| Dino Babies |
| Grades K-2 |
Lesson #39 |
| Modifications to Video |
There may have been changes to the lesson plan since the video was made.
This lesson plan reflects the latest updates made as a result of suggestions from teachers who have presented
the lesson during the daytime program. Please continue to send us your ideas! |
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"click here to view Dinobabies Video." |
| Educational Objective |
Students will be able to explain what a dinosaur and a fossil are.
The students will describe what paleontologists do and how they reconstruct the lives of dinosaurs from the
fossil record. They will be able to state that dinosaurs hatched from eggs.
Associated Standard and CORE Objective:
- 1300-0102 - Plan sounds and physical attributes for a character that
make sense considering the given circumstances of a story.
- 1320-0204 - Develop concentration and concern for detail when working
in classroom dramatizations. Stay in the scene. Maintain concentration despite
unexpected distractions.
- 3020-0102 - Compare ways that animals care for their young. Know that
some kinds of things that live today still resemble once-living things that
have completely disappeared.
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| Materials List |
- 3 - ceramic hatching dinosaurs
- 6 - Velociraptor puppets
- 6 - Parasaurolophus puppets
- 6 - Dilophosaurus puppets
- 6 - Dinosaur-in-egg puppets
- 3 - Pterodactyl puppets
- 6 - Puppet mice (each child uses 2 to 3)
- 6 - Finger puppet mosquitoes (each child uses 2 to 3)
- 2 - photos of the dinosaur looking into nest
- 1 - picture of the dinosaur herd
- 1 - Book: Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up
- "Baby Dinosaurs' First Day" Script
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- 2 - bushes
- 2 - buckets (to put "egg nest" tarps on)
- 2 - "egg nest" tarps (6` round)
- 1 - mural backdrop tarp (4` tall x 30` wide)
- 1 - painted floor tarp (15` x 15`)
- 1 - CD with background sounds
- 2 - lights
- 2 - dimmers
- 2 - extension cords
- 2 – light stands
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| Pre-Lesson |
In addition to this lesson plan, review the following:
- Book called "Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up"
- "Baby Dinosaurs' First Day" Script
- "Video."
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View lesson on separate page |
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Lesson |
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View video clips about Egg Mountain to learn about its history and how
paleontologists (pail-e-on- TALL-o-jists) use fossils to learn about earth's
history. Read through the book called "Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up"
and "Baby Dinosaurs; First Day" script. You may choose to condense the
story of Maia yourself or use the supplied "Condensed Story of Maia." Watch
the video of 25 children acting out the script.
Set up stage as shown in the script and on the video. If you need assistance,
contact a Junior Engineering staff member.
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Discuss what the children think a fossil is. Explain that a fossil can
be any remains or traces of ancient life such as bones, eggs, nests, teeth,
and footprints. Describe how a paleontologist "reads" the fossil record
left and comes up with "stories" about how dinosaurs lived. Explain how a paleontologist in Montana named
Jack Horner "read" the fossil record left in rock and inferred ideas about how dinosaurs lived and took
care of their babies. Describe how Dr. Horner also made up a story about a baby dinosaur named Maia and how she
grew up. Explain that Maia is a duck-billed dinosaur called Maiasaura (mah-ee-uh-SOR-uh). Maiasaura means
"Good Mother Lizard."
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With the children in a semicircle around you, tell (in condensed form)
the story of "Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up." (You will probably want to skip the chapter
about the baby duckbill being killed.) Show the children the model of
the hatching Maiasaura baby. Ask the children questions like the following:
- How were new dinosaurs born? Do you think they were born like puppies
and kittens? Were they hatched from eggs like chickens and turtles?
Explain how Jack Horner found fossil eggs, egg shells, and babies in nests. Describe how
the babies pecked out of their eggs with a tooth-like part on their noses.
- How big were the babies when they hatched? Jack Horner found fossil
eggs that were the size of footballs. The eggs were laid in groups
of 12 or 24 and covered with vegetation. The eggs were arranged in the nest in a circle with the center
egg standing up and the other eggs tilting towards it. When they hatched,
the babies were about 14 inches long. Like baby birds, the babies could stand up but not walk.
- How might have the parents cared for them? Show the photo of the
dinosaur looking into the nest. The parents probably brought fruits
and leaves to the babies. The babies stayed
in the nest until they were about three feet long. The parents
grew up to be 30 feet long and they weighed between two and three tons.
- How did the families live? Show the picture of the dinosaurs in
herds. They traveled in groups, or herds, probably for safety against
the meat-eating dinosaurs.
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Using the "Baby Dinosaurs` First Day" script provided, help
the children act out a play about baby dinosaurs and their families using
the provided dinosaur puppets, backdrop canvas, props,
music and lighting. Remind the children that they need to listen carefully
and not talk while you are telling the story so they will know what to
do. Also remind them not to use their puppets to bite or snap
at other children. Children like repetition so you may choose to have
them run through the script several times.
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Remind the children about the importance of fossils and how paleontologists
read the fossil record to understand more about how creatures lived long ago.
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Call attention to the career fields that are related to this module.
Discuss how students might prepare for occupations that interest them. Note
the career links at the end of this lesson.
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End of Lesson |
| Teacher Tips |
You may choose to make up your own script for the children to act out. If you have
less than 30 children, you can cut back on the number of puppets used. Note that the parent and
baby parasaurolophus dinosaurs and the velociraptors are essential to the story. Note also that the script
describes a story that is not exactly historically accurate; for example, the dilophosaurus did not live at
the same time as the other animals.
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| Other Activities |
Have the children "pet" the hatching parasaurolophus dinosaur
babies using 3D glasses.
See the "hatching" fossilized dinosaur egg models on the World
Wide Web ( http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/96/dinoeggs/).
Explain that other dinosaur babies and eggs have been found in the rock.
how the children the models of the hatching T-rex and velociraptor dinosaurs.
Have the children write their own scripts for "Baby Dinosaur's First
Day."
Fun Dinosaur Museums and Parks:
Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal in Northeast Utah
( http://www.infowest.com/Utah/dinosaurland/index.html)
Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana (Jack Horner)
(http://www.montana.edu/wwwmor)
Ogden, Utah's Dinosaur Park (http://www.dinopark.org/)
Wyoming Dinosaur Center ( http://wyodino.org/)
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| This lesson relates to the following |
Career Fields:
Science
Occupations:
- Museum Curator: Plan and oversee the arrangement, acquiring
of items, cataloging, and exhibition of collections as well as maintaining
the collections. They describe and
classify species related to their fields, usually dealing in
cultural, biological, or historical collections. They may also conduct research
on topics or items related to their collections. Education: Masters Degree, 3-5 years museum experience, may require record of scholarly publishing.
- Paleontologist: Study fossils found in geologic formations to trace the evolution of
plant and animal life and the geologic history of the earth. Education: Bachelor's Degree
* Taken from Occupational Outlook Handbook 1998-1999.
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| Review Questions |
- How do we know dinosaurs once existed on this planet?
- What is a fossil?
- Did dinosaurs live in Utah? Montana?
- What do we call a person who studies fossils?
- How are dinosaurs born?
- What do dinosaurs eat?
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