Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dig This: A Relief Sculpture of Dinosaur Bones

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
This is a truly amazing project. Perfect to use during your next dinosaur unit. Second and fifth graders work together to draw and make a relief sculpture of a nine foot-long stegosaurus. They discuss what paleontologists do and then...
Activity
BBC

Walking with Dinosaurs

For Teachers K - 8th Standards
Breath new life into your class's study of dinosaurs with this extensive collection of materials. Offering everything from a printable T-rex mask, word searches, and connect-the-dots activities to informational handouts, hands-on...
Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: Dinosaurs

For Parents 1st Standards
Two books—Dinosaurs by Gail Gibbons and Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hof—begin a learning experience in which scholars complete three creative, imaginative, and real-world activities. First, pupils create a puzzle featuring their...
Website
American Museum of Natural History

Paleontology Books

For Students 6th - 12th
A list of 11 books about paleontology offers titles, authors, and a brief description of the tale.
Website
American Museum of Natural History

Ask a Scientist About Dinosaurs

For Students 6th - 12th
Who doesn't want to know more about the mysterious dinosaurs? Learners read about dinosaurs and the process scientists use to continue learning more about the animals in an interview-type format. A paleontologist responds to submitted...
Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

What Do You Know About PaleontOLogy?

For Students 6th - 12th
Believe it or not, some dinosaurs are not extinct. Discover this and other interesting facts about dinosaurs in a 10-question online quiz. As individuals answer questions, the resource provides them with feedback and additional facts...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dinosaur! Fossil Rush: Tale of a Bone

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Explore 1870s when a "bone rush" led to amazing discoveries, as fossil-hunters risked life and limb in their quest for dinosaur remains. The class uses the attached visual encyclopedia to prep for a discussion on early paleontology. Two...
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Drawing Dinos

For Students 6th - 12th
Five steps walk budding artists through the process of drawing a dinosaur. A drawing guide showcases four dinosaurs—stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, and allosaurus. 
Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Talk to a Titanosaur

For Students 6th - 12th
Learn all about the Titanosaur with an engaging website that delves deep into the large reptile's physical traits, family history, discovery, and fossil reconstruction.
Website
American Museum of Natural History

Being a Paleontologist: Mark Norell

For Students 6th - 12th
Get to know paleontologist Mark Norell with a 19 question interview. Written questions, answers, and photographs with descriptions sit among bright and cheery graphics
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dinosaur Detectives

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers write a report about a paleontologist. In this paleontology lesson, students research and write a report about a noted paleontologist. They discuss the importance of technology to paleontologists and how paleontologist...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explain how the earth makes fossils and how dinosaur remains become fossils. For this Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life lesson, students solve paleo-puzzles which ask students to solve problems as if they were paleontologists....
Worksheet
Curated OER

Digging For Dinosaurs

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this dinosaur themed worksheet, students work together as a team of paleontologists to draw the dinosaur bones they discovered at a dig site. They must label their drawing on a grid map and then provide data about the length and...
PPT
Curated OER

The Rock and Fossil Record

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Go deep in your paleontology unit with this spectacular set of slides! It introduces viewers to the types of fossils, a few famous fossils, and the geologic eras. This is done with easy-to-read text, diagrams, photos, and even videos. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dinosaur Traces

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students identify and interpret the type of evidence found at a typical dinosaur dig and mimic a paleontologist by taking crayon rubbings of simulated bone impressions. After the rubbings are taken, the students reconstruct the complete...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Archaeology and Prehistoric Native Americans

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students study the terms paleontology and archaeology and examine how they can help us learn about prehistoric Native Iowans.  In this archaeology lesson students discuss these terms and view a video on Native Americans. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Footprint Detectives: Making Inferences Using Dinosaur Trackways

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students analyze and discuss footprints and dinosaur tracks. They listen to books about paleontologists, create and analyze their own trackways using black paper and chalk, examine the data, and form hypotheses about footprints and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

When Dinosaurs Ruled The World

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Learners discover how a paleontologist digs up fossils and what tools they use.  In this paleontology lesson, students discuss the importance of the job of a paleontologist, watch a video on the process of extracting fossils, and...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Designasaurus: An Activity in Paleontology

For Students 8th - 10th
In this dinosaur worksheet, students are given a dinosaur skeleton and they work in teams to report about a "newly discovered dinosaur". They create and include it's name, a model of it, its size, the habitat it lived in, its diet, its...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scientists Study Dinosaur "Mummy"

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students 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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dinosaur Tracks: From Stride To Leg Length To Speed

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students determine the relationship between leg length, stride length, and speed in humans and bipedal dinosaurs. They collect data and graph these human characteristics then use actual data collected from dinosaur track pads and fossils...
Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Dress up a T. Rex

For Students 6th - 12th
Scholars play with an image's color and brightness to predict how tyrannosaurus rex's skin, feathers, and eyes would have appeared. Information and real-world pictures shed light on what evidence guides our assumption of how a...
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Mesozoic Museum

For Students 6th - 12th
Mini museum curators create an exhibit that showcases the Mesozoic era. Pupils use their knowledge of dinosaurs to make informative posters, drawings, and dioramas. Following three steps to complete the hands-on activity, scholars read...
Website
American Museum of Natural History

Beyond T. Rex

For Students 6th - 12th
Some dinosaurs get all the attention. Pupils use an interactive resource to study some of the lesser-known dinosaur species. Organizing the information in a cladogram allows learners to make connections among the species.