Rock Cycle - Past Life (KB)
Post Lab 

   
OBJECTIVES:
  • Discovering information about dinosaurs through songs.
  • Dramatizing how dinosaurs lived.
VOCABULARY:
  • dinosaur
  • herbivore
  • carnivore
MATERIALS:

Students learn about where dinosaurs lived using songs

BACKGROUND:

Each type of dinosaur roamed only certain areas of the earth. The dinosaur globe can help students visualize where dinosaurs lived. There was never a particular type of dinosaur that lived everywhere on Earth. Animals that cannot swim or fly, which includes dinosaurs, are usually isolated on one continent. Within that continent, these animals may be further isolated from each other by high mountain ranges or extreme climatic zones (deserts, for example). Most modern land-living animals have a patchy global distribution similar to that of dinosaur fossils. For example, kangaroos are native to Australia and are not found in the "wild" in other parts of the world. Humans are unusual in this regard. We have built devices like boats and airplanes that allow us to travel beyond our natural continental boundaries.

Songs may be used to encourage students to "act out" dinosaur behavior and contrast the appearance and lifestyles of different dinosaurs. During this post lab we encourage review of dinosaurs through music. Use the songs provided in the procedure section or original songs made up in class or songs chosen from one of the many dinosaur music albums available commercially.

PROCEDURE:
  1. Play the Crazy Professor by Kevin Roth to students to get into a dinosaur mood.

  2. Point out to students that the globe shows that different kinds of dinosaurs lived in different parts of the world during the Mesozoic Era.  These may not be available for sale. 
     
  3. Divide the class into "Meat-eaters" and "Plant-eaters." Lead the following two songs. Have everyone join in as the appropriate groups move around the room acting like their type of dinosaur. The meat-eaters should walk on two legs and act predatory and ferocious. The plant-eaters should munch shrubbery and be on the watch for predators. You should use props for this activity if possible. Fangs, plastic claws, armor (horns, plates, frills), and fake ferns, would all be fun. If you like, you may make up your own songs in lieu of, or in addition to, the ones given here. Your class might enjoy "brainstorming" to set dinosaur facts to popular song music. If you wish, you may bypass music altogether and make up your own dinosaur rap.

SONG 1 (sing to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")

"Three-horned face, Triceratops,
Eat plants all day. I never stop.
Tyrannosaurus
eats my friends,
But horns and frill are my defense.
Three-horned face, Triceratops,
Eat plants all day. I never stop."

SONG 2 (sing to the tune of "I'm a Little Teacup")

"I'm Tyrannosaurus big and strong,
Front arms are short, but my claws are all long.
When I hunt for dinner, hear me roar,
And chase the smaller dinosaurs."

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