Roar!

Following our Winter theme, we moved into a study of dinosaurs!  While knowledge of dinosaurs was varied in our classroom, everyone was excited to engage in new activities and learn about these fascinating creatures.  The children were inquisitive and sparked great discussions and research asking questions such as, What dinosaurs lived where we are?  Why do scientists study poop?  What dinosaurs could swim?  What are the different spikes on the dinosaurs' backs?  Embedded within our study, the children practiced weighing and measuring, counting, listening for important information, collaboration and inquiry.

Dramatic Play:

Our dramatic play area was a dinosaur dig.  The children were paleontologists using tools (paint brushes) to uncover dinosaur bones.  Once bones were found, they were carefully moved to the skeleton building site where they were pieced together like a puzzle by our paleontologists.  Finally, the students referenced dinosaur posters to discover which dinosaur's bones they had uncovered and then drew a picture of the skeleton.

Also, at dramatic play was a fossil discovery center.  The children chose from a group of fossils, determined whether it was a fossil of a plant or animal, used the balance scale to weigh the fossil to determine how many dinosaurs it would balance, measured the fossils length and then drew a picture.  Lots of skills practiced!

Block Center:

At the block center, the children used bristle blocks or wooden blocks to create a habitat for the dinosaurs.

Game:

The children played Dinosaur Rescue, a cooperative game in which they try to save their dinosaurs before building a volcano.

After reading a nonfiction book about T-Rex, we wondered how long an average T-Rex really was (40 feet).  In order to help the children picture this length, we went into the hallway and the children laid down on the floor head to toe.  We discovered that a T-Rex is about the same length as all of the students in our class laying in a line!

Facts that the children learned about T-Rex.

To help the children better understand the relative size of the T-Rex, I showed them a life size footprint.  The students then placed one shoe inside the footprint and we discovered that one T-Rex footprint was about the size of all of their footprints combined!

During circle time, our Question of the Day asked the children if they have ever seen a dinosaur at a museum or if they would have liked to live during the time of dinosaurs.  We also attempted to look at the different heights of dinosaurs by using our play dinosaurs.  Each child chose a dinosaur and then measured it's height using cubes.  Next, the children sat in order from the tallest dinosaur to the shortest.  We talked about what we observed about the tallest dinosaurs (often walked on two legs, had sharp teeth so they were meat eaters) versus the shorter dinosaurs (walked on four feet, had defenses such as armor, plates, horns).  Last we looked at how our blocks showed the different heights of the dinosaurs too.

Science:

Our dinosaur science experiment involved growing dinosaurs.  Each student chose a dinosaur and measured it using a centimeter ruler.  The children also used their five senses to describe the dinosaurs.  Then they placed them in water.  After a weekend, the children took their dinosaurs out of the water and measured them.  They also described the dinosaurs using their five senses once again.  The children were amazed at how much they had grown!

Before and after observations:

Our final dinosaur activity involved a cooperative project.  The students used toilet paper and paper towel rolls as bones to create a fossilized skeleton of a dinosaur.  Some of the groups tried to make real dinosaurs like a triceratops or brontosaurus, while other groups made up their own dinosaur- the eight-leg-osaurus.

Mr. Ken paid a visit again and sang a song to the book Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak.

Outdoor Play!