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So, when the topic of dinosaurs came up in our "Mystery of History" curriculum, she was one of the first authors that came to mind. Here's a sample of her work:
Here were some fun riddles that I found to share with the girls from my dusty old file:
And, of course, poetry must be integrated, too:
When you combine that with some dinosaur reading, some dinosaur crafts, some dinosaur math, some dinosaur writing, and some dinosaur phonics, and, then, you climb aboard a dinosaur train and have a dino-picnic, you have yourself a "DINO-RIFFIC" week in the works.
But, let's rewind a few weeks into the summer months amidst a crazy Army transition from Arizona to Iowa when dinosaur schema was activated! If you have ever had the privilege of trekking along Route 66 through Holbrook, Arizona, in the blazing hot heat, you may have seen a mirage, or perhaps the Wigwam Motel, or even better....this dinosaur:
When you are five or under, and you see this gigantic creature outside of the car window standing in the middle of the desert, you start to ponder these things called dinosaurs. Instead of the repeated question of, "Are we there YET?!" my husband and I began to hear, "Are those dinosaurs REAL?" Interest was peeked. Then, once we arrived in Nebraska, the girls got to go to the Durham Western Heritage Museum in Omaha to see the infamous T-Rex named "Sue." Ask Clare about Sue, and she'll likely say, "She was 'scwary,' and she drowned." Ask Brynn, and she'll likely tell you how she giggled when she read this sign all on her own:
Digging for dinosaur bones.
Elle explores a dinosaur puzzle.
Sue was definitely a big hit, but I am not so sure whether the girls liked Sue more or the soda fountain at the old train station.
Dinosaur?
Hmmm.....it's a toss up! Regardless, the girls were learning more and more about dinosaurs which was laying the foundation for our next family excursion to Morrill Hall in Lincoln, Nebraska.
While at Morrill Hall, the girls got to explore even more dinosaurs and participate in some interactive paleontology exhibits. Being a paleontologist and digging for "bones" was definitely a highlight of the trip for the girls.
So, with Route 66, the Durham Western Heritage Museum, Morrill Hall, and children's literature, the girls were definitely familiar with dinosaurs. Dinosaurs may not have ranked as high on the interest list as princesses for Brynn, and they weren't quite as cool as rocks for Clare, but, nonetheless, the girls knew about these creatures that roamed the Earth years ago, so the groundwork was laid for our next thematic week! Children are not going to be passionate about EVERY topic that gets introduced, but exposure to the topic is still important and the challenge for the educator to engage learning despite lack of interest is still fun!
Since I couldn't make dinosaurs into princesses, and I couldn't add dinosaurs to Clare's rock collection, I had to be creative. The main goal of the week was to help the girls understand that, despite the story of dinosaurs conveyed in so many textbooks and picture books, dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark. This ideology may challenge your own personal beliefs, but if you do the Biblical research, "contrary to popular belief (but according to God's Word), mankind would have coexisted with the dinosaurs" ("Mystery of History," 27). I utilized this resource frequently throughout our thematic week, too:
Yes, "The dinosaurs went marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah...the dinosaurs went marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah,...the little one stopped to tie his shoe (OK...that didn't happen), but they all went marching down...to the ark, to get out of the rain, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!"
We looked at several picture books of the story of Noah's Ark and several drawings, but something was always missing on the big boat...DINOSAURS! Each of the girls has a learning journal that she has been keeping since the age of two, and for this particular concept, we added an entry to their journals where they were to add the dinosaurs to a traditional picture of Noah's Ark. This was an activity that was differentiated, so Brynn had a little bit more challenging work and reading to do than Clare. Here are Brynn's journal pages:
And, here is Clare's journal entry.
Remember how I mentioned that I needed to strive to make this topic exciting for the girls since the topic of dinosaurs was not exactly something that they were passionate about? Well, we made Brachiosaurus hats, and if you let Brynn make something pink and allow her to wear it with her dance leotard before her first dance class, much like the dinosaurs were ON the ark, Brynn was ON BOARD, too! Here she is with her PINK Brachiosaurus hat and her PINK leotard. Who knows...maybe the Brachiosaurus was pink!!
Clare LOVES her rock collection, and she has toted her rock box all over the United States with us. So, to entice her, we did some counting with an egg carton where we put dinosaur eggs (her rocks) into the carton as we counted the specified number that was labeled on the carton.
Oh, Clare was LOVING this! Look at all of those shiny dinosaur eggs (rocks)!
Brynn got to read Dinorella, A Prehistoric Fairy Tale which immediately brought a smile to her face when she realized that the story was adapted from none other than the beloved CINDERELLA!
Then, all of the girls went aboard the Dinosaur Train:
While aboard the train and going for a ride around the block, I told the girls that I thought some dinosaurs had come to visit us in our home while we were out. Pragmatic Clare piped up immediately and with much attitude, "Yeah, only that is not even possible, MOM, because dinosaurs don't live anymore."
Brynn was happy to discover the prints BIG and small all across the floor.
Clare was still very skeptical.
We read Where's My Teddy by Jez Alborough, and I modified our Math lesson once again to fit our theme for the week. We compared dinosaur foot print sizes rather than compare human body heights (as was suggested for the Everyday Math lesson). The girls had to find objects around the house that were smaller than the BIG dinosaur print and BIGGER than the BIG dinosaur print, draw the objects, and, then, chart them on our dry erase board. Then, they had to do the same for the little dinosaur print. Clare did not need to find or draw as many objects as Brynn, and Elle just had fun when she saw the sticky notes come out. Here is Brynn sticking up her pictures on the chart.
Here was the finished chart!
Teacher Brynn is explaining her pictures to us all.
Clare is thinking really hard about her drawings before she explains what she found, and did Elle find a mechanical pencil? Uh oh.....
Brynn is the oldest and has the biggest dino print! Clare is younger and has the smaller dino print!
It's time for a dino-riffic picnic with dinosaur eggs (Rice Krispie Treats) for dessert!
Picnic time!
Using our dinosaur egg chalk (thank goodness for extra chalk left over from Easter) to write our letter "D!"
Even Elle got in on the sidewalk chalk action!
Working on the letter "D!"
And, to tie it all together, our memory Bible verse for the week even started with "D!" "Do not be anxious about anything..." (Philippians 4:6).
SO, how does a dinosaur visit Household Schmidt? Does she stomp through the door? Does she throw a great fit? Does she leave her dino prints all over the floor? Does she let out a ROAR? Does she find food and beg for more? NO-she waltzes in with a tutu on and a grin. She pirouttes about and doesn't even pout! She's excited to learn and to grow each day, and she's ecstatic because she gets to do it all through play!
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