UKS2 Topic: Dinosaurs and Fossils Block F: Dinosaur Species

Session 2 Dino Families
National Curriculum / Science: Recognise that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago; Recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents; Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.
Teaching Objectives / To be able to recognise and describe the family groups of dinosaurs.
Resources
Dinosaur powerpoint; Dino-Families jigsaw; Scissors; Internet and dinosaur reference books. / Weblinks
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/ornithischia/ornithischia.html - Information about Ornithischia (bird hipped) dinosaurs; http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/dinosaur_classification.html - Information about the division of dinosaurs; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvt0Z40hyic - Dinosaur song.
Whole class: Before the session, print out Dino-Families jigsaw (session resources), enlarge and laminate. This will form a class-sized jigsaw.
Ask the children How many types of dinosaurs do you know? Write up the names on the board. In 1888, a man named Harry Seeley proposed a way of classifying dinosaurs into two groups by looking at their hip structure, these groups are called Saurischia (lizard hipped) and Ornithischia (bird hipped). The two groups can be further broken down into sub-groups such as families and sub-families.
Show chn the powerpoint on (session resources) on the IWB. They will need to be sitting in talking partners for this activity. Follow the instructions on the powerpoint. Encourage the chn to turn to their partners and spend some time discussing the different points. At the end of the powerpoint, show the chn the dino-families jigsaw (session resources). They will need access to the internet and books to research what members from each dinosaur family could look like. After this, ask them to draw them (or print them out) in the boxes on the jigsaw. When they have done that, the chn can cut out their jigsaw and have a go at putting it together, using their memories and research information.
Easy/ Medium/ Hard
The less able children in the class may benefit from using the large, laminated jigsaw and working with an adult. Place the laminated jigsaw on the floor so chn can walk through the dinosaur family groups. Moving along the different groups and speaking the facts out loud will give them a more kinaesthetic approach to the task and will help them remember the facts. They may want to call out the names of the dinosaur families and spell them out loud, as they walk along the laminated parts. Ask the more able children to look carefully at the dinosaur family names. Tell them that many of the roots of these words come from Greek (and Latin). Ask them to research the dinosaur names, by splitting them into their roots and typing them into Google Translate (or using a Greek or Latin dictionary).
Plenary / Read the dino-dictionary to the class and review the words of this session. Display them on the working wall. Finish the session with this light-hearted animated Dinosaur song.
Outcomes / Children will
·  Recognise the family groups of dinosaurs
·  Know that dinosaurs are grouped into two large families based on the structure of their hips: lizard-hips and bird-hips

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