During Reading Centers today, a very special, FRAGILE  package arrived. What could be inside? I slowly and carefully cut the package open and discovered….

an EGG!!!

We had to figure out what was inside the egg. First, we looked at the appearance of the egg. Students thought it looked round, like a snowball, and bumpy. We then made some inferences about what could be in the egg from that clue. Students guessed a chick, an owl, a dinosaur, a snake, and an emu.

Next, I gave the students three more clues:

1. It has a long tail.

2. It has sharp teeth.

3. It has sharp claws

They recorded these clues in their new Dinosaur Notebooks and made a guess as to what they thought was inside the egg.

During P.E., the egg HATCHED!!

The students’ reactions were priceless!

Here are some examples of student work:

 

I wanted to find out what knowledge students have of dinosaurs, so I spent the next fifteen minutes recording their prior knowledge, or schema. This is displayed on a chart. All schema is displayed, even if we come to learn that it is actually incorrect. Eventually we will move misconceptions to a different location on the chart. We will also record any new learning that occurs during the course of the unit. Some students know a ton about dinosaurs, while others are learning about these creatures for the very first time. There is so much to learn!! We’re off on our prehistoric adventure!