PROGRAM 7

Dinosaursu GET READY TO WATCHInvite the dinosaur “fans” in the classroom to bring in their collec-tions of plastic and stuffed dinosaurs. Set them on display alongwith a selection of books about dinosaurs. Have students makelabels (an index card folded in half will stand up) identifying eachdinosaur on display.

Find out what students know about dinosaurs by brainstorming two lists: “Facts about Dinosaurs” and “Dinosaur Fiction.” Write the students’ ideas on cards and put them in a pocket chart underthe appropriate heading. Display the lists so they can be modifiedby moving cards from one list to the other. Keep a supply of blankcards handy so that additional discoveries can be added to the two lists.

u TALK ABOUTThrough fossils, we have learned much about plant and animal lifefrom long ago. Discuss the ways that fossils tell “stories.” What aresome ways that we learn about plants and animals today throughthe stories that nature tells? (For example, animal tracks and foodleavings, animal homes, a tree’s rings, seed dispersal, and manyothers.)

u CURRICULUM INTEGRATION ACTIVITIESScienceMake dinosaur trading cards. Just as there are trading cards forathletes, there can be dinosaur trading cards. Have studentsresearch dinosaurs and choose four they would like to use as subjects for trading cards. (There will likely be some overlap in their choices, but encourage them to choose as many differentdinosaurs as possible.) On one side of the card, have them draw a picture of the dinosaur. On the other side, include the followinginformation: Name of dinosaur; Size; What it eats; Interesting fact.Use the cards for additional activities (see below), and then allowstudents to do some trading with friends.

Introduce the concepts of “carnivore,” “herbivore,” and “omnivore.”As students research dinosaurs, they will discover that some aremeat-eaters, some are plant-eaters, and some eat both. Using thestick puppets they made (see “Art”), have students play a chantinggame, “Dinosaur, Dinosaur, What Do You Eat?” To play, all studentschant, “(insert dinosaur name), (repeat), what do you eat?” Thechild (or children) who have that puppet respond. For example,“Apatosaurus, Apatosaurus, what do you eat?” “I’m an herbivore,and I eat plants.”

Construct a Venn diagram comparing dinosaurs with present-dayreptiles as students learn more about dinosaurs.

u Program Description

Special investigator Celia and her friends,Crinkleroot and Bud, search for clues tothe mystery of dinosaurs. Viewers learnabout the work of a paleontologist, howfossils reveal the sizes and types ofdinosaurs, and how dinosaur traits canbe compared with those of various livinganimals. Celia compares a plaster cast ofher own foot to that of a tyrannosaurusrex to illustrate how tall this dinosaur waswhen it roamed the earth 65 million yearsago. Crinkleroot and a young scientistdemonstrate how they can dig for theirown make-believe fossils and create theirown dinosaurs from foil, wire, and clay.By following the trail of fossilized remainsand using a little imagination, viewers dis-cover the ancient world of dinosaurs!

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

31D I N O S A U R S

Language ArtsPose the question, “What happened to the dinosaurs?” Invite students to use their imagination, as well as information, and writewhat they think happened. Have them illustrate their stories anddisplay all of them on a bulletin board.

Invite students to imagine that they have a pet dinosaur. Brainstorma list of tips for caring for such a pet. Have each student chooseone of the suggestions to illustrate. Bind the pages into a hand-book, “Caring for Your Pet Dinosaur.”

MathHave students sort the dinosaurs into categories of carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore. Using the information from the student-made trading cards, invite them to think of other ways to classifythe dinosaurs (e.g., dinosaurs that lived primarily on land, water, or air). They might also use the cards to arrange the dinosaurs by size.

Have students measure and draw the tooth of a tyrannosaurus rex(6 inches). Then have them locate objects in the classroom thatthey estimate to be about the same length. Measure to verify estimates. A spike on the tail of a stegosaurus is 2 feet long.Measure and draw a spike, and use it as an alternative unit of measurement by having students estimate the length of the classroom in stegosaurus spikes. Have students suggest otheritems to measure in tyrannosaurus teeth or stegosaurus spikes.

Social StudiesAsk students what they would like future scientists to know abouttheir lives in the present day. Archaeologists and paleontologistslearned what we know about dinosaurs from digging up and study-ing their bones. Cut out a large paper time capsule outline. Havestudents search magazines and catalogs for pictures of items theythink represent life today, cut out the pictures, and glue them ontothe outline. If they cannot locate pictures of some items they thinkare essential for the time capsule, have them make drawings andglue them on. Provide time for students to explain their choices.

Learn about dinosaur geography. As students do their research ondinosaurs for the trading cards, they will likely find informationabout where some dinosaur bones were located. As these placesare mentioned, pinpoint them on a world map with a word label ofthe dinosaur’s name.

ArtHave students make dinosaurs from clay or clay dough. Displaytheir creations against a student-made mural that shows what theworld might have looked like in the time the dinosaurs lived.

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

u Crinkleroot’s Corner

When the large teeth andbones of dinosaurs were first

discovered, scientists wondered whatkind of animals these belonged to.Eventually they decided that the animalswere reptiles and, in 1841, named them“dinosaurs,” which means “terriblelizard.” New kinds of dinosaurs are beingdiscovered all the time. Scientists believethere must be hundreds more that havenot yet been discovered.

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33D I N O S A U R S

u CRINKLEROOT SAYS, “DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?”

Check out the local library or bookstorefor these books about dinosaurs:

Aliki. Dinosaurs Are Different. Crowell, 1985.

Aliki. My Visit to the Dinosaurs. Crowell, 1985.

Barton, Byron. Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones. Crowell, 1990.

Baylor, Byrd. If You Are a Hunter of Fossils.Illus. by Peter Parnall. Scribner, 1980.

Blumenthal, Nancy. Count-a Saurus.Illus by Robert Jay Kaufman. Four Winds, 1989.

Branley, Franklin. What Happened to the Dinosaurs?Illus. by Marc Simont. Crowell, 1989.

Carrick, Carol. What Happened to Patrick’s Dinosaurs?Illus. by Donald Carrick. Clarion, 1986.

Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus in the Time of Dinosaurs.Illus. by Bruce Degen. Scholastic, 1994.

Gibbons, Gail. Dinosaurs. Holiday House, 1987.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett (compiler). Dinosaurs.Illus. by Murray Tinkelman. Harcourt Brace, 1987. (poetry)

Lauber, Patricia. Dinosaurs Walked Here and Other StoriesFossils Tell. Bradbury, 1987.

Lauber, Patricia. The News About Dinosaurs. Bradbury, 1989.

Most, Bernard. The Littlest Dinosaurs. Harcourt Brace, 1989.

Most, Bernard. How Big Were the Dinosaurs?Harcourt Brace, 1994.

Murphy, Jim. The Last Dinosaur. Illus. by Mark Alan Weatherby. Scholastic, 1988.

Pallotta, Jerry. The Dinosaur Alphabet Book.Illus. by Ralph Masiello. Charlesbridge, 1991.

Parish, Peggy. Dinosaur Time. HarperCollins, 1974.

Prelutsky, Jack. Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast.Illus. by Arnold Lobel. Greenwillow, 1988. (poetry)

Sattler, Helen Roney. Baby Dinosaurs.Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1984.

Schwartz, Henry. How I Captured a Dinosaur.Illus. by Amy Schwartz. Orchard, 1989.

Simon, Seymour. New Questions and Answers about Dinosaurs.Illus. by Jennifer Dewey. Morrow, 1990.

Simon, Seymour. The Largest Dinosaurs. Macmillan, 1986.

Wilkes, Angela. The Big Book of Dinosaurs. DK, 1994.

u Sass’s SceneMake a dinosaur bone. Materialsneeded include: cardboard rolls,such as paper towel or gift wrap;a paste mixture of flour and water;strips of newspaper; and maskingtape. To make the bone, crushballs of newspaper and tapethem to the ends of a cardboardroll. Dip strips of newspaper into thepaste mixture (removing excess paste by running the strips between two fingers) and place them over the entirebone. Add about three or four layers ofthese strips. Shape the ends of bones byadding paper strips until the ends have a bone shape. Allow the bone to dry andthen paint.

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

Additional ResourcesAll About Dinosaurs! Internet site:http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/

3-D Dinosaur Adventure. CD-ROM. Knowledge Adventure, 1996.

Digging Up Dinosaurs. Reading Rainbow video. GPN.

Dinosaur. Eyewitness video. DK, 1994.

Prehistoric Animals. Amazing Animals video. DK, 1997.

©1998 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved.Teachers who have purchased this Backyard Safari Backyard Safari Teacher’s Guide are granted permission to reproduce pages from this book for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source mustappear on all copies of pages.) In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN.

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