DISCOVERING DINOSAURS
Lesson Plan
TARGET AUDIENCE
Kindergarten and First Grade
STANDARDS
VA grades K-1: Scientific investigation, reasoning and logic; Matter; and Life processes.
MD grades K-1: Constructing knowledge; Applying evidence and reasoning;
communicating scientific information; Technology.
DC grades K-1: Scientific thinking and inquiry; Life science; and Physical science.
* See page 3 for an in-depth list of standards of learning covered in this program.
OVERARCHING GOAL
To observe, compare and contrast physical characteristics of dinosaurs.
STUDENT OBJECTIVES
1. Students will observe a variety of dinosaur parts.
2. Students will describe a variety of dinosaur characteristics.
3. Students will compare and contrast dinosaur parts.
STUDENT OUTCOMES
1. Students will list dinosaur characteristics.
2. Students will predict why a dinosaur has particular claws and teeth.
3. Students will list additional dinosaur characteristics observed in the Dinosaur
Hall.
MATERIALS, RESOURCES, TIME, SPACE
Materials: variety of dinosaur parts; dinosaur play “Are You My Mother?”
Time: 40 minutes in the Discovery Room.
Space: Discovery Room, Dinosaur Hall.
= denotes helpful suggestions
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PROCEDURE
Welcome: Scientist Discussion (2 minutes):
Teachers and students are welcomed. The lesson will begin with the instructor
referencing a scientist in the museum who collects and study dinosaurs:
Paleontologists. Students will be told that they will practice being Paleontologists in
today’s lesson as they explore different dinosaur parts. The role of a Paleontologist and
important scientist skills – using their sense of “sight” and “touch” will be discussed.
Brainstorming (Focus on Observation Skills) (8 minutes):
First: students will be asked to think about what they already know about dinosaurs.
They will be asked to close their eyes and visualize a dinosaur they have seen, maybe
in a museum or in a book. Then, students will be asked to name as many dinosaur parts
as they can think of (E.g. horns or teeth). This will activate prior knowledge and help the
students become more comfortable providing thoughts. Images of dinosaur parts will
accompany the student’s ideas in order to help with visualization.
The instructor will use follow up questions to make comparisons and promote further
inquiry. Are all dinosaurs the same? How are they the same or different? The
instructor will model effective thinking strategies for the students and promote a
collective learning experience.
Helpful suggestion: If students appear stumped, have them look around and observe one
another. Try to have them relate the question to their own lives. Do we all look and
behave the same way or are we different?
To practice their observation skills, students will watch a short puppet show. They will
be told that they are going to meet a baby dinosaur who is lost and does not know who
his mother is. He is going to meet several dinosaurs and will ask them if they are his
mother. The students will be told that it is their job as scientists to ‘look’ at the dinosaur
and decide if it is the baby’s mother. They will need to explain WHY they think she ‘is’
or ‘is not’. They will need to look carefully with their eyes. Do the dinosaurs look the
same or different?
If the students mention color, be sure to explain that scientists do not know for certain
what color the dinosaurs were and that the colors they see in dinosaur pictures are the
artist’s choice. Also if wings are mentioned, explain to students that dinosaurs did not fly
or swim. There were animals that looked like dinosaurs that could fly, such as the
pterodactyl, but they were not dinosaurs, they were a class of their own.
Puppet Show: “Are You My Mother?” (10 minutes):
The puppet show will be used to get students thinking about and focusing on the
physical characteristics of different dinosaurs. The puppeteers will pause when
questions arise in the play script and ask the students what they think. They will be
expected to explain their reasoning. When the play is completed, students will be given
the opportunity in small groups to look at some of the dinosaur parts mentioned in the
play.
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Centers (Exploration and Discussion in Small Groups) (20 minutes):
The students will visit four stations, each with different dinosaur parts. They will be
encouraged to work as a team, talk out loud and that there is often more than one right
answer. First: the students will be asked to examine the body parts with their eyes
hands. Describe what they “see” and “feel”. They will then be asked to predict what the
parts where used for. Why do they think this? Where do they think the part was located
on the dinosaur? Finally, they will observe and discuss how the parts are the same or
different. What does this teach us about dinosaurs?
Helpful Suggestion: Always ask the student’s for their ideas first, however you may
need to model effective thinking and/or problem solving. If the students seem
stumped, encourage them to feel parts of their own bodies, such as their faces and
hands. Where are their bones? How do they feel? What are they used for? What
do they help us do? (allow movement, provide shape, support, protection)
Students can also be asked if they have seen the body parts before, maybe on a more
familiar animal like a cat. What have the animals used their body parts for?
Pictures of the entire dinosaur will also be placed on the tables along with the body
parts to assist students in visualizing the dinosaur as a whole.
Closure (Post Lesson Thinking) (5 minutes):
Students will be asked to give themselves a round of applause for being such excellent
scientists! They used their scientist tools of sight and touch to help them learn more
about dinosaurs.
Students will be challenged to find the dinosaur parts they explored during the lesson on
life-sized dinosaurs in the Dinosaur hall. Which characteristics can they find on different
dinosaurs? What does this tell us about the Dinosaur? The instructor will encourage
curiosity by challenging the students to find answers in the Dinosaur Hall using the
knowledge and observation techniques learned during the Discovering Dinosaur’s
lesson.
The students and teachers will be thanked for coming, and also the chaperones for their
assistance. Students will be encouraged to visit again!
POST ACTIVITY – Dinosaur Hall
1. Compare and Contrast Size: How long is that dinosaur? Ask the students to
predict how many classmates it will take to make a line the length of the
dinosaur. Line up the students to find out whose prediction was closest.
2. Find the Dinosaur!: Find the dinosaurs mentioned in the Discovery Room
activities. Dinosaurs in the play that are in the hall are Stegosaurus, Allosaurus
and Diplodocus. Dinosaurs from the centers are: Hadrosaurus (bone),
Tyrannosaurus Rex (tooth), Allosaurus (claw), Camarasaurus (tooth),
Pachycephalosaurus (claw), and Allosaurus (skull).
3. More characteristics: once the students find the dinosaurs from the activity in the
hall, see how many more characteristics they can identify on the entire dinosaur.
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STANDARDS
VA Grades K-1
 K.1: a) Basic properties of objects made by direct observation.
b) Observations from different perspectives made.
g) A question is developed from one or two observations.
 K.2: a) Senses are used to gather information about objects.
 K.4: a) Colors of objects are described.
c) Texture and feel of objects are described.
d) Relative size and weight are described.
 K.6: c) Investigate that offspring of animals are similar but not identical to
parents, one another.
 1.1: a) Differences in physical properties are observed using senses.
d) Observations are communicated orally.
e) Predictions are made based on patterns of observation.
 1.5: b) Students will understand that animals have specific physical
characteristics that help it function in specific ways.
MD Grades K-1
 Standard 1.A.1.a) Describe what can be learned about things by observing.
b) Seek information through observations, exploration and
investigation.
 Standard 1.B.1.a) Provide reasons for accepting ideas.
b) Develop reasonable explanations for observations made,
share ideas and listen to other’s ideas.
 Standard 1.C.1.a) Describe things as accurately as possible, compare
observations with those of others.
b) Describe things in terms of shape, texture, size, and color.
 Standard 1.D.3. a) Explain that a model of something is different from the real
thing but can be used to learn something about the real thing.
b) Realize that one way to describe something is to say how it is
like something.
DC Grades K-1
 K.SI.3. Use senses to gather information.
 K.PS.2. Investigate and compare physical properties of objects.
 K.LS.2. Describe that animals are alike in some ways and different in others.
 1.1.2. Investigate and make observations to seek answers to questions.
 1.1.7. Describe and compare objects in terms of shape, texture, size, and color.
 1.4.2. Observe and describe differences among individuals in same animal
group.
 1.4.4. Recognize that animals eat plants and/or other animals for food.
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DISCOVERING DINOSAURS
Background Information for the Teacher
The term “dinosaur” originates from the Greek words meaning “terrible lizard”. Sir
Richard Owen invented the name 'dinosaur' in 1842. At that time, he had only three or
four dinosaur skeletons to consider, but many hundreds more have been found since
1842. Since dinosaurs are no longer alive, it is necessary to study them based only on
materials left behind including dinosaur bones, fossils, footprints, skin prints, and
eggshells.
Dinosaurs show a number of adaptations to a wide range of environments and
conditions. There are many misconceptions about what the dinosaurs were. Dinosaurs
were reptiles (horny or scaly skinned animals that lay eggs) which lived on land during
the Mesozoic Era. The Mesozoic Era began 250 million years ago and ended 65 million
years ago. The Mesozoic is further subdivided into three periods called the Triassic,
Jurassic, and Cretaceous. Fossils show that the dinosaurs originated during the mid to
late Triassic, perhaps 230-235 million years ago, and they remained the dominant land
animals for another 160 million years, until they died out at the end of the Cretaceous.
What the Dinosaurs Looked Like
How do scientists know what the dinosaurs looked like? No-one can say for sure,
but there is some evidence in the fossil record. The fossil record is a term used by
paleontologists (scientists who study different forms of life in prehistoric times) to refer
to the total number of fossils that have been discovered, as well as to the information
derived from them. Scientists also make logical guesses about how dinosaurs looked
based on studies of modern animals. When you see a color painting, or an animation,
of a dinosaur as a living animal, it has been based on a series of steps in
reconstruction:
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The skeleton is rebuilt from the bones that are extracted, or removed, from the
rock. This allows us to tell how large the dinosaurs were.
The muscles can be laid on with some confidence, since each end of the muscle
is fixed into the bone, and marks may be seen on the fossil bones that show
where the muscles and bones were attached.
Other soft parts, like the organs, eyeballs, tongue, and so on can be added partly
by guesswork, and comparison with living animals.
The skin texture may be reconstructed precisely for certain dinosaurs, since
impressions of dinosaur skin have been fossilized. There are even a few rare
cases of organic preservation of dinosaur skin.
The color is entirely guesswork. Was Tyrannosaurus blue with yellow spots, or
did it have red stripes? No one knows for sure. Colors are based on modern
animals and a bit of inspired imagination by the scientists and artists.
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Different Types of Dinosaurs
Scientists have grouped the dinosaurs into a number of groups based on certain
features of the dinosaurs including body structures and bones that they had. Four of
the groups are the Sauropods, Therapods, Ornithopods, and Marginocephalians.
The Sauropods were a group of herbivores, or plant-eating dinosaurs that had
long necks, small brains, and large tails used partly to balance their long bodies. The
word Sauropod means "Lizard Footed". They had thick, five-toed legs, blunt teeth, and
nostrils very close to their eyes, which lead some scientists to believe that they
sometimes went underwater. Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, and Brachiasaurus were all
types of Sauropods.
Theropods, (meaning "beast footed") were a group of quick-moving carnivores,
or meat-eaters. They had grasping hands and claws on their "fingers". They walked
upright on two feet, and had sharp teeth for tearing flesh. Their arms were short, in
order to grasp prey. They were fast and had good eyesight, for hunting. They ranged
greatly in size, and included most of the meat eating dinosaurs, from the chicken-sized
Compsognathus, to the famous Tyrannosaurus.
Ornithopods were a group of dinosaurs whose name means “bird feet”. They had
a beak, and so some members of this group are described as being “duck-billed”. They
either walked on two legs entirely or alternated between walking on two legs or walking
on four legs depending on what they were doing and which type of walking would work
best for that situation. They had no body armor, and no hole in the outer part of their
lower jaws. Iguanodon, Hadrosaurus, and Lambeosaurus were all types of
Ornithopods.
Marginocephalia is a type of dinosaurs whose name means “fringed heads”. The
special thing about this group is their distinctive skull structure. They have a shelf or
bony frill at the top of their skull, and a unique palate (or part of the mouth). They ate
plants. There were two groups of Marginocephalia. One of the groups was called the
Ceratopsians, which were horned dinosaurs, such as Triceratops and Monoclonius.
The second group of Marginocephalians was called Pachycephalosaurians, which were
thick-skulled dinosaurs that walked upright.
During the time period when the dinosaurs lived, there were other reptilian
animals that were able to fly (Pterosaurs), as well as marine reptiles (such as the
Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs). No animal from either one of these two groups is
considered to be a dinosaur.
Extinction
Dinosaurs remained the dominant land animals for approximately 165 million years.
One the greatest unsolved mysteries is why the dinosaurs become extinct at the end of
the Cretaceous period. It was not just the Dinosaurs that became extinct at this time;
the giant flying reptiles (the pterosaurs), the large marine reptiles (such as the
plesiosaurs), the great spiraled ammonites and the microscopic sea plankton also
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became extinct. Because large numbers of species became extinct at one time, the
end of the Cretaceous is identified as a mass extinction. This is a time when numerous
species of organisms, which may or may not be related, died out.
Many scientists have devoted their lives to explaining this strange event. Since all of
these species became extinct at the same time, it seems likely that whatever happened
to cause the dinosaurs and other animals to become extinct occurred on a large, global
scale and was catastrophic. Numerous catastrophes that may have occurred have
been suggested by scientists. The three most popular ideas are that the extinction was
caused by global climate change, the impact of a meteorite, or intense volcanic activity.
There is also very good evidence that shows that dinosaurs were in a gradual
decline long before the end of the Cretaceous. Indeed, only approximately 30 species of
dinosaur actually made it to the end of the Cretaceous.
No one knows exactly what happened to the dinosaurs. Perhaps both the long-term
and short-term occurrences interacted and resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs.
World map showing what some types of dinosaurs found and where they are
from.
Image courtesy of www.amaps.com
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Glossary
ammonite Noun. The coiled, chambered fossil shell of an extinct type of mollusk.
carnivore Noun. An animal that eats meat.
catastrophe Noun. A sudden and widespread disaster.
Cretaceous Adjective. Pertaining to a period of the Mesozoic Era, from 140 million
to 65 million years ago when dinosaurs lived on Earth.
dinosaur Noun. An extinct land reptile living during the Mesozoic Era, from 140
million to 65 million years ago.
extinct Adjective. No longer in existence; something that has died out.
extract Verb. To get, pull, or draw out of something else.
fossil Noun. Any remains, impressions, or traces of a living thing of a former
geologic age, such as a skeleton or footprint.
fossil record Noun. A term used to refer to the total number of fossils found, as
well as the information learned from them.
herbivore Noun. An animal that eats plants.
Jurassic Adjective. Noting a period of the Mesozoic Era, occurring from 190 to 140
million years ago and during which time there was an abundance of dinosaurs and the
beginning of birds and mammals.
mass extinction Noun. The extinction of a large number of species within a
relatively short period of geologic time.
Mesozoic Adjective. Noting or pertaining to an era occurring between 230 and 65
million years ago, during which the dinosaurs appeared and became extinct.
paleontology Noun. The science of the forms of life existing in previous geologic
periods by studying their fossils.
paleontologist Noun. A scientist who studies paleontology, or the forms of life
existing in previous geologic periods by studying their fossils.
prehistoric Adjective. Of a time before recorded, or written, history.
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Resources
Suggested Books:
DK Publishing. (1994). Big Book of Dinosaurs. New York, NY: DK Children.
DK Publishing. (2006). First Dinosaur Encyclopedia. New York, NY: DK Children.
Norman, David and Angela Milner. (2004). Eyewitness Dinosaurs. New York, NY: DK
Children.
Suggested Websites:
BBC Prehistoric Life
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/
National Museum of Natural History Dinosaur Information
http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/index.html
National Museum of Natural History Paleobiology Department
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/
References
Barrett, Paul. (2001). National Geographic Dinosaurs. Washington, DC: National
Geographic Children’s Books.
DK Publishing. (2006). Dinosaur Atlas. New York, NY: DK Children.
Parker, Steve. (2003). Dinosaurus: The Complete Guide to Dinosaurs. New York, NY:
Firefly.
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