Year 1 and Year 2 Send Everything Dinosaur Thank You Letters

Another trip to Yorkshire, a county we know very well, not just because of all the schools we visit but also because we have been on plenty of fossil hunting expeditions in that part of the world.  Year 1 and Year 2 pupils at Hoylandswaine Primary had been studying fossils and Everything Dinosaur’s visit helped reinforce their learning.  We were asked lots of questions about Mary Anning, the children had been studying the lady who “sells sea shells on the sea shore”.  They were fascinated by the ichthyosaur fossils and the huge ammonites.

Everything Dinosaur

We were also asked lots of questions about extinction events and our dinosaur experts then challenged the children to write a thank you letter in return for the fossil themed activities that they had been involved with.  We set one of our “pinkie palaeontologist challenges” to the class – could they start the letter correctly?  What about the punctuation?  How would they end their letter to us?

Setting a creative writing challenge is just one of the  many extension activities that arise out of Everything Dinosaur’s fossil workshops.  The children set about their task that afternoon and under the enthusiastic tutelage of their teachers, soon all the children had completed letters.

An Example of One of the Thank You Letters Received

Jacob loved learning all about Spinosaurus.

Picture credit: Pupil (Hoylandswaine Primary School)

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s website to view the large range of prehistoric animal models available: Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animal Models.

Teacher Says Thank You

The teacher wrote us a short note, which was included in the envelope that contained the children’s letters.

Miss Birkinshaw wrote:

“Thank you for visiting us.  The children really did have a fantastic morning”.

Teacher Praises Everything Dinosaur

“The children really did have a fantastic morning.”

Easy and Fun Dinosaur Chocolate Nests Recipe

Here is an easy and fun dinosaur chocolate nests recipe to help teaching professionals widen the range of activities undertaken in a dinosaur themed teaching topic.  These little treats are very tasty but we are careful to point out the benefits of fruit and vegetables when we are working with children and explaining the diets of some prehistoric animals.

Dinosaur Chocolate Nests

This is a simple and fun recipe aimed at young dinosaur fans, a recipe to make dinosaur chocolate nests.  This is a great activity for the Easter holidays or as the Easter holiday approaches.

Dinosaur Chocolate Nests – What you Need

Ingredients – (makes a batch of about 8 to 10 dinosaur  nests)

• Plain or Milk cooking Chocolate 225 grammes (8oz)
• Packet of Breakfast Cereal Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat variety
• Packet of Sugar Coated Mini-chocolate Eggs
• Pack of Small Cake Cases

There is measuring involved so this is a useful exercise in itself, along with a little bit of mixing.  Please take care when supervising the children when it comes to melting the chocolate.

Here’s Some we Made Earlier – Dinosaur Chocolate Nests

Super dinosaur chocolate nests which are fun and easy to make.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For instructions on how to make these tasty, dinosaur chocolate nests: Tasty Dinosaur Chocolate Nests.

These chocolate nests also make super cakes for a dinosaur themed party.  Don’t forget to include plenty of salad such as our “sauropod salad” with plenty of crunchy lettuce leaves and “Cretaceous cress”.

To view the large range of educational toys and games available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Toys, Games and Models.

Schematic Story Maps Help Visual Learners

Children at Wroxton Primary School demonstrated their knowledge to our dinosaur experts during a dinosaur workshop with Year 1.  Under their teacher’s supervision the children had been producing simple stories that map out some of the theories for the extinction of the dinosaurs.  The children were able to demonstrate their learning and there was plenty of evidence of this posted up on the classroom walls and on their display table.

Dinosaur Workshop

The teaching team members at Everything Dinosaur tend to favour the K-W-L technique for charting the course of a term topic (what you know, what you would like to know and what you have learned).  This three-stage approach is very popular, but the schematic maps that the children had created were certainly powerful learning tools.

An Example of a Schematic Story Map

Visual cues to help young children recall facts about dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Schematic Story Map

The maps were greatly appreciated by the children, they enjoyed helping to make them and it clearly assisted them when it came to recalling activities.  This was a tremendous asset for visual learners.  At Everything Dinosaur, we recommend using the K-W-L methodology to help plan, record and measure the achievement of learning objectives.  However, there are a number of different techniques available to teaching professionals and this mapping method certainly proved to be effective for these Key Stage 1 pupils.

Everything Dinosaur

To see the range of prehistoric animal themed gifts and toys available from Everything Dinosaur including models of ammonites: Dinosaur Models, Replica Fossils and Gifts.

Year 1 Study Dinosaurs All Morning

Year 1 children at Christ Church Primary School (Stoke-on-Trent, England), were visited by Everything Dinosaur and they took part in a series of fossil themed activities as part of a dinosaur workshop.  The children had been learning about life in the past over the spring term and they were keen to demonstrate their knowledge and to explain to our expert how fossils were formed.

A team member from Everything Dinosaur had been invited to attend the school and conduct a dinosaur workshop with the enthusiastic young palaeontologists.  The classroom was filled with examples of the children’s work, including some excellent posters and clay models of dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Workshop

As part of our work with the children, we challenged them to have a go at casting museum quality replica fossils from the company’s own extensive fossil collection.  We compared our bones and bodies to that of a typical dinosaur (ornithopod) and we learned all about how the dinosaurs lived and when they become extinct.

An Example of the Writing Extension Exercise

Helping to encourage young children with their writing. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Our dinosaur expert set a “pinkie palaeontologist challenge”, could the children write a thank you letter to Everything Dinosaur?  Would they be able to use proper sentences?  What would be the best way to start the letter and to conclude it?  Could they include a comment about their favourite part of the morning?

With the teaching team’s help the children set about this challenge in the afternoon.  A few days letter we received a set of thirty thank you letters from the children.  In this instance, dinosaurs as a subject area is helping Lower Key Stage 1 children to write more confidently and to expand their vocabularies.

To see the extensive range of toys and gifts available from Everything Dinosaur: Everything Dinosaur Toys and Games.