Lauren Ellis

CI 405

Web Resources for Teaching K-3 about Dinosaurs

1. “What Is A Dinosaur?”. Enchanted Learning.

http://www.EnchantedLearning.com 2009 (or the earliest date located at the bottom of
the page on the copyright notice).

I found this website very informative and useful. It starts off with the basic
background knowledge of a dinosaur and a time line for the life span of dinosaurs. For
every word on their that a student may not understand these is a link attached to help
them better grasp the concept. Also, for every dinosaur they mention there is a link to a
page just on that dinosaur accompanied with a picture. On both sides of the article are fun
facts about dinosaurs and about the earth at that time. There is also animation with the
dinosaurs all over the page, which makes it more exciting to read. Toward the middle of
the webpage there are two helpful activities that relate well to dinosaurs and would work
very well in the classroom. Then my favorite part about this webpage is toward the very
bottom. They have listed just about every dinosaur possible, with a link on each one,
describing each dinosaur and showing a picture. On each individual dino page, they give
information about the anatomy of the dinosaur, when they lived and the behaviors of the
dinosaur. At the very bottom of the webpage is a toolbar with coloring pages of
dinosaurs; dino myths and other useful links that would make lesson planning go
smoother.

2. "Dinosaur Lesson Plans and Activities." Dec. 2003. Web. Oct. 2009.
<http://www.picadome.fcps.net/lab/teacherl/lesson_plans/dinosaur/default.htm.

Although we are not supposed to just include lesson plan websites, this site has MUCH
more than just lesson plans. This website pulls from all different websites and just makes
it easy on teachers to find all sort of ideas for worksheets and arts in crafts that
incorporate dinosaurs and learning at the same time. There is one link to show how
students can make a dinosaur out of a sock. This activity would give students a nice break
from all the academics and would be a nice craft to help them remember all they learned
about dinosaurs. There are a few links to the enchanted learning website that would get a
students creativity juices flowing. There is one link on how to create a dinosaur poem or
an entire page for grades k-2 grade of activities such as word searches and quizzes.

3. "Dinosaurs from A-Z." DinoDictionary.com. Ed. Arts & Letters Corporation. 2005.
Web. Oct. 2009. <http://www.dinodictionary.com/index.asp>.

This website is both visually appealing and easy to use for any age. It is called the “Dino
Dictionary” and it truly encompasses that. At the top of the website the alphabet with a
link attached to each letter. If you click on a letter it will send you to a page full of
dinosaurs and facts that correspond to that letter. Each page of information pertaining to a
certain letter has the dinosaurs name, how to pronounce the name, and how the dinosaur
would have compared to a humans stature. At the bottom of the website there a section
where children can click on a name and an audio clip will come up with more
information and pronounce the name of the dinosaur for the student.
4. "Dinosaurs, Monsters, Terrible Lizards." Dinosaurs for Kids. 2009. Web. Oct. 2009.
<A Union of Professionals. "Smart Testing: Let's Get It Right." Policy Brief 19 (2006). A
Union of Professionals, July 2006. Web. Oct. 2009. .>.

This website is definitely geared more toward younger aged students. This website is
very easy to use with helpful tools. They have a general overview of dinosaurs and I
really liked that they had a map to show where most dinosaurs existed. They have a
featured dinosaur every week, which gives in depth details about a certain dinosaur. In
the middle of the page is a ton of different links. There is an entire page dedicate to
games, with games like Dinosaur Hangman, Dinosaur Flashcards and make your own
dinosaur. There are other links like DinoData and Dinorize it, to help them memorize
facts about dinosaurs. I think this website is very useful for younger students and would
help them learn more about dinosaur with easy to read information.

5. "Dinosaurs!" Scholastic, 2009. Web. Oct. 2009.

<http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/dinos

I enjoyed this website because it is geared toward students and has a separate section for
teachers. On the students section it has tabs for dinosaur information, show what you
know and a section for building your own dinosaur. Under each tab there are a few links,
under the “All About Dinosaurs” link, there are a few games, one in particular is dinosaur
times, where students learn about which dinosaurs were around at certain times. It helps
them use a timeline and understand the concept of time. Under the tab for “Show what
you learned,” if encourage students to write a report on their favorite dinosaur, which I
think is cool. For the teacher section, it gives ideas for lesson plans and activities to do in
the classroom.

6. "Dinosaurs." Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History. Web. Oct. 2009.

<http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/>.

This website is more of an informative website and not as student friendly as the above
websites, but it has very good information on it. One link that I particularly liked was the
virtual tour that is has, showing the exhibitions at the museum. It shows the actual
exhibition and then gives details about the exhibition. This website is showing actual
pictures of dinosaur bones, which is awesome because on most of the other websites, the
illustrations are all cartoons. The other links on the website are very informative and
gives detailed and accurate information.

7. "Dinosaur Facts." Google. Web. Oct. 2009.

<http://www.dinosaurfact.net/jurassic/Cryptoclidus.php>.

The main thing I found useful on this website was that it divides up all of the periods
during the time of the dinosaurs. Dividing up the periods helps students to understand
which dinosaurs lived at certain times, to help them understand that they didn’t just all
live at the same time, which is a common misconception. It also has dinosaur sounds and
video clips, to make it a more interactive website. The only flaw of this website is that it
doesn’t have much credibility, because it at time seems to just state what they think about
the subject and don’t have anything to back up their information.

8. "Dinosaur Games." Web. Oct. 2009. <http://www.dinofun.com/>.

This website would be more as a side activity to use in the classroom. Maybe let the
students use this website if they have already finished their work. This website is full of
games for students to play and helps them to learn at the same time. It has games like tic
tac toe and sudoku but then there are also informative games like dino words search or
“create your own dino story.” Toward the bottom of the website there are dinosaur facts
and information, but the main basis of the website is to encourage students to have fun
while learning about dinosaurs.

9. "Dinosaurs." Kaboose, Disney. 1 June 2009. Web. Oct. 2009.

http://funschool.kaboose.com/time-warp/dinosaurs/

This is another website that is geared more towards the younger crowd. This website has
plenty of activities for teachers to use, like coloring activities, baking ideas and even a
dino egg hunt. I think that crafts and activities like these help encourage students to get
excited about learning and any hands on activities help students learn better. There is also
a section for a dinosaur quiz, which helps students review what they know and encourage
them to keep learning and studying. This website has dinosaur information, but the
website focuses more on the interactive perspective and getting kids involved with
dinosaurs and using the website properly.

10. "Dinosaurs for Kids." Love to Know. Mar. 2009. Web. Oct. 2009.
<http://kids.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Dinosaurs_for_Kids>.

This website is more of a “everything you need to know” about dinosaurs. This website
has a link for where there are good exhibits on dinosaurs. Then it lists off good websites
to use for information on dinosaurs and games and activities to use with students. These
interactive websites they provide are good for giving general information on dinosaurs
and testing the children on what they have learned. The website even goes as far as to
provide a list of places to buy dinosaur figures and even clothes! This may not be the best
educational website, but it has good ideas and websites that are useful.