My boys and girls came in from recess, engaged in a very serious debate. How did the dinosaurs die? Could I please “esplain” it to them because everyone had different ideas. 15 minutes ago, no one had cared about dinosaurs so I was rather surprised. But I gathered the boys and girls on the carpet and asked them to tell me all the different ideas they had been discussing. Most of their thoughts focused around the Ice Age and too much ice and snow for the dinosaurs to live.
I made the decision that my perfectly planned lesson on pumpkins and their life cycle could wait for another day! I began by asking them where we could go to learn more about dinosaurs and answer our questions. They suggested the computer, YouTube, and Brain Pop. One student said we should ask the older kids in our school because they might know. A little boy said we should look in books. So as a starting point, we went to the library and chose about 20 books that looked just right for a kindergarten classroom. Next, we started on a KWL.
What do we know about dinosaurs?
-t-rex dinosaurs eat meat
-some dinosaurs were plant eaters
-some dinosaurs were meat eaters
-some dinosaurs lived in the water and some lived on land
-some scientists think a big meteor hitted the earth and killed some dinosaurs. Some scientists think the dinosaurs died with a big snowstorm and then it was really icy.
-some dinosaurs killed other dinosaurs
-dinosaurs are extinct
-some dinosaurs bite themselves
-triceratops was a kind of dinosaur
-pteranodons ate fish
What would we like to know about dinosaurs?
What are the names of some dinosaurs?
What did dinosaurs eat?
What kind of plants did dinosaurs?
Were there dinosaurs in Manitoba? What kind of dinosaurs lived in Canada?
We were so excited to explore the new books!
We finished our morning by visiting Brain Pop Junior and checking out their videos with dinosaur content–fossils, extinct/endangered species, and bones.