Dinosaur Lesson Plans

Second graders practice vocabulary related to measurement, mathematics, and dinosaurs. Using the engaging topic of dinosaurs, learners will calculate various information about dinosaurs and use measurement vocabulary. They will also answer problems using the math vocabulary and strategies. Real life examples and fun activities are inlcuded in this plan.

Students explore items of interest including dinosaurs. They generate, record and answer relevant questions based on oral, shared and/or independent readings of informational texts and available multiple resources on a topic of class interest. They match wits in a "Dinosaur Challenge".

Young scholars share ideas about how scientists know about dinosaurs, then read a news article about the recently found remains of a hadrosaur. In this dinosaur lesson plan, the teacher introduces the article with a class discussion and vocabulary activity, then students read the news report and answer comprehension questions. Lesson includes interdisciplinary follow-up activities.

Students explain how the earth makes fossils and how dinosaur remains become fossils. In this Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life lesson, students solve paleo-puzzles which ask students to solve problems as if they were paleontologists. Students also decide where to dig, read rocks, clean fossils, and preserve bones. Lastly students create a fossilized dinosaur remains landscape for others to excavate.

Students discuss their knowledge about dinosaurs. Then they read a book which explains the details of dinosaurs' habitats. After further research, they draw pictures of their ideas of different dinosaur habitats.

Young scholars listen to a age-appropriate story about dinosaurs, and participate in a discussion about dinosaurs' diets and habitats. They then work online on National Geographic's internet site activity "Dinosaur's Neighborhood."

Students investigate world history by creating a diorama in class. In this dinosaur extinction lesson, students read assigned text discussing the time frame of the dinosaurs residence on Earth and their eventual demise. Students recreate a scene of dinosaurs by building a diorama in class and later completing worksheets.

Students explore the food chain. In this dinoaur lesson, students identify charactersitics of an omnivore, carnivore, and herbivore. Students sort dinosaur picture/word cards into groups by their eating characteristics. Students also search the internet for more information on dinosaur diets.

Students collect a variety of drawings of dinosaurs and maps of a zoo. Students observe an animal in motion during a field trip to a zoo from reproducible worksheets. Students study about the process by which scientists and film animators develop working models of dinosaurs. Students summarize the final question to consider body structure and hypothesize possible dinosaur motion from their observations.

Students read an article about dinosaurs. In this literacy lesson, students read an article discussing particular facts and misconceptions about dinosaurs. Students then answer 5 multiple choice comprehension questions.