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Lesson Plans and Activities:
[ All Ages | Grades K-3 | Grades 4-8 ]

All Ages [top]

• Teacher Created Materials, Inc. has granted us permission to display a few of their lesson plans found in "Thematic Unit: Dinosaurs." The book can be found at their website: http://www.teachercreated.com/ or by looking for ISBN-1-55734-238-5. The classroom teacher may reproduce copies of these materials for classroom use only. The reproduction of any part for an entire school or school system is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be transmitted, stored, or recorded in any form without written permission from the publisher. With that said, head to the files! Thematic Unit: Dinosaurs TCM 238
  
  
• After Trek 2, set up your own dig site. "Fossils," can be simply cut out of 3/4" plywood. Make sure that the plywood has been sealed with a weather sealer. For ideas on dinosaurs to bury, try to find a wooded model and just increase the scale size of the model. (These can be found in various learning stores and museum gift shops. Prices range from about $20-$50, and one piece of plywood can go a long way.) Bury the individual pieces in different types of soils (ie. sand, clay, gravel and small rocks) so that different types of tools will have to be utilized. You can make this as difficult or as easy as you want depending on the age group. Scatter all the pieces out and try to have the kids piece them together, or bury preassembled sections for an easier dig for younger kids--or for older kids as well (It can be harder to excavate all the soil from the nooks and crannies of an assembled section. Have them journal problems that they might encounter and discuss. For little kids, top off the event with a snack-chocolate pudding with animal crackers buried in them. They make tasty mini dig sites!
  
  
• Using the Internet, team up with another classroom to complete a dinosaur project. Pair up the students accordingly. A small project might use two-person teams (one student from each school)that research a dinosaur and write a report together shared through email. A more complex project might include up to four-person teams (two students from each school) that work together to design a powerpoint presentation viewable via the WWW. Use the messageboard found in the For Teachers section to post ideas for collaborative projects. Don't forget to include your email address, so that other teachers can reply to your post. You can also set up special chat sessions using our Chat Room to discuss different ideas.
  

Grades K-3 [top]

• A good starting point with this age group would look at what dinosaurs the kids already know. Have them tell you while you help them with spellings. Make a list on the board. Which ones are their favorites? What are the most popular ones? Have the kids draw a picture of their favorite one and use it as a cover to a dino journal. They can use this as a notebook to take notes in during Trek 1 and 2. Then they can use it during Trek 3 to help them figure out the different clues.
  
  
• While in Trek 2, have kids use their imagination and write a journal about what it would be like to work at a dig site. What would their day be like. Start with the first thing they do after they wake up and go all the way until the last thing they do before they go to bed. Share these with the class.

• In Trek 1, encourage students to find as many different dinosaurs as they can. (See the Dino List) Also encourage them to keep track of the various time eras they have been in as well as what areas they have visited and the dinosaurs that they found there. Help students out with what should be recorded in their notes. Examples would be: characteristics of a prosauropod, environment of the Triassic Period, eating habits of a T-Rex, etc. They will need to know this stuff for Trek 3. Also your test or quiz questions could come directly from the notes they take. Even in Trek 2 they will need to take notes. Examples would be: what are the steps in preparing a fossil for transportation, what tools don't paleontologists use when excavating fossils.