Starting a Dinosaur Inspired Term Topic

Children in the Foundation Stage at Almondbury Community School have started a term topic all about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.  The budding young palaeontologists in the Nursery and Reception classes took part in some dinosaur-themed workshops today to help kick-start their summer term topic.

The walls of the well-appointed and tidy classrooms at the Greenside Centre were already crammed full of lots of colourful and creative artwork.  Our dinosaur expert who visited the school, spotted some beautiful drawings of monsters that had been created by the Foundation Stage 2 children.  There was some very imaginative artwork on display and many of the drawings were accompanied by a sentence or two.  The vibrant posters highlighted the children’s development of fine motor skills, they must have had lots of practice holding pencils and forming recognisable letters and words.

Spotting Drawings of Monsters in the Foundation Stage Classrooms

Dinosaur drawings and illustrations of monsters.
Dinosaur drawings and illustrations of monsters spotted outside the classroom. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Drawings

As part of the work with the children, our dinosaur expert set a challenge – could they draw him a dinosaur?  As a further extension for the Reception-aged children, could they label the body parts of their dinosaur including its skull?  During the workshop with the Reception class, it was explained that palaeontologists call your head a skull and when working with the Nursery children, the eager, young learners confidently asserted that the helmet that a palaeontologist wears fits on their head!

At this school, there is a strong emphasis on giving every pupil access to a stimulating and balanced curriculum, lots of tactile activities were being prepared for the children by the dedicated teaching team.  In one part of the spacious classroom, a cargo net had been brought in and facts about dinosaurs posted up on the walls, as this area was soon to be turned into a “dinosaur den” for the children to explore.

All Set to Build a “Dinosaur Den” in the Classroom

Dinosaur drawings feature in the dinosaur den.
Dinosaur drawings feature in the dinosaur den. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Footprints and a Dinosaur-themed “Hokey Cokey”

The Foundation Stage wing of the Greenside Centre was very busy with lots of activities for the children set out and the during the workshops the pupils demonstrated some super listening skills and they were very enthusiastic ammonites catching fish.  When pretending to be a giant, armoured dinosaur moving through the forest, our dinosaur expert witnessed super-sized steps, but slow moving dinosaurs keeping very quiet in case a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex came by.

The handy pronunciation guide we provided for the teachers should help with the scheme of work, along with the dinosaur footprints to measure and a special prehistoric animal-themed “hokey cokey” song for the children to learn.  Can they remember how many figures T. rex had?  How did a T. rex move its arms?

Visit the award-winning Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.