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Dinosaurs Forever
Teacher’s Guide
©2004 DinoRock Productions, Inc.


New fossils are discovered every year, and new scientific discoveries are made every day using ....imagination, observation, and scientific reasoning.
(Betsy Cole: IS AETOSAUR A DINOSAUR?)

The purpose of this guide is to help you involve young children in the process of scientific investigation, not to memorize facts. Because dinosaurs are so fascinating to them, children can be engaged in the "detective" work of natural science, using dinosaurs as the subject matter. Joining the subject matter of dinosaurs with the learning approaches of music, movement and creative dramatics, is what this guide is all about. Along the way you will enhance the children’s language development and story comprehension and have an impact on their cognitive and social development.


Homer and Godzilla by Marc Spiegel © 1983 (Used by permission)

Homer was an apatosaurus, happy as can be.
Dancing gently through the forest, singing merrily.
He went, "Ladadada, deeda dada deeda dada dum."
When, suddenly, from behind a tree, the mean Godzilla jumped.

Homer was so friendly, saying, "Hi! How do you do?"
Godzilla answered, "COME HERE, KID. I'M GONNA STOMP ALL OVER YOU."
Homer said to himself, "Godzilla's got me in a pickle."
"There's only one way out of this, which is to charge and tickle!"

And so he ran up to Godzilla, and tickled underneath his chin...
Behind his ears ... and everywhere.
He was all over him.... tickle, tickle, tickle.
Godzilla snickered ...... hee, hee, hee.
Godzilla giggled ........ ho, ho, ho.

And then he lost control.
He laughed out loud...... ha, ha, ha.
It knocked him down ..... ho, ho, ho.
And on the ground he rolled.

Homer just went dancing off, without even looking back.
"Ladadada, deeda dada, deeda dada dum."
While Godzilla's laughing till today,
From the mighty tickle attack.
"Ho, ho, ho, ho .......
Ha, ha, ha, ha .......
Hee, hee, hee, hee ...."

(h. This finger play is for the very youngest dinosaur lovers - preK-1st)

MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1. Dinosaur Names: Show pictures of dinosaurs and practice the names with your class. One of the things children seem to love most about dinosaurs is the jawbreaking, tongue–twisting names given to them by the scientists who discover them.
Examples:
Tyrannosaurus rex (tye–RAN–uh–sawr–us rex)
The name means 'tyrant king'. The T. rex was one of the largest and most famous carnosaurs that ever walked on earth.

Stegosaurus (STEG–o–sawr–us) means roofed lizard, referring to the plates on its back that looked like little roofs. This gentle planteater had a brain the size of a golf ball. Scientists believe that the plates on the stegosaur’s back served as solar heating panels to help regulate body temperature.

2. Dinosaur Sounds: Scientists believe that dinosaurs made many sounds that animals of today make. Practice dinosaur "talking" with the children. This is a wonderful avenue for creative sounds, since no one ever heard them. We can't be sure exactly how they sounded.

3. Dinosaur Movement: Sauropods vs Theropods
Sauropods
(sawr–OP–odd) or "Lizard–footed" were the 4 footed, plant–eating dinosaurs. They had huge bodies, long necks, whip like tails and elephant like legs. To get the feel of walking like a sauropod the children can slither their backbones up and down while walking in slow motion. Or link all the children together in a straight line and move them in a wave pattern as a unit.

Theropods
(the–ROP–od) or "Beast–footed" were two legged carnosaurs, who walked on strong hind legs with their bodies bent over parallel to the ground. Most had short arms and tiny hands. The children can stomp around the room, growling, to show off their powerful teeth. Most children love T.rex, the most famous theropod of all, because he was so invincible. He is, however, no longer considered the largest carnosaur; since digs in North Africa and South America unearthed the Carcharodontosaurus and the Giganotosaurus respectively.


Dinosaurs Forever!
Order of Songs:

1.) The Dinosaur Song
2.) Tiny Little Babies and The Great Big Mama
3.) Sauropod Swing
4.) Mama Maiasaura
5.) Quetzalcoatlus Kid
6.) Stella Stegosaurus
7.) The Hadrosaur from Hackensack
8.) Big Bad Baby rex
9.) Dinosaurs Forever!

 

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT DINOSAURS WERE HERE?

A. Discuss fossils with the children – Fossils are dinosaur leftovers.

Suggestion: Using modeling clay and plastic dinosaur models, make your own fossils by pressing the dinosaur models into the clay. The impression left in the clay is a reasonable facsimile of a fossil.
Note: Dinosaur fossils include: Bones, Teeth, Eggs, Skin,Footprints,Imprints of skeletons left in rocks, and dinosaur dung.
A. Discuss fossils with the children – Fossils are dinosaur leftovers. Suggestion: Using modeling clay and plastic dinosaur models, make your own fossils by pressing the dinosaur models into the clay. The impression left in the clay is a reasonable facsimile of a fossil.
z Dinosaur fossils include: Bones, Teeth, Eggs, Skin, Footprints, Imprints of skeletons left in rocks, and dinosaur dung -also called coprolite).

B. Using picture books, explain excavation - digging up the bones and paleontologist (a scientist who studies dinosaurs) to the children.

C. Dramatic Play: How to go on a dinosaur dig in the classroom.
1. Divide the children into two groups: fossils and paleontologists.

2. Instruct the fossils to hide. Make sure you have enough fossils to put together a 4 footed planteater. Only a quadruped will be able to do step #5

3. Decide with the paleontologists which and how many bones you might find on this 'dig'. Each bone must touch another bone when assembled.

4. Help your paleontologists assemble the bones of this 4 footed plant eater.

5. Decide with the children how the dinosaur sounded. Using a magic sound or wand, bring the dinosaur to life for a few moments. Let the dinosaur slowly move around the room, emitting those sounds. With the same magic sound instruct the dinosaur to freeze. Then the group can break
away one at a time or all together to return to their seats.

Investigate the Dinosaurs Through Dramatic Play

1. Make a Movie of Dinosaur Behavior
A. Materials needed:
M Downey Bottle camera, ratchet to give the illusion of the camera’s film turning
M clapboard
M story to be “filmed”

Note: A good book for making a movie is DINOSAUR FOR A DAY by Jim
Murphy, illustrated by Mark Alan Weatherby on Scholastic Press, 1992.

B. Process
1.) Review the story and pick the actors and extras
2.) Divide the story into scenes to be shot
3.) Set up the room for the shot. It can be as elaborate or simple as you like. The simpler it is, the more the children will have to rely on their imaginations to perform.
4.) Movies about dinosaurs tend to be silent movies, and when the scene calls for the meat eater to stalk the babies the movie works best if the action goes into Slow Motion.
5.) For an air of authenticity use a clapboard to start the action.
6.) It’s always fun to use the movie terms we all know from being part of a movie culture. Ie, “Quiet on the set!”
“Camera is rolling.....and action!”
Just as they originally did before talkies, your movie can unfold while you - or whoever is the director - is giving directions.

Note: This activity works best for me with smaller groups. Too many might be 20 or more. But you know your kids better than anyone. Maybe 20 is not too many.

C. Measuring size and shape:
1.) In The Belly of the Beast: Convert the entire classroom into the inside of a large theropod (Chances are the children will want it to be a T.rex.)
a. Hang the rib cage, heart and lungs as cardboard cutouts from the ceiling.
b. Make the doorway into the dinosaur's mouth by hanging cardboard teeth.
c. Label various areas of the classroom accordingly (ie, the snack table as the stomach)
D. Dinosaur strides: Using masking tape, put one foot print of T. rex down on the floor.Then count 15’ to another spot on the floor. Put down another foot print. Have the children count how many strides of theirs equals one stride of T. rex.

E. Size Comparisons: Using your school building, mark off the length of a large sauropod in the hallway of the school. The diplodocus was 90 feet long.
Other comparisons: Triceratops - a dump truck., Stegosaurus - a Volkswagen
T.rex - a 2 story school building


WERE DINOSAURS GOOD PARENTS?

A. Explain to the children that the Maiasaura was a very good mother.
1. Recite or sing this lyric:

O Mama Maiasaur, Mama Maiasaura.
O Mama Maiasaur, Mama Maiasaura.
You’re a good mother: Yes, there is no other,
Like Mama Maiasaura.
You’re a good Mother: Yes, there is no other,
Like Mama Maiasaura.

2. Play the song for the children and encourage them to sing on the chorus.
3. Now tell the story of Mama Maiasaura with the children.

THE STORY: A Mama Maiasaura had a nest full of twenty babies! And she loved them. One day she was down by the river, chewing on a mouthful of berries for the babies. And what happened? That’s right: She heard a funny noise, coming from the nest. She turned around and saw -- what did she see? A MEAT EATER standing right by the nest. She ran to the nest. What kind of a meat eater was it?
That’s right: It was a Troodon. She picked up her huge foot, and SPLAT!, she crushed him like a bug. Nobody messes with her babies!
4. Remind the children that the dinosaur daddies were good parents, too. In fact they often watched over the nests along with the mamas.

FLYING REPTILES - The Quetzalcoatlus

A. The Quetzalcoatlus (ket zal co AT’ lus) was a kind of a pterosaur. It lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, but was not a dinosaur. It was the largest creature that ever flew, with a wing span of about 40 feet. Even though scientists are relatively sure that dinosaurs evolved into birds, the largest natural flyer - QE,
the Quetzalcoatlus Kid - was neither a dinosaur nor a bird.

B. Pterodactyls are a kind of pterosaur (flying reptile). Using the pattern provided in
this outline, make small pterodactyls out of construction paper or manila folders.
Keep in mind that the pterodactyl was the size of a sparrow.

C. To help the children understand just how wide the wing flaps of the quetzalcoatlus
were, try drawing on the playground with chalk a slightly curved line about 18’
long. Explain to the children that it represents the little finger bone of the
quetzalcoatlus. They can then compare it with their own pinky fingers.

D. Play “flying music” and let the children fly their paper pterodactyls around the room. Remember pterosaurs did not flap their wings rapidly like birds. They
glided and flapped a little. They did not have the musculature to flap their wings
rapidly. A good rule for flying .... the dactyls should never run into each other!

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Where did the dinosaurs live?
2. What did the plant eaters eat?
3. What did the meat eaters eat?
4. Who decides what to name the dinosaurs when they are found?
5. What is your favorite dinosaur? Why?

 

Where Did Everybody Go?

A. There are lots of theories about how the dinosaurs became extinct. Children usually know at least some dinosaur extinction theories. Too much fun to pass up, here are some ideas:

 

1. VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS – probably many at one time. There is a way to demonstrate volcanoes erupting. You'll need a flat cookie sheet with 1" sides to catch the flow. And you'll need enough clay to construct a small volcano with a hole in the middle. Place a piece of wax paper inside the volcano. On the wax paper place a tablespoonful of baking soda, a teaspoonful of dry red food dye, or a few drops of liquid dye. Add a half cup of warm water and stir. Then add a tablespoonful of apple cider vinegar and stand back! The result should be an actual eruption with the red liquid (the lava) bubbling up and over the side of the clay volcano. The children can add the sound effects of a real explosion.

2. THE METEOR THEORY – Using a globe or other round orb (even a beach ball) to represent the earth, take a rock the size of a ping pong ball and show the path a meteor would take through space, finally hurtling toward earth. Again the children could be the sound effects. A handful of baby powder blown through a funnel attached to a plastic tube underneath the globe will create the dust that resembles the dust storm that blocked out the sunlight millions of years ago, causing the plants to die and then the dinosaurs to die from lack of oxygen and/or food.

3. MAMMALS EATING DINOSAUR EGGS – Although small rat like mammals probably ate dinosaur eggs for thousands of years, that alone did not kill off the dinosaurs. To demonstrate mammals eating dinosaur eggs, take a raw egg and poke a small hole into one end. Then poke a bigger hole into the other end. Blow the egg out of one end into a small bowl. The egg can be used for scrambled eggs or other cooking recipes. The shell needs to dry out for a few days. When you are sure it's dry,make a little nest for the egg. If you have a puppet that could resemble a rodent you can use that as the culprit. Otherwise a sock puppet with felt ears can be the mammal. Have the puppet gobble up the egg with an exaggerated, dramatic flair

Can you think of ways to dramatize some of the other theories?
4. Foreign disease or allergies to new flowering plants
5. The climate change(too hot or cold) -food loss from change
6. The dinosaurs simply came to the end of their evolutionary cycle.

 

 

WORDS THAT WILL BE IMPORTANT:

Museum – A place that collects and exhibits works and things of historical, scientific and artistic value.
Fossil – Dinosaur leftovers. Any remains of an organism of a past geological age. ie. a leaf imprint
Extinct – No longer living
Paleontologist – A dinosaur scientist, who studies dinosaurs.
Mesozoic Era – The time when dinosaurs lived on the earth. Includes: Triassic Period (early period)
Jurassic Period (middle period)
Cretaceous Period (last era of the dinosaurs.)



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Factual:
AN ALPHABET OF DINOSAURS. Peter Dodson. Scholastic Press, 1995.
Peter Dodson is the vice president of The Dinosaur Society. This book is beautifully illustrated by Wayne Barlowe and Michael Meaker. It truly presents dinosaurs from A to Z.
Excellent for K-3.

BABY DINOSAURS. Peter Dodson and Peter Lerangis. Scholastic, Inc. New York, 1990.
This small, fact–filled volume is only 50 pages long. The information is correct and written simply, and the sketches are pen and ink. Good book for avid third grade readers.
DIGGING UP TYRANNOSAURUS REX. John R. Horner and Don Lessem. Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, 1992.
The remarkable story of the discovery of the first complete T. rex skeleton found in South Dakota. Color photos. Read aloud.

DINOSAURS. Gail Gibson. Holiday House. New York, 1987.
A wonderfully illustrated read aloud book for preschool and kindergarten. Names of dinos spelled phonetically.

DINOSAURS ARE DIFFERENT. Aliki. Harper Trophy. New York, 1985.
All of the Aliki books on dinosaurs are excellent. This one explores how dinosaurs are named and classified. This particular "Let's–Read–And–Find–Out" book says it's for ages 4–8. I think the material is more involved than you might want to get with 4 year olds. But that's up to you.

Note: Other books by Aliki are: DINOSAUR BONES. (1988)
DIGGING UP DINOSAURS (1988)
FOSSILS TELL OF LONG AGO (1990)
I recommend all the Aliki books.

DINOSAUR BONES. C.E. Thompson. Grosset and Dunlop. New York, 1992.
Dynamite illustrations! The text is also very exciting. At the end of the book there are two pages of punch–out dinosaur figures that can be put together easily into a glow–in–the–dark dinosaur mobile.

DINOSAURS, DINOSAURS. Byron Barton. Harper Trophy. New York,1989.
One of the best book for 3 year olds that I've found. Very simply text is a terrific introduction to dinosaurs. Mr. Barton’s radiant palette of "play–doh" colors is perfect for preschoolers

DINOSAUR DISCOVERY. Danile Cohen. Puffin Books, 1993.
Dinosaurs arranged alphabetically, but not one for every letter as with the Dodson alphabet book, this thin paperback is a handy reference book with a simple explanation of the Age of the Dinosaurs, describing each plant eater and meat eater with basic facts, what the name means, where the fossils were found, how to pronounce the name, length and weight.
For 5 and up.
THE NEW ILLUSTRATED DINOSAUR DICTIONARY. Helen Roney Sattler.
Lothrop, Lee and Shepard. New York, 1990.
A must have book for real dinosaur aficionados. Great reference text for teachers and older children.

THE NEWEST & COOLEST DINOSAURS. Philip J. Currie and Colleayn O. Maslin. designed by Boldface Technologies, Inc., 1998
One of the most up to date books of new dinosaurs, with 15 of the planet’s newest discoveries, this thin volume is beautifully illustrated by Jan Sovak. Philip Curie is curator of dinosaurs at the world famous Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Alberta, Canada. He is part of the younger generation of dinosaur scientists like Paul Sereno and Jack Horner, who have revolutionized dinosaur science.

ON THE TRAIL OF INCREDIBLE DINOSAURS. William Lindsay. DK Publishing, 1998.
This book was originally four smaller texts called Tyrannosaurus, Barosaurus, Corythosaurus and Triceratops . These are all fossils that are housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The book is more appropriate for grade schoolers. The layout is fairly complex. The illustrations are terrific. And the science is up to date.

PREHISTORIC LIFE EXPLAINED. Jinny Johnson. A Henry Holt Reference Book, 1996.
This text is subtitled “a beginner’s guide to the world of dinosaurs”. As with On The Trail of Incredible Dinosaurs the book comes from England. The section headings are very practical, like What is a dinosaur? and Finding food. There is even a section titled Dinosaur Mysteries The book is well put together, well written and well illustrated. For 2nd and 3rd grade

SUPERGIANTS! Don Lessem, illustrated by David Peters. Little Brown, and Co., 1997.
Don Lessem is the founder of The Dinosaur Society and a very active science writer. He has new books coming out all the time, many of them for children. In fact this book is dedicated to his two daughters, Erica and Rebecca. He has written and hosted NOVA documentaries for PBS on dinosaurs and was an adviser on the film Jurassic Park. His other recent children’s books include:
Raptors! Bigger Than T.rex Utahraptor: The Nastiest Dinosaur and Seismosaurus: The Longest Dinosaur
All of these with the exception of Seismosaurus are accurate
but scary. Supergiants is just awesome with great pictures.

Fiction:
COUNT–A–SAURUS. Nancy Blumenthal. Four Winds Press. New York, 1989
A counting book based on dinosaurs. Not only a fun way to count for young children; put comes equipped with an "append–a–saurus" filled with information on the dinosaurs. Could easily be adapted as a song to the tune of "Twinkle,Twinkle, Little Star".

Pop Up Books
DINOSAUR BABIES. Ely Kish (Illustrator) A National Geographic Action Book published by The National Geographic Society, 1991.
Movable features of this beautifully rendered pop up book picture a variety of dinosaurs in different stages of development, from hatchlings to juveniles ready to migrate with the herd. The pop ups are exquisite. (K-2)

DINOSAURS: A POP UP BOOK. Dot and Sy Barlowe. Random House, 1977.
This book has a few paleontological mistakes. It’s dated, but for 3 year olds it’s still a terrific introduction to dinosaurs. It has simple illustrations that tell the most basic facts about dinosaurs. They were hatched from eggs. Some ate plants, while some ate meat.
The mistakes:
1) It gives the impression that long necked dinosaurs spent most of their time in the water - simply not true. because all dinosaurs were land animals
2) Diplodocus is not the longest at 90 feet, the seismosaurus (a kind of diplodocid) is longer at 110 ft.
3)Dinosaurs were reptiles - debatable now that they have found evidence of dinosaurs with feathers.
Just show the kids the illustrations and know that some of the text is faulty.

THE FLIGHT OF THE PTEROSAURS. Keith Moseley. Smithsonian Institution.
Los Angeles, 1986.
Mr. Moseley does it again, having pop ups that are not only beautiful, but also illustrative of the science of pterosaurs.

PTEROSAURS: THE FLYING REPTILES. Paper Engineering by Keith Moseley and Richard Courtney. Grosset and Dunlap. New York, 1988.
A small(in size), short(in text), pop up book that has simpler sentences than THE FLIGHT OF THE PTEROSAUR.

POP-UP DINOSAURS. John Malam with illustrations by Andy Everitt-Stewart and Dudley Moseley. Compass Productions, 1990.
Another great pop-up book for preschoolers, the text of this book compares dinosaurs to various animals and modern day things that children already know. For example, the pop-up stegosaurus appears with a mini van for size comparison, and T.rex is shown with a giraffe. The apatosaurus is lined up with three buses parked end-to-end. It’s a wonderful introduction to dinosaur sizes.
Craft Books:
DINOSAUR CARTON CRAFT. Hideharu Naitoh. Seibundo Shinkosha
Publishing Co., 1992. ISBN #0-87040-911-5.
It says right on the cover, “Cut, assemble, glue actual-size drawings included: Ages 10 and up”. So this book may not be for you. But the patterns are fascinating. If you want to have a large, standing dinosaur as part of your room decorations you may want to attempt one of the models with your aide or some other unsuspecting adult.

WILD ABOUT DINOSAURS. Kathy Ross. Millbrook Press, 1997.
This is a great how-to book that shows how to make dinosaur window scenes and a parasaurolophus mask. Simple instructions for a pasta fossil plaque will produce a very real looking fossil find. The materials you need for each activity are usually materials already in most classrooms. Among my favorites were “designing dinosaur feet” and “hatching troodon puppet”. You’ll end up doing
most of the work if your children are below the age of 5.

Dinosaurs On The Internet:

Due to the linking capabilities of most web sites I have chosen three well connected sites that appeal to children as well as adults, and are capable of leading dinosaur fans to all the best dino web pages.

http://www.dinodon.com - Dino Don is actually Don Lessem, founder of the Dinosaur Society, an organization for professional and amateur paleontologists. His web site is very "kid friendly" , containing a special page of Kid's Art and what he calls "Cool Stuff". Along with current news and a dino dictionary there is a links page with everything from the Maryland Science Center and the University of California Museum of Paleontology at Berkeley (an excellent site) to Dinosaur Cartoons and Beri's Dinosaur World Magazine. The page about scientists is particularly interesting because Dino Don knows all of them personally. He has been a science writer for about 20 years and written many books on dinosaurs.

http://www.dinosauria.com - For the hardcore dinosaur fanatics this web site is like a walk through paradise. They have a store page and a dispatch page with updates on new digs and revised conclusions from collecting new data. They have a huge "Hot Links" page that contains some very interesting references. My impression is that most of the articles and links belong to practicing paleontologists and so the newest of the new discoveries and a window into the debatable dinosaur mysteries that scientists are currently researching and thinking about are on this web site. It's not for small children per se, but fifth and sixth graders who really love science will find this site irresistible.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs
I found this site quite by accident while I was browsing one day on the web. There is a special page for dinosaur extremes with brightly colored icons of the individual record holders, and there are templates of individual dinosaurs that can be downloaded for "non-commercial educational uses only". This site was designed for children. The facts are up to date and updated regularly.

http://www.dinorock.com - Our web site is about our shows, our recordings and our puppet making. The children might enjoy looking at it after we’ve been at the school.
 

  
 

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