In this classroom activity, middle school students explore the Greek and Latin root words used to create dinosaur names. The activity opens with background information about how dinosaurs are named. As a class, students explore the Greek and Latin roots of some familiar terms. Working individually, students complete a worksheet that challenges them to translate the meaning of seven dinosaurs' names. ... Full description.

In this classroom activity, younger students compare their feet to the footprint of a large Apatosaur. The activity opens with background information about the enormous size range of dinosaurs and a discussion in which the students name some of the dinosaurs they know and describe how big they were. Then, each student will make an outline of their own footprint and fasten it onto the full-size Apatosaur ... Full description.

In this classroom activity, middle school students examine the wide-ranging sizes of dinosaurs. The activity opens with background information about the enormous range of dinosaur sizes and a classroom discussion in which students describe the size of some of the dinosaurs they know. Then, working from gridded drawings which are provided, students create either a life-size drawing of a Tyrannosaurus ... Full description.

This activity shows students how paleo-artists are able to transform dinosaur bones into dynamic drawings. After walking them through a five-step process the activity challenges kids to create their own drawings from dinosaur skeletons. The students will start with the bones, give the bones some body, add depth by shading, add scales or feathers, add the environment in the background and an appropriate ... Full description.

These twelve dark-line dinosaur drawings can be used as either a research or coloring activity. Overhead transparencies of the drawings can be projected to make large traced images of the animals. The site includes drawings of Ankylosaurus, Barosaurus, Coelophysis, Diplodocus, Iguanodon, Ornithomimus, Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Plateosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus rex. ... Full description.

This resource helps students who want to find fossils on their own. The site demonstrates how to keep a field journal to record their fossil discoveries. An annotated example of a field journal entry shows what to record along with how to record it and why it should be recorded. Full description.

This site outlines the step by step progression as a rare fossil is found, authenticated and identified. Follow along as a paleontologist pursues a well-preserved fossil of Sinosauropteryx, a feathered dromaeosaur. The site is enhanced with several photographs. Full description.

This "interview" with a fossil Protoceratops provides students with an introduction to fossils and paleontology. The information includes what the Protoceratops was like when it was alive, how it became a fossil and how it got to the museum, and what its name means. In addition, there is information about how fossils are treated and displayed at the museum. Full description.

Students will have the chance to see some strange and unusual dinosaurs they have never heard of when they can play with the cladogram. A cladogram is like a family tree. It's a way of organizing dinosaurs based on the unique characteristics they share, like a three-toed foot or a hole in the hip socket. In order to see the information the student will roll over a dinosaur's name to see its picture, ... Full description.

This site discusses the fossils of a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops that were evidently fighting and somehow were buried in mid fight. There are three parts to the site. The first part allows the student to view the fossil through the eyes of a paleontologist. The second part explores some theories of how the animals were rapidly buried and the third part gives students the opportunity to match ... Full description.