Dinosaurs? REALLY?

In my classroom, we learn through play and my co-teacher and I try to be mindful and intentional with the materials we put into the room so that they are based on the children's interests. I teach 3, 4 and 5 year old children. Every Fall, undoubtedly the children are interested in Halloween or dress up and/or curious about the change in weather. This year, a topic has arisen that made me shake my head...... DINOSAURS...REALLY?

See last year I had a child in my classroom who was an expert on this topic. I mean an EXPERT! He knew all the names of the dinosaurs, how to pronounce them with such ease you would think he was saying apple instead of Parasaurolophus (pronounced para-SAWR-ollo-fuss) and the children never ONE TIME asked me a question or made indication that they wanted to research dinosaurs more than just on the surface level. Fast forward to this Fall and all of a sudden dinosaurs are where it is at! We are all about the dinosaurs! My co-teacher and I are having to research questions right along side the children. It is fascinating. I mean, I know the basic "meat eater, plant eater" information, but anything deeper than that, I am having to research. This gives me a really great opportunity to help children know that I, as their teacher, do NOT know everything. Shock and awe right? But I believe it is important that children know that although adults know a lot of things, they are always learning too. It has been really interesting to look up the names of dinosaurs, explore writing their names and drawing pictures of them. Check out these pictures the children created a week or so ago.

It is easy to only look at the surface when beginning a project with preschoolers. To avoid doing that, my co-teacher and I asked the children what they already knew about dinosaurs and what they might want to learn about dinosaurs. Int he weeks to come we will begin to unpack these questions and research the answers. Stay tuned to learn more about dinosaurs along with us!

Some of the things they already know:

"I know that the T-Rex's eat meat" (3 year old girl)
"I know that T-Rex's don't fly" (3 year old boy)
"I like them and they are cool" (4 year old boy)
"Eat grass" (3 year old boy)
"Dinosaurs fly" (4 year old boy)
"I know that they stomp" (4 year old boy)
"Some dinosaurs fly" (4 year old girl)
"A T-Rex's tail can knock over other dinosaurs" (4 year old boy)
"I know that all the dinosaurs love each other" (3 year old girl)
"They have sharp teeth and claws" (4 year old girl)
"I know they roar" (3 year old boy)
"I don't know anything" (3 year old girl)

Some of their questions are:
"I want to know do dinosaurs play with stuff?" (3 year old girl)
"Are baby dinosaurs so cute?" (3 year old boy)
"Do dinosaurs poop?" (3 year old boy)
"Why do some of them have little hands?" (3 year old boy)
"Why when they are so little do they grow big?" (4 year old girl)
"How do they grow?" (4 year old boy)
"How big are they?" (4 year old boy)
"How do they roar?" (3 year old boy)
"How do they fly?" (4 year old girl)
"Do some dinosaurs have spots?" (3 year old boy)
"Do baby dinosaurs whine just like I do at my house?" (3 year old boy)

As you can see, our questions are vast! This project is only beginning and as I have learned, could fizzle out as soon as it begins 😉 but it is super exciting that a potential project has begun so early in the school year. I'll be sure to keep you all posted! If you have any questions about dinosaurs you would like us to research, leave them in the comments and I will bring them to the children!