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Monthly Themes

Dinosaurs

Writing Prompt

Description:

Fossils tell us a dinosaur's size. No records exist, though, of their color or sound. Have students describe how their favorite dinosaur might have looked and sounded.

Activities

Grades K–2: Language Arts
Dinosaur Stories

Have each of your students create an adventure story about dinosaurs. Younger students can dictate their stories.

Grades K–2: Art
Colorful Dinosaurs

Your students can create dinosaurs to decorate the classroom.

Grades K–3: Art/Science
Dinosaur Flip

Your students can make dinosaur flip books.

  • Just for Kids (T. rex)
  • http://www.fieldmuseum.org/sue/justforkids.asp
  • Just for Kids (Triceratops)
  • http://www.fieldmuseum.org/sue/justforkids_4.asp
Grades 1–2: Art
Make Your Own Fossil

Dinosaurs once roamed the land we now inhabit. Your students probably won't find fossils in the playground, but they can make their own fossils out of pasta and potting soil.

Grades 1–3: Art/Science
Dinosaur Museum

Have your students construct dinosaurs and write descriptions of them. Then arrange the completed dinosaurs in your classroom to create a mini-museum.

Grades 1–8: Art
Color, Cut, and Balance

It's a real balancing act when students create dinosaur mobiles. Hang the dangling masterpieces around the classroom to make your own Jurassic Park.

Grades 1–8: Science
Quizzes

Test students' knowledge about dinosaurs.

  • Dinosaurs (grades 1–3) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_1-3_quiz.pdf
  • Dinosaurs Answer Key (grades 1–3) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_1-3_quiz_key.pdf
  • Dinosaurs (grades 4–8) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_4-8_quiz.pdf
  • Dinosaurs Answer Key (grades 4–8) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_4-8_quiz_key.pdf
Grades 2–3: Science, Mathematics
Size Comparisons

Students estimate how big some dinosaurs were in comparison to cars or school buses.

Grades 2–6: Science
Dinosaur Stamp

Invite students to make a stamp of a favorite dinosaur. Students can use a drawing or a picture on one side and then include basic facts about the reptile on the other side.

Grades 2–6: Science
Build a Skeleton

In this game, students try to construct a dinosaur skeleton in the fastest time possible. The game offers four levels of play.

Grades 2–8: Language Arts
Word Finds

Have students find dinosaur-related words in a puzzle.

  • Dinosaurs (grades 2–3) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_easy_wf.pdf
  • Dinosaurs Answer Key (grades 2–3) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_easy_wf_key.pdf
  • Dinosaurs (grades 4–8) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_hard_wf.pdf
  • Dinosaurs Answer Key (grades 4–8) (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_hard_wf_key.pdf
Grades 2–8: Science, Social Studies
Neighborhood Dinos

North America was a favorite place for dinosaurs to live. Have students meet their “old” neighbors and discover which dinosaurs lived in their backyards.

Grades 2–8: Science
Scrambled Dinosaurs

Students will have fun unscrambling dinosaur pictures while racing the clock.

Grades 2–8: Science
Blast from the Past

Have students send virtual pictures of really old reptiles to friends or family.

Grades 2–8: Science, Language Arts
Dinosaurs Go Hollywood!

Frame by frame, students can produce and direct adventure stories featuring dinosaurs. Have each student fill in frames, using drawings or pictures to create a story, and then write a script to accompany the film. You can hold an awards night to present their movies.

  • Film Strip
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/pdf/filmstrip.pdf
Grades 3–5: Science
Trading Cards

Students will learn about the behavior, appearance, and habitat of dinosaurs, as they make trading cards of their favorites.

Grades 3–5: Science
Dinosaur Tells All!

Protoceratops lived nearly 80 million years ago. Have students learn about its fascinating life as they follow an informative interview.

Grades 3–5: Science/Math
Big Bad Sue

Introduce students to Sue the Dinosaur, and have them learn from math problems based on her statistics.

Grades 3–6: Science
What's My Name?

Can your students spell dinosaur names from groups of mixed-up letters? Have students unscramble nine different dinosaur names.

  • What's My Name?
  • http://www.billybear4kids.com/dinosaurs/what-is/my-name.html
Grades 3–8: Science
Name That Dinosaur

Ceratosaurus was tall and fat. No, wait, he was short and thin. Can your students match the correct names and animals? Have them find out with this matching game.

Grades 3–8: Science
Dinosaur Times

Have students use a variety of research materials to create a timeline of dinosaurs. Have students include years, geologic eras and periods, and dinosaur names.

Grades 3–8: Art/Science
Wired for Art

Using inexpensive wire or pipe cleaners, students can create original dinosaur sculptures.

Grades 4–6: Science
Dino Pet

Imagine how exciting it would be if you discovered a dinosaur egg. And what if the impossible happened and that egg was almost ready to hatch? You could expect a very unusual pet! What might the dinosaur look like when it grew up? What would it need to eat? Where would it sleep? In this activity, each student will “hatch” a personal dinosaur.

Grades 4–8: Science
What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

Nobody's sure what killed the dinosaurs. Was it an asteroid from space? Was it a change in climate? Have your students examine the evidence and put the theories to the test.

Grades 4–8: Art/Science
Drawing Dinos

In five easy steps, students can draw lifelike dinosaurs.

  • OLogy
  • http://ology.amnh.org/paleontology/stuff/drawdinos.html
Grades 5–8: Science
Find the Dino

Your students can see how they'd measure up as fossil hunters. Can they find the dinosaur remains?

Grade 6: Science
Looking for Dinosaurs

Luck is part of finding fossils, but hard work and research are just as important. In this activity, students will use geographic maps, geologic maps, and research reports to decide where to look for dinosaur fossils.

  • Where to Look
  • http://www.projectexploration.org/niger2000/activity3.htm
Grade 6: Science
Dinosaur Dig

You've discovered some 135-million-year-old fossil bones, but how are you going to get them out of the ground? In this activity, students work step by step to excavate and jacket a dinosaur bone.

Grades 6–8: Science
Where the Dinosaurs Lived

Students can select a continent and research the dinosaurs that lived there.

Grades 6–8: Science
Egg Hunt

Send students around the world on a dinosaur egg hunt and then have them see how embryos are exposed by researchers. Students can also see a model of how the embryos might have looked.

Grades 6–8: Science
Test Your Theory

Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Research some of the theories and defend one theory in a conference with other paleontologists.

Grades 7–8: Science
Crossword Puzzle

Have students test their knowledge of dinosaurs.

  • Dinosaurs (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_xword.pdf
  • Dinosaurs Answer Key (PDF file)
  • http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/october/pdf/dinosaurs_xword_key.pdf
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