sagira Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Next year we're doing SOTW. There's only a short section on prehistory and early humans. Now before humans roamed the earth, there were dinosaurs. Do you do a unit on dinosaurs before? Fortunately, I already know which books and resources I want to use. I don't want to spend too much time on dinosaurs either (or should I?) and mess up my SOTW schedule, one chapter a week, 42 weeks a year program. When do you cover dinosaurs? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We cover dinosaurs in science. We do prehistory, as in early humans, before ancients. But the dinosaurs are covered during life science, zoology, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trivium Academy Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We did a month of dinosaurs in-between 1st and 2nd grade as a unit study, we used SOTW 1 and 2 for 1st and 2nd and I didn't know where to study them either. Depending on what resources you use for science you will cover them again when you study geological time in middle school. I have a little library at home of dinosaur books that the kids can explore any time they want including VanCleave's Dinosaurs for Every Kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We took about a month before starting SOTW. If you're worried about scheduling, why not have a summer of the dinosaurs before starting? Then maybe do a short unit on prehistoric man right before starting SOTW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We did the early chapters, including dinosaurs, before starting SOTW. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Next year we're doing SOTW. There's only a short section on prehistory and early humans. Now before humans roamed the earth, there were dinosaurs. Do you do a unit on dinosaurs before? Fortunately, I already know which books and resources I want to use. I don't want to spend too much time on dinosaurs either (or should I?) and mess up my SOTW schedule, one chapter a week, 42 weeks a year program. When do you cover dinosaurs? :bigear: We spent kindergarten doing some prep things that I thought would be foundational----dinosaurs and early man, basics of American history (major figures, symbols, major holidays, patriotic songs, pledge of allegiance, etc), holidays. All of this was at a fairly basic level, of course, but I considered it to be basic cultural literacy for elementary school and knew SOTW didn't get to some of it for several years. We were also doing a big road trip that spring that included Lincoln's house in Springfield, Illinois, Boston, Plimoth Plantation, St. Louis (Lewis and Clark), etc, so I wanted my daughter to have some basic information before we went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 I just had a "duh" moment -- I could always cover dinosaurs as a fun unit for a month or so (this coming from a non-unit study person) during the summer next summer before our actual school starts :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 I do it in second grade, with earth science, and then again, in more depth, with earth science for sixth grade. I also cover pre-history a little in first grade history, and then much more in-depth for fifth grade ancient history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 We took about a month before starting SOTW. If you're worried about scheduling, why not have a summer of the dinosaurs before starting? Then maybe do a short unit on prehistoric man right before starting SOTW? Great minds think alike :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Great minds think alike :D;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 We spent kindergarten doing some prep things that I thought would be foundational----dinosaurs and early man, basics of American history (major figures, symbols, major holidays, patriotic songs, pledge of allegiance, etc), holidays. All of this was at a fairly basic level, of course, but I considered it to be basic cultural literacy for elementary school and knew SOTW didn't get to some of it for several years. We were also doing a big road trip that spring that included Lincoln's house in Springfield, Illinois, Boston, Plimoth Plantation, St. Louis (Lewis and Clark), etc, so I wanted my daughter to have some basic information before we went. I like this idea. We're kind of doing this a little bit, he's catching it from other resources and books, and through holidays and field trips I'm sure he's absorbing some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We did a unit study over the summer before beginning SOTW. We have so many dinosaur books and crafts and games and activities, that we spent about 2 months doing dinosaurs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We did the early chapters, including dinosaurs, before starting SOTW. That's what we did, too. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Dinosaurs? When did they become part of the curriculum? The two oldest dc went to school through 8th and youngest through 4th. I don't think any on them ever covered dinosaurs. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever had dinosaurs in school either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helena Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We usually spend a month on dinos every other year. The things the kids most remember are Dinosaur George dvds, going to the Natural History Museum, and displaying in our classroom life size replicas of dino teeth, claws etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrtle Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Dinosaurs covered with reptiles in science. It wouldn't be included in history because dinosaurs didn't leave written records of the events of their time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We cover them in preschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 We do it in a pre-history unit starting with creation myths then dinosaurs then early humans and human migration then we start STOW. We also do it as part of our animals study - dinosaurs are fun and Colorado has a lot of wonderful field trip places and natural history museums. We also cover it as part of our earth science in second grade. Again, Colorado has some wonderful places to visit including a couple of great hikes along an ancient river bed with thousands of brontosaurus tracks (they are big) and a couple more places with petrified forests, fossil beds, and more fossilized footprints along an ancient sea coast. I'm sure we will do it again - as soon as I can find an excuse to add it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 There seem to be a few ways to logically cover dinosaurs. You can put it at the beginning of the history rotation or you can do it in the context of a biology or geology study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Haven't gotten to SOTW yet...but we've been doing dinosaurs non-stop for the past 2 years. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanestMomInMidwest Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Well, we do dinosaurs all the time since my ds7 is fascinated by them. We go to the library 3 times a week and he always gets at least one book about dinosaurs. We also do spiders & insects all the time due to ds8's interest, and well, I guess we do "play babies" all the time for dd4 (I can't think of what school subject that would line up with). These are subjects I don't have to worry about "working in" because we will all be experts in short order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Dinosaurs covered with reptiles in science. It wouldn't be included in history because dinosaurs didn't leave written records of the events of their time. Neither did prehistoric man ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 I like dinosaurs. Today History Channel had a special on dinosaurs, and ds was watching with me. I think we will cover dinosaurs in a month or so, sort of like a summer program of sorts, for fun. Then we will take three weeks off and start our regular school. Thanks so much for the suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Next year we're doing SOTW. There's only a short section on prehistory and early humans. Now before humans roamed the earth, there were dinosaurs. Do you do a unit on dinosaurs before? Fortunately, I already know which books and resources I want to use. I don't want to spend too much time on dinosaurs either (or should I?) and mess up my SOTW schedule, one chapter a week, 42 weeks a year program. When do you cover dinosaurs? :bigear: I did a prehistory/ dinosaurs/ ice age thing for all of K-5, along with some geography and a general exposure to various ways people dress, look, and how different languages sound. Ice age was particularly appreciated, and there is lots of stuff out there. I think I read You Wouldn't Want to be a Mammoth Hunter about 500 times. It was also an intro to archeology. I think it was a good prep, and I'd do it again. One of the nifty things about dinos is that if kiddo likes them, them are very useful for learning to classify animals. We also used Walking with Dinos and Prehistoric Beasts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyboys Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Do you do a unit on dinosaurs before?When do you cover dinosaurs? We had a fantastic time doing dinos in K. We did all kinds of things wrapped up in a unit study, I guess, I was new to the whole game. Ds did a timeline, drew dinos for his timeline, read countless books fiction and nonfiction, learned characteristics and did classification, made art projects, wrote little stories with illustrations, created erupting volcanoes, you name it, we were immersed in dinosaurs at the height of his fascination with them. So, I would vote for a unit on them sometime this year. It could be as long as you like, especially if your ds would enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 My spin off question is, when can I stop covering dinosaurs??????:willy_nilly: Followed closely by "Who named those things and where can I find the culprit?" :tongue_smilie: FWIW, my vote is the unit study idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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