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Dec. 6, 2006: Dinosaur Discoveries

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Draw several of your favorite dinosaurs on a large piece of paper. Then cut words from the newspaper that describe the dinosaurs. Paste them around your drawings. Write a sentence telling what you like about these dinosaurs.

2. Make a "dinosaur digging" shopping list. Cut out newspaper words and pictures showing items that would help you if you went on a dig. Paste the words and pictures down the left side of a piece of paper. Next to each word or picture, write a sentence telling why you want that item with you.

3. Interview several family members or friends. Ask them to tell you what they know about dinosaurs. How many facts did they mention? How many myths do people still have about dinosaurs?

4. What makes scientists think that dinosaurs (a) cared for their young, (b) lived in groups, and (c) are not extinct?

5. Use the resource books and the Internet to research the new technologies that paleontologists use to help them in their search for dinosaur skeletons. Use these questions to guide your research:

  • What equipment and technology are used to help scientists locate and excavate dinosaur remains?
  • What equipment/technology do they use to determine the age and species of dinosaur remains?
  • What equipment/technology do they use to record, store and transmit data about their findings?
  • Use your research to write a paragraph discussing how technology helps paleontologists.

This week's standards:

  • Students understand the characteristics of organisms. (Science: Life Science)
  • Students understand the relationship between organisms and the environment. (Science: Life Science)

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)

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