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Dino Hunt is a game that a teacher can use in
the classroom as is! This can be especially powerful as a reward for
work done early and well -- letting those who do well play a game will
encourage the other students.
Right out of the box, Dino Hunt is an
educational game in many ways! Play of the game encourages:
- reading skills,
- basic math, as the players calculate their energy usage,
- decision making -- which dinosaurs do you hunt to maximize your
energy?
- classification -- each dinosaur has to be placed in the correct
time period, and certain Special cards require a
distinction between Herbivore and
Carnivore
- acquisition of dinosaur knowledge -- each card includes at least
one scientific fact which students will tend to read and absorb. This
last point can be used as an indicator of how well they really are
learning . . . tell each student that they must report the most
interesting fact they discover back to the teacher after the game.
(Don't overlook the Special cards -- most of them are based
on specific facts or theories, though a few are just "game cards.")
For busy teachers with many levels of students in a classroom, letting
four to eight students play a game in the corner of the room can be a
relief -- especially when you realize that they are not simply wasting
time.
Teachers are welcome to make enlarged photocopies of the cards, either
for classroom use or for coloring.
Finally, individual cards make good, inexpensive motivators -- most
students will love them!
The cards in Dino Hunt can be used in many
other ways, however! This supplement is merely to stimulate your
imagination -- teachers will find many more educational uses. (And we'll
welcome your suggestions, to be added to later editions of this guide
and posted on our web site! Send them to sj@io.com.)
This supplement is divided into PRIMARY (grades K-3) and INTERMEDIATE
(grades 4-6). Some of the activities can be used at a higher or lower
level in the other group, however, so at least scan both sections.
Primary Activities -- Grades K-3:
- DUPLICATE MATCHING:
- If your Dino Hunt collection includes
a fair number of duplicate cards, a simple recognition activity is to
have the younger children match them. Start to lay the cards out in a
large rectangle, say six cards wide by as deep as needed. As you show
the group the next card, ask them if it should be on its own, or can it
go on top of a similar card? They'll eagerly scan the cards on the
table, trying to be the first to spot the duplicate. Make sure you have
lots of duplicates, though, as the students may get frustrated if the
first dozen cards are all unique!
- ATTRIBUTE MATCHING:
- Younger children learn a lot by sorting cards by type. Ask them
to sort dinosaurs by those that use all four legs to walk with versus
those that go on two legs. Then separate by Carnivores
versus Herbivores, explaining those terms. You can sort
dinosaurs by main color, or by those that have horns versus those
without horns, and so on.
- ALPHABETIZE:
- This simple activity is for those learning the alphabet. They
won't be able to pronounce the dinosaur names, but they'll have a sense
of accomplishment if they can simply sort them alphabetically. Reassure
them that this is a necessary first step to being able to master
dinosaur names, and they'll be eager to try it!
- DESCRIPTIONS:
- Pass out one card to each student, and have them write a simple
description of the dinosaur: size, color, what it might be eating, etc.
- CRAFTS:
- As dinosaur-related activities, pass out a card to each student
and ask them to draw it on a different piece of paper. Cards can be used
as references to make dinosaur hats that resemble the dinosaur head. The
class could make a group mobile: each student draws one dinosaur and
prints a fact about it on the back, and the teacher assembles them into
a mobile. Students can also make ''My Own Dinosaur Book'' with pictures,
facts, and figures such as height and weight (found on the back of each
creature card).
- MATH:
- With the school nurse's help, have the students record their
own heights and weights. Then choose some sample dinosaurs and figure
out how many students it would take to weigh as much as one Deinonychus?
Coloradisaurus? Ichthyo-saurus? T. rex? Or how many Archaeopteryxes
would equal one student's weight? Likewise, height: how many students
standing on top of each other would it take to be as high as T. rex?
Note that the cards include translations to metric measurements, for
those that wish to introduce metric at this time.
- GRAPHS:
- After the students have worked and played with the cards a few
days, ask them to vote on their favorites and the one they'd least enjoy
meeting in a dark alley (which may be the same!). Graph the results, so
the students can learn about visually representing numbers.
- COMPARISONS:
- How would a chicken egg compare to a dinosaur egg? Can the
students spot eggs on any of the cards? How would a dinosaur compare to
a house pet? To a lizard?
- STORIES:
- Imagination time! Pass out two or three cards to each student,
and help them say the names. Have one student start a story, using one
of their cards. Anything goes here -- ''I rode one of these to school
today'' is acceptable! Have the next student continue, working one of
their cards into the story. The story can go anywhere at all! If the
children are young enough, the teacher can write it down and read it
back to them later, showing the value of learning to write and record
otherwise transient events.
Intermediate Activities - Grades 4-6:
- KWL:
- creating a KWL chart before using the cards is a good idea.
- FLASH CARDS:
- Use the creature cards to review facts about dinosaurs and
other prehistoric animals. The names appear on both sides, in large
type. The other information is in much smaller type, so you can display
a card and ask a question about it.
- The students can do this themselves, too: break them into groups
of four, and give each of them four cards. Have them study the cards for
a while, then put their cards together and shuffle them well. Put the
sixteen cards on a table, picture-side up. Each student should recognize
a dinosaur as having been one he or she read the details of -- if nobody
recognizes it, put it in a discard pile. Otherwise, any of the other
three students picks up the card and asks a question about the dinosaur:
when did it live, is it an herbivore or carnivore, where have fossils
been found, what is the fact in the box, etc. If the student correctly
answers the question, the card goes in front of him or her -- otherwise,
it goes into the discard pile. The next card is processed the same way,
until all sixteen cards have been gone through. The student with the
most cards not in the discard pile wins.
- UNUSUAL FACT:
- If you have a group of students who have finished their work
ahead of time, give them each ten to twenty Specials and dinosaur cards,
and tell them to find the two most interesting facts to report to the
class later. This will keep them reading and thinking about what the
other students might find most interesting in all the cards they're
looking through.
- ART:
- Draw pictures of the dinosaur habitats. Ask the students if
they would have chosen the colors shown on the cards for the various
dinosaurs. Ask them to draw and color some the way they would like to
see them.
- CRAFTS:
- Make a class book of dinosaur facts and drawings, with each
student responsible for a different dinosaur. The cards can also be used
as models for making dinosaur masks near Halloween time.
- GEOGRAPHY:
- Give each student a world map (without any words) and ten to
twenty Dino Hunt cards. Ask them to put an
''X'' on the maps where dinosaur fossils have been found. They can use
any reference book or globe to look up countries. Tell them they'll be
asked later what country the ''X'' represents, so they need to memorize
that as they make the mark!
- GEOLOGY:
- Have them sort the cards by time line, and then put the
geologic eras in the correct order.
- FOSSILS:
- Use the opportunity to introduce fossils to the students: how
old they are, how they're formed, where they're found, etc.
- STORIES:
- Lots of opportunities here!
- Pass out a card to each student and ask them to tell a story about
what would happen if such a creature came to their school that day. Have
each student tell only a few sentences before asking the next student to
take over, using the next card.
- Round Robin story: break into four-student groups. Give each group
four cards, in the center of the group. Have them each write a story
about the dinosaurs -- whatever they want -- for two minutes. Then have
them pass their story to the student on their left, so each now has a
different student's story. Give them two minutes to read what the other
wrote, then have them write for two minutes, continuing the story where
the other student left off. Do this until all four students have
contributed to all four stories. Read them out loud to the class.
- MATH & COMPARISONS:
- Compare dinosaur heights and weights with modern objects. Which
weighs more, a large fire truck or Ankylosaurus? Which is taller, a
one-story building or Tyrannosaurus rex? And so on. Note that the cards
give all figures in both metric and US measurements -- you can have them
add dinosaur weights and heights in both types of measurements, then
convert the final answers to check their math and learn conversions.
- JOKES & RIDDLES:
- Intermediate age students love jokes and riddles -- give them
each four cards and have them write a joke or riddle about their
favorite.
- NEWSLETTER:
- Start a Dino Facts newsletter in your classroom, with roving
reporters asking other students for interesting facts for the next
edition. Students can also read newspapers and magazines to report on
new dinosaur information and theories.
- COMPUTER USE:
- If your school has Internet access, you can have students hunt
for dinosaur information on the World Wide Web. Start with the
Dino Hunt web site
(http://www.sjgames.com/dinohunt/), which has links to many more. You
may wish to supervise this activity.
- SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES:
- Have the students hunt for inconsistencies between information
on the cards and older dinosaur books. The cards represent scientific
theories as of 1996, which often differ from earlier theories. Discuss
how science advances, and if the students feel current theories will
last another 50 years or be replaced by others. Note that many of the
Special cards included in the game, especially the
Extinction cards, refer to interesting theories that
can be discussed at this time.
- WORD ROOTS:
- Note the derivations of dinosaur names on the cards. These are
mostly from Greek or Latin -- have the students look for root words that
appear in other words they know. Have them check in a dictionary to see
if the words are indeed from the same root.
- COMPARISONS:
- As for the primary grades, but get more detailed. How are
certain dinosaurs alike, and how are they different? How are they like
modern animals, and how are they different?
Other Resources:
Every school library has books on dinosaurs, of course. Here are some
non-book resources now available. This is just a small sampling of what
is out there . . . dinosaurs continue to be popular with children of all
ages.
Casual Living U.S.A. (P.O. Box 31273, Tampa, FL 33631) makes fossil kits
of Apatosaurus / Brontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus.
Films, Inc., (5547 Ravenswood, Chicago, IL 60640-1199) distributes an
Australian video about dinosaur fossils called Where the Forest
Meets the Sea.
First Byte (3333 E. Spring Street, Suite 302, Long Beach, CA 90806)
produces The Dinosaur Discovery Kit, software suitable for
grades K-1.
The International Reading Association (P.O. Box 8139, Newark, DE
19714-8139) produces a 22" by 34" dinosaur poster.
The Running Press produces The Dinosaur Hunter's Kit (1990). This
contains field notes, replicated dinosaur fossils in clay, and
excavation tools. For all ages.
The Smithsonian Institution has a Triceratops kit available, among other
resources.
For Parents and Teachers Supervising Play
If you're playing with very young children (or if older children are
playing with younger ones) you may want to adjust a couple of things to
keep the game fair.
The Expert cards are very powerful, and so are some of
the Gadgets. Before the game, you can sort out the
Experts and Gadgets, and let each
player pick one to start with. Let the youngest players pick first! If
they can't decide, guide them toward the Experts.
Small children often mis-play the Special cards at
first. This is a chance for you to help them with their reading skills .
. . teaching them what "carnivore" means, for instance, as well as
showing them where to look for that information on a Dinosaur card. (Or,
for very small children, just leave the Specials out of
the game, and just move around the Time Track hunting dinosaurs.)
Remember that you can control the length of the game by the number of
Dinosaur cards you use. For a short game before
bedtime, you might want only 40 or so (half of those in the boxed set).
On a rainy Saturday, turn the kids loose with a whole collection of
cards and let them hunt dinosaurs all day!
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