Dinosaurs Galore!

After visiting the Natural Science and History museum, my students were buzzing about dinosaurs. I figured I could engage and target all my boys by doing this theme so we did several fun activities with dinosaurs! First off, the PBSkids show "Dinosaur Train" was my main hub for dinosaur videos/games. Of course, the kids were hooked on the little characters and enjoyed the animation. The "Field Guide" allowed me to introduce various dinosaurs everyday that the students really loved to learn about. They were most taken aback by how large or small dinosaurs were.

I read aloud the first Magic Tree House book "Dinosaurs Before Dark." Mary Pope Osborne uses very rich vocabulary, so as a class we chose words that we didn't know, defined them, and wrote them in a circle map.

I also created a Brace Map to break up the parts of the Mesozoic Era. While looking at dinosaurs on the Dinosaur Train Field Guide, we classified each dinosaur in each Period (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous). I would have extended the Map into a Tree Map for the classification of Biped/Quadruped, however, there wasn't enough room on the paper so I just left it at that. Here is a picture.

I also had the students write a compare and contrast essay for animals that look like dinosaurs. The students had a lot of fun doing this one.  I first explained what a Double Bubble was by comparing the Ankylosaurus to the Armadillo. I showed a picture on the Activboard so the students could share with their partners what they observe.

Remember, the colors are purposeful in Thinking Maps! After we did this, I handed the students a picture of a dinosaur/animal. They then carefully produced their Double Bubbles and filled in the information.  The kids worked so hard and were so engaged, it was actually very quiet! I think lightbulbs went off in their heads about animal ancestry but I'll leave it at that. Here are some examples.

This was the first time I had introduced a Double Bubble to them and they did a great job! Once we finished those, I modeled how to use the information from my Pre-writing Double Bubble to write the Compare/Contrast Essay. I always remind them, "You already did the hard work! Just take exactly what you wrote on your Map and write in your journal." And they always say, "OHHHHHH." Haha, makes them feel better. Anyway, After modeling how to write the essay, I turned it over to the kiddos to write a rough draft, then final draft. They did such a great job and were so proud of themselves, we chose this writing selection to go into the Permanent Folder as part of their First Grade Portfolio. And since I already started on those folders, the writing examples are filed away, so no pictures. 

A fun little activity we also did was a reading response activity with the book Dinosaurs Love Underpants. This fiction story is HILARIOUS and gives and absurd theory of why the dinosaurs became extinct....because they fought over each other's underwear!!!! The kids were cracking up the whole time I read this story and while they were doing the activity. For the activity, I created a worksheet with a pair on undies on them. They had to decorate their undies and use adjectives to describe their undies. Some came out super cute! Check them out.

I had a lot of fun teaching this unit. Next one: SPACE!!!!