaur expert an opportunity to check understanding and also allowed him to furnish the class teacher with some fact sheets to help populate the timeline with various well-known dinosaurs.  The budding young palaeontologists had a go at fossil casting as well as exploring the link between dinosaurs and birds.  Some of the children have chickens at home (one pupil even had quails).  Could they take a photograph of the bird’s feet – ample evidence here of the link between our feathered friends and meat-eating dinosaurs.

For models of iconic prehistoric creatures and replicas of fossil animals: Models, Replica Fossils, Toys and Games.

Plenty of Evidence of a Rich and Varied Teaching Programme in Key Stage 2

Excavating their own fossils.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The fossil handling activities proved very popular and the Year 5/6 children were given the opportunity to work scientifically, investigating a strange fossil found at the bottom of a coal mine in Illinois (United States of America).

Saturn Class Get Busy with Dinosaur Research

In the afternoon, it was the turn of Saturn class and the children grappled enthusiastically with the problem of what to call a new dinosaur species.   We used a real life example to demonstrate some of the pitfalls when it comes to naming a new dinosaur, especially one with “big thighs”.  Not wishing to see Mrs Owen (teaching assistant), left out, our dinosaur expert asked her to find out about Sir Richard Owen, the English anatomist and scientist who was given the task of coming up with a name to describe what we now know as the Dinosauria.

Perhaps, Mrs Owen might even be distantly related to Sir Richard, we sent over some links and further information about the founder of the Natural History Museum (London) and asked the children could they design their very own blue plaque like the one erected at Sir Richard’s old school in Lancaster?

To learn more about Everything Dinosaur’s outreach work: Email Everything Dinosaur.

A Busy Day for Everything Dinosaur

All in all, it was a very busy day for our team member.  There were lots of questions from the children, he did his best to answer them all.  Even the tricky ones about how Velociraptor is wrongly portrayed in movies.  Once back in the office, there was just time to email over the promised extension plans and further teaching resources to help the school’s term topic before moving onto the next dinosaur teaching assignment.  The resources and additional information should help enrich the children’s learning experience and who knows, Weston Rhyn Primary might just produce some famous scientists in the future, perhaps some who will go on to be as famous as Sir Richard Owen!

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

Children at Broom Valley Community School Study Dinosaurs

The children in Foundation Stage 2 at Broom Valley Community School (South Yorkshire), have been getting to grips with prehistoric animals as they have been studying dinosaurs this term.  The two classes, Kangaroos and Badgers, had a visit from “Dino Mike” of Everything Dinosaur, he showed them real fossils which helped to explain just how big some dinosaurs could be.  With the help of the enthusiastic teaching team, the budding young palaeontologists have been taking part in lots of creative and fun activities all geared towards helping them develop confidence with numeracy and literacy.

Let’s Explore Dinosaurs

Lots of Colourful Prehistoric Animals on Display to Inspire the Children

Plenty of prehistoric animals on display.

Picture credit: Broom Valley Community Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Workshop Activities

During the workshops, the class teachers Miss Priddle (Kangaroos) and Mrs Reilly (Badgers) were encouraged to take lots of photographs of the activities.  These pictures can then be used to assist the children with a recount/recall activity to support learning.  To help the children gain an understanding of what it is like to dig for dinosaur bones, a corner of one of the classrooms had been turned into a dinosaur dig site.  A member of the teaching team had made some salt dough dinosaur bones over the weekend and with the brushes and magnifying glasses at the ready, we are sure the children will have a super time excavating all the dinosaur bones.

Going on a Classroom Dinosaur Dig

A super hands on activity for FS2.

Picture credit: Broom Valley Community Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

It is great to see such imaginative ideas being used in school to help enthuse and engage children.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

If you don’t have time to make the salt dough bones, dog owners might like to take a look at any dog biscuits they have around the house for their pet.  There are usually a number of bone shaped biscuits in the packet and these make excellent “dinosaur fossils” for children to dig up and explore.

Dinosaur Workshop Extension Ideas

As part of the visit, the team member from Everything Dinosaur provided a number of additional teaching resources and ideas to help support the term topic.  From an exercise comparing and measuring dinosaur footprints to information on a newly discovered dinosaur that is going to feature in a forthcoming BBC television documentary.  Naturally, we were also happy to send over some drawing materials for the children.  We challenged Badgers and Kangaroos to have a go at labelling the drawings.  Could they name the various parts of an Ankylosaurus or a Tyrannosaurus rex?

Could the young scientists think of suitable describing words to include on their drawings?  We certainly had plenty of describing words when we looked at the jaw bones of a Triceratops, the children came up with a most impressive list – gigantic, massive, huge, giant – well done Kangaroos and Badgers!

A Challenge to Label a Dinosaur Drawing

Use dinosaurs to help children develop their vocabulary.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur