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DIARIES OF OUR PAST
MASTER TEACHER Coleen
McGran
GRADES 1-3
OVERVIEW
Dinosaurs are a link to our past. Paleontologists have studied
dinosaur fossils for years. The fossils were formed when the bones of the
dinosaur were buried in sand. The bone turned to stone. When the
earth changed the stone broke away and the fossils were exposed. Students
will learn what a tedious job a paleontologist has when they attempt to remove
"bones" from the "earth". They will also make a mold
similar to what the paleontologist does to share fossils with museums.
Students will understand how fossils are a diary of our past.
ITV SERIES
Reading Rainbow 106: "Digging up Dinosaurs"
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students should be able to:
*sequence how dinosaur bones are found and transported to a
museum;
*state how fossils are formed;
*list animals that are related to the dinosaur;
*compare/contrast the dinosaur and its' relatives;
*demonstrate the work of a paleontologist.
MATERIALS
(per student)
chocolate chip cookie
Plaster of Paris
vinegar
modeling clay
shells
plants
leaves
tooth picks
plastic knives
T chart
pencils
small dish
teaspoon
(per pairs of students)
pictures of dinosaurs
picture of a lizard
picture of an alligator
picture of a snake
picture of a rhinoceros
picture of a tortoise
paper plates
markers
VOCABULARY
dinosaur
paleontologist
fossil
fossil
museum
adaptations
PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Ask the students what they know about dinosaurs. Write it
down on a chart in front of the classroom. Ask how many have seen
dinosaurs in a museum. Explain that a museum is a wonderful place to learn
about our past.
Tell the students that today they will be a paleontologist.
They will be scientists that study dinosaurs.
FOCUS FOR VIEWING
Ask the students if they know what a fossil is. Have the
students draw a picture of what they think a fossil looks like. To give
students a specific responsibility while viewing ask them to watch for how
fossils are formed and how and what information we learn from them.
VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Begin the video when LeVar is watching a dinosaur movie.
Pause the video when the reader of Digging Up Dinosaurs says,
"Everything we know about dinosaurs comes from fossils." Ask the
students to repeat how fossils are formed (animal died, its' flesh rotted,
it was buried in sand, the bone turned to stone, the earth changed, the earth
broke away and exposed the fossil). Ask the students to predict if this is
how fossils are formed today.
Resume the video. Stop the video when
"The End" appears after the story. Tell the students that we are
going to create a class chart of how the fossils get to the museum. Ask
the students to recall the steps taken. Write their responses on a chart
in the front of the room (find the dinosaur, cover the sight, chip the rock
close to the fossil, wrap the bone in tissue or cover it with a cast, take it
back to the museum to study, make copies with a mold so all museums can learn
about dinosaurs). Say "Learning about dinosaurs teaches us about the
past. Do you think scientists know exactly what dinosaurs looked
like?" (accept all possible answers)
Create molds of shells, leaves, or plants using plaster of paris
and modeling clay. Have each student fill a small container with modeling
clay and smooth the surface. Press the plant, leaf, or shell into the clay
and remove it. Put about 1/4 cup Plaster of Paris over the clay. Add
1 teaspoon vinegar to the Plaster of Paris to speed up the drying. Allow
to dry while viewing the rest of the video.
Resume the video. Pause the video when
LeVar says, "Many of the animals on earth today are living cousins to the
dinosaur." Ask the students to recall the animals related to the
dinosaurs. Have them list them on a T chart with one side labeled
"TODAY" and the other side labeled "DINOSAUR" (lizards,
alligators, snakes/Tyrannosaurus Rex; tortoise/Ankylosaurs;
rhinoceros/Triceratops). Discuss the differences in appearance.
Resume the video. Pause the video when
the ranger says, "Everything from large hammers and chisels, like the one
he was using there, right down to ice picks for some of the really fine work
just scraping away the rock." Ask the students to compare the tools
of the paleontologist to the toothpicks and plastic knives they have. Ask
them what household tools they could use if they found a dinosaur bone in their
yard (possible answers may be screw driver, hammer, tooth brush, paint brush).
Resume the video. Pause the video when
LeVar says, "Doesn't sound very appetizing to me." Discuss the
sharp teeth and sharp claws. Explain that these are adaptations for the
animal to survive. Compare the dinosaurs sharp teeth and claws to our
teeth and other animals that they are familiar with. Explain why our teeth
are not as sharp (we don't eat only raw food).
Resume the video. Pause the video when
LeVar says, "So that's how all these dinosaur bones got here. That's
really interesting." Compare the sequence of how fossils were formed
with the sequence from the story (they are the same).
Fast forward the video through the book talks to when
LeVar is getting ready to leave in the jeep. Resume the video when LeVar
is digging. Stop the video after LeVar says, "What would you
put in this time capsule to explain what humans are like?" Ask the
students what they would put in a time capsule Write their responses on a
chart.
ACTIVITIES
Ask the students what they learned about dinosaurs and fossils
from the video. Write their responses beside the place at the beginning
where you wrote their original knowledge about dinosaurs.
Give each student a chocolate chip cookie (homemade cookies
work the best). Tell them they will be paleontologists. Their job is
to dig the chocolate chips out of the cookie without breaking them. They
are to use only the plastic knives and toothpicks. After the
activity discuss how they felt about such tedious work.
Have students work in pairs to create a venn diagram of a
dinosaur and its' relatives. Give each pair two paper plates to use as the
venn
diagram. They may want to refer to the pictures of each
animal to write their responses.
ACTION PLAN
Visit a local museum with a dinosaur exhibit.
Invite a paleontologist to speak to the class.
EXTENSIONS
LANGUAGE ARTS
Have students illustrate their favorite dinosaur and write some
facts about it, such as what it ate, or its size.
Create a Dinosaur Alphabet Book in which each student creates
a page by researching a different dinosaur.
ART
Make a diorama of a dinosaur in its habitat.
MATH
Graph the dinosaurs in different ways. Some attributes
that may be considered are: size, walking on two legs or four legs, fly,
or what they ate.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Create a time capsule and bury it using items from the list
created while viewing the video.
Updated: April 01, 2008
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