Dinosaurs are always an exciting unit to teach kindergarten children. They are ready made bundles of interest and knowledge. I start this unit with a KWL chart and the children have a great deal of prior knowledge, granted some is erroneous. When I ask if dinosaurs lived in Kansas they are always answer with an emphatic, "YES!" Granted some is erroneous. When I ask what dinosaurs lived in Kansas they are always certain there were dinosaurs, but are foggy about what dinosaurs lived here. They feel they must have been big and ferocious or they were loving and kind, just like Kansans. :-)
We begin the unit learning about all the dinosaurs and the children love learning about them. They are then surprised to learn that there were no real dinosaurs that lived in Kansas except a few, perhaps on the borders. You see Kansas was an inland sea. The dinosaurs that arrived in Kansas were usually the unfortunate ones who died at the edge of the sea and their bodies floated out into the sea, into Kansas.
There is an abundance of interesting sea creatures that were found in the layers of the Kansas soil. Large, fierce sea creatures called Mosasaur swam through it's waters. Plesiosaurs, giant clams, great sea turtles, and aquatic life galore have been unearthed in the rich Kansas soil. One gigantic dinosaur spent time over Kansas. The pteranodon flew over the sea, perhaps looking for its dinner. We saw all these at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas, our culminating activity. It took 17 kindergarten children to equal the pteranodon's wingspan. One or two children could fit inside a giant clam. We saw the famous, “fish within a fish!” A fish had just eaten its lunch when some fate ended its life and the two were forever locked together.
It is exciting to learn along with my children.
WHAT DINOSAURS ROAMED YOUR STATE?