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.

A Creative Approach to Literacy and Numeracy Using Dinosaurs

Teachers can often find it quite challenging to settle children down in a reception class after spending time in nursery and yet it is important to help children make the transition towards more cognitive and structured learning.  Children move into reception from nursery schooling from around the age of four and nursery schools within the country operate a curriculum based around what is termed the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).  This statutory framework sets out the standards that young children are to reach and provides the guidelines to help teaching professionals ensure that children learn and develop in healthy, stimulating and safe environments.

Dinosaurs

At the heart of the Early Years Foundation Stage is the need to develop the broad range of personal and group skills a  young child will need as they grow up and enter more formal education.  This framework helps to provide an appropriate foundation for the child’s academic career.  It has been subject to a number of revisions, the three key areas of a child’s communication and language development in conjunction with their physical well-being and their personal, social and emotional development have become even more central to the core aims of this Government initiative and this, surprisingly is where dinosaurs can help.

Children from around 36 months can begin to gain an appreciation of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.  It is surprising what they can pick up from the many television documentaries, films and books dedicated to dinosaurs that these children are exposed to.  Many young children can obsess on dinosaurs and it is surprising how quickly they can learn the long, often complicated names of dinosaurs such as Tyrannnosaurus rex and Triceratops.

An Affinity for All Things Dinosauria

If children have a natural affinity for all things Dinosauria, then this fascination can be used to help them develop improved literacy and numeracy skills.  For example, when helping children to form sentences and the meaning of words,  a picture of a dinosaur with a speech bubble can help the child to consider what the dinosaur might be thinking or even saying.  The child can be encouraged to explore feelings and emotions using the dinosaur as an exemplar.

Using a Dinosaur to Help a Child Explore Emotions

Exploring emotions and helping to construct sentences.

Illustration credit: Everything Dinosaur

The same dinosaur picture can help a nursery school child with their numeracy skills.  Counting games can be devised such as counting the number of legs the dinosaur might have or the horns on its head for instance.  Dinosaur models make great counters for use in many numeracy based exercises, they are tactile and easy to handle and the games can be developed with the children encouraged to sort their dinosaurs into different groups based on simple criteria such as sorting by size, by colour and by which ones might be meat-eaters and which ones the herbivores.

An early fascination with dinosaurs and prehistoric animals can help a creative teacher to devise imaginative learning games thus helping their young charges to learn whilst having fun in a supportive environment.

Take a look at the educational, dinosaur themed items available from Everything Dinosaur: Models of Fossils and Dinosaur Themed Toys and Games.

U.S. Research Suggest English School Children doing Better in Maths but Slipping When it Comes to Science

Everything Dinosaur reports on falling standards in schools in science knowledge and understanding.

In today’s busy world where UK-based businesses are having to compete in a truly global market place, governments and educational institutions are eager to see how their country’s pupils fare when compared to students from other nations.  There are a number of studies undertaken, most are published either annually or every two years.  In research published by U.S. based academics, pupils from England are showing signs of improving in mathematics, but their national ranking in the sciences is falling.

Everything Dinosaur

The research, compiled by academics at Boston College in the United States covers the results from two influential studies, the four-yearly trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, known by the acronym TIMSS and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).  The American research team have compared the results in key subjects from pupils in over sixty countries.  Northern Ireland is doing particularly well when the attainments of primary school children are examined, whilst England is still in the top ten countries for primary and secondary mathematics.

The highest rankings in this global education league table have been taken by Asian countries and reflect the growing emphasis on the education of children in rapidly growing economies.  The UK Census from 2011, may show that more citizens of the United Kingdom have a degree than ever before but when the efforts of younger pupils are analysed it is the students from Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea that take the honours when it comes to doing best at maths.

In the Global Top Ten for Mathematics

England remains in the global top ten for mathematics, 9th for primary school aged pupils and 10th when it comes to secondary aged students.  The study highlights England as being one of the most improved countries in terms of mathematics over the last fifteen years or so, however, the outlook for the sciences is nowhere near as rosy.

English school pupils fall from 7th place (ranking in 2007) to 15th amongst primary aged school pupils (ten-year-olds) for science.  In secondary aged pupils this trend was also seen, with fourteen-year-olds falling from 5th down to 9th over the same five year period.

The Top Ranked Countries for Attainment in Primary School Science

1. South Korea
2. Singapore
3. Finland
4. Japan
5. Russian Federation
6. Taiwan
7. United States of America
8. Czech Republic
9. Hong Kong
10. Hungary

15.  England (down from 7th place)

Report author and Boston College professor, Michael Martin commented that the best-performing countries in these league tables are a reflection of the long-term investments in education made by governments.

Professor Martin stated:

“One thing you can learn from these is what’s possible.  That comes as a shock sometimes, what students in other countries can actually do and the gap sometimes between what your students are achieving and what students in other countries are achieving”.

England ranks relatively highly, despite slipping in science, it is pleasing to see the ranking in mathematics is still holding up when one considers the rapid globalisation and development in other countries, particularly those in the Far East.

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur, one of the teachers in the company who helps write lesson plans for primary school education providers stated:

“It is important to praise the efforts of the teachers, the teaching assistants and administrators who work extremely hard to deliver excellent teaching schemes helping to inspire and motivate the next generation of scientists.”

The Foundation Stage “wonder wall” full of dinosaur facts and information (Carlton Primary School).  Praising the efforts of teaching staff for their creative approach to subjects.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A good grounding in maths and science subjects is very important for school pupils, especially when one considers the future jobs market.  Helping young children learn about science principles such as observation, investigation and evaluation through their fascination with dinosaurs is a key aim of Everything Dinosaur’s teaching staff.

Today, Everything Dinosaur team members provided information on swimming dinosaurs, fact sheets, discussed plesiosaurs, the evolution of the Dinosauria – just some of the range of subjects covered when contacted by school teachers, museum staff etc.   All in a days work!

For educational prehistoric animal themed gifts and museum quality dinosaur models visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur – Dinosaur Themed Gifts.