Discovering

Dinosaurs

TITLE OF LESSON PLAN: Discovering Dinosaurs

LENGTH OF LESSON: One to Two class periods

GRADE LEVEL: 3-4

SUBJECT AREA: Earth Science

Class Planning

Objectives

Students will:

1.Know these animals that once lived on earth and that have completely dissapeared.

2. Understand theories about what dinosaurs were like but that paleontologists don't really know for sure.

3. Describe how evidence is used to try to determine what a dinosaur looked like and how it behaved

4. Get better understanding about what fossils are.

5. Will make their own dinosaur that they can name after themselves.

Vocabulary for the class• adaptationAdjustment to environmental conditions; modification of an organism or its parts that makes it more fit for existence under the conditions of its environment.

• fossilA remnant, impression, or trace of an organism of past geologic ages that has been preserved in the Earth's crust.

• predatorOne that preys, destroys, or devours; an animal that lives by predation.

• preyAn animal taken by a predator as food.

Activities

Pre Activities.

Warming up:

•Distribute copies of the “What happened here?” and ask students if they have any idea of what is the picture about. Give them some tips if necessary.

•Ask them what they think that dinosaurs were like.

•Ask them if they have ever seen a real living dinosaur. Why?, Why not?

• Ask them if they have ever seen a re-creation of a dinosaur in a movie or on television. Ask them to name some movies in which they have seen these things. You can also ask them to name some places where they have seen or could see dinosaur skeletons or models.

• Explain to students that dinosaurs lived so long ago that no human being has ever seen a real one, which means that the best we can do is have theories about what they looked like and how they behaved.

While Activities:•Show them “What remains?” worksheet and ask to compare both images.

•Work in small groups: ask your students to use the skeleton picture to guess what the whole dinosaur looked like with its muscles and skin; then ask them to draw their ideas.

•Tell them about fossils , and explain that fossils include dinosaur bones, dinosaur footprints, dinosaur teeth, and even dinosaur eggs.

Give them “Dinosaur Footprint” worksheet and ask them some question to discuss in the same groups.

e.g.

• Why these footprints are different if both belong to dinosaurs?

• How do scientists know which dinosaurs were predators and

which were prey? What evidence do they have?

•Etc.

Post Activities

Students will make their own

conclusions.

Make your own dinosaur

1

2

3

•Finally as a extension of the activity children will watch the video ”Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaur”

EvaluationFor each of the activities, students should be evaluated on how

well they can support their conclusions about dinosaurs and

dinosaur behavior. For each claim (e.g., “I think this dinosaur

ran quickly”), students must be able to point to some part of the

picture that supports their idea.

Weblinks for further information•http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/plesio.html

Anning's Plesiosaurs contains three excellent photographs of plesiosaur skeletons suitable for the exercise described in this lesson in which students use photographs to hypothesize what an animal would have actually looked like.

•http://www.dinosaurstatepark.org/inside.html

The site for Dinosaur State Park, located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, tells about an active dinosaur dig. It features many other dinosaur-related links.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/tlc-dinosaurs/index.html

http://www.preschooleducation.com/cdinosaur.shtm

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Trexcutout.shtml

LinksLinks