WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT DINOSAURS?

LESSON PLAN: ENGLISH 4th of Primary Education TEACHER: Carolina Romero Domènech

INTRODUCTION

This is a lesson plan addressed to children in the 4th year of Primary Education. It is intended to motivate students by learning

about the animals they are more curious about: dinosaurs. Children love animals, and these particular ones are among their

favourite figurines and stuffed toys, storybooks heroes and villains, subject of pretend play and characters in nursery rhymes,

television shows, movies and cartoons.

Title of the Lesson: What do I know about dinousaurs? Date: 18th of February 2014

Unit of Study: Science

Level and group: 4th grade Number of children: Twenty four

Background Information:

The teacher asks the students what they already know about dinousaurs and they will discuss about this in small groups.

Afterwards the different answers will be posted on padlet for the whole group to share and see. They will also write some

questions about some other facts they would like to know about dinosaurs.

Padlet link: http://es.padlet.com/wall/bfva5itk7s

Learning objectives:

Learn and identify vocabulary about dinosaurs: tiny/big head, big/small legs, tail, body, long/short arms, sharp

teeth.

Listen to and understand a short video about dinosaurs.

Describe dinosaurs using the vocabulary learnt: herbivores, carnivores, runners, swimmers…

Ask and answwer questions to describe dinosaurs: How much does it weigh? It weighs 500 kg. How long is it? It’s

60 metres long…

Use ICT resources to get basic understanding of dinosaur characteristics.

Take part in the different activities carried out in class.

Competencies involved:

-Communicative, linguistic and audiovisual.

-Artistic and cultural.

-Information processing and digital competence.

-Knowledge and interaction with the physical world.

-Learning to learn.

-Autonomy and personal initiative.

Assessment:

Follows oral instructions and commands given.

Recognizes vocabulary studied in the topic.

Asks short questions and answers about the topic.

Is able to write simple sentences to describe a dinousaur following an example given.

Reproduces rhythm, stress and intonation of the vocabulary and structures learnt.

Participates actively in the activities proposed in class.

Shows a positive attitude towards the English language.

Accepts and respects the English classroom rules.

Lesson development:

In this lesson the students work individually, in small groups and in big group. The session starts with a brainstorming to

know about their previous knowledge of the topic. They will work in the ordinary classroom and in the computer room.

They will work the four basic skills although mainly the two passive ones. The lesson ends handing a worksheet

describing their favorite dinosaur.

Activity title

Brainstorming about dinosaurs.

March of the dinousaurs. Part 1.

Build a dinosaur.

Big Dinos Return.

Dino FlipBook.

Time

10’

14’

5’

15’

10’

Description

The students talk in groups what they already know about dinosaurs and share it afterwards with the rest of the classmates. (It will be written on padlet)

The students watch this video explanaing the migration of dinasours in winter.

Students use this resource from Mr Young’s Bouncy A to put into practice their knowledge about dinosaur body parts.

Students use this resource from Mr Young’s Bouncy A to answer questions of the structure previously studied; how much did a velociraptor weigh? How long it was? Etc.

Students cut out, create and flip through the pages to see a dinousaur eating a snack.

Interaction

T-Ss/ Ss-Ss

T-Ss

S-S

S-S

Individual

Skills

L-S-I

L-R

R-W

L-R-W

R

Materials

Whiteboard with internet connexion.

Whiteboard with internet connexion.

Computer with internet connexion.

Computer with internet connexion.

Scissors, Paper with images (from Mr Young’s Bouncy a resource Paleo Explorer Kids), Stapler

Bloom's Taxonomy:

Creating

Evaluating

Analising

x Applying

x Understanding

x Remembering

ICT resources

Padlet: http://es.padlet.com/wall/bfva5itk7s

Youtube: March of the dinousaurs. Part 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3n7x-MRcVc

Mr Young’s Bouncy: http://www.covenantworks.com/Bouncy-A/Science/Dinosaurs/index.htm activities:

Build a dinosaur

Big Dinos Return

Dino FlipBook

Personal notes/reminders/homework/other considerations:

Homework: The students will have to write at home a description of their favourite dinosaur following a model. ( My

favorite dinosaur is Velociraptor. It is carnivore. It weighs… It is …. metres long, etc) They will also have to draw and

colour it.

Personal notes: Since this is a topic that children normally like, there are many facts and resources to use and talk about

and in the computer room activities normally take longer than planned, I’m considering to use another session to work on

the topic. Besides, children will have this way some extra time to play some games from the ICT resource Mr Young’s

Bouncy A resource.

REFLECTING ON THE PROJECT:

After implementing this lesson plan I can conclude that the result is, in general, positive. This is a topic that children love. They are very curious

about it and participate actively.

But, even so, there have been some aspects that could be improved. In this sense, about the contents, there are so many facts that the

children would like to know and so many things to learn that I have to use at least, one more session. The lack of time has been affected also

by the work in the computer room, which always takes longer than I expect because of the usual technical problems in some computers.

When it comes to the objectives, I should add some more devoted to reinforce the speaking skills.

I will also have to take into account activities for fast finishers since there is a group of students that finishes really fast.

Finally, I have to prepare two models for the final activity Describe your favourite dinosaur. Those students who normally have more difficulties

thought that it was too difficult and didn’t hand good descriptions. And also about this matter, next time I implement this lesson I’ll tell the

students that this final activity of description that they had to do at home would be part of the final mark of the unit, since three students never

handed it to me.

THIS IS THE END