Key Stage 1 Pupils Show Off their Own Fossil Dig Site
Pupils at Hoylandswaine Primary School (Yorkshire), showed off their dinosaur and fossil knowledge this week during a dinosaur workshop in school organised by Everything Dinosaur. Miss Birkinshaw, the class teacher (mixed Year 1 and Year 2 class), had been helping the children study prehistoric animals and famous fossil collectors like Mary Anning. Our dinosaur expert showed the children the typical fossils that Mary found on the Dorset coast and explained where some of her fossils could be seen in museum collections.
Dinosaurs and Mary Anning
Food chains and food webs were explored and how fossils are formed were discussed. The school children had even created their own fossil dig site complete with a mapping grid.
Classroom Fossil Dig Site at Hoylandswaine Primary
Palaeontology in schools. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Studying Palaeontology
The grid system permitted the teachers to set out a number of challenges to the class. Could they identify the objects by grid reference? More capable learners were challenged to create their own dig sites using graph paper and to plot their fossil discoveries. The Everything Dinosaur export suggested this classroom exercise reflects what happens at real fossil sites when an important task of the field team is to map the site accurately.
Questions Associated with the Dig Site Activity
Children write about fossils and fossil discoveries. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Workshop
The Everything Dinosaur team member suggested that this fossil dig site exercise could be extended by getting the children to create their own fossil grid “battleships game”. Our dinosaur experts provide lots of extension ideas and activities and often are able to send over free downloadable resources to assist the teaching team. The term topic of dinosaurs and fossils combined art skills as well as subjects from the science element of the curriculum very effectively.
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