Description
What our Dinos A to Z: Eoraptor lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Dinos A to Z: Eoraptor is a high-interest reading comprehension lesson plan. As such, students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. In addition, they will learn some basic information about these interesting prehistoric animals. This lesson is for students in 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and 4th grade.
DINOS A TO Z: EORAPTOR LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Eoraptor
The Dinos A to Z: Eoraptor lesson plan contains one content page. Considered one of the earliest known dinosaurs on Earth, the Eoraptor (EE·oh·RAP·ter) was bird-footed. It was not a large dinosaur. Most of the Eoraptor fossils scientists have found measure the dinosaur at about one and a half feet tall. From head to tail, it was somewhere around three feet. Eoraptors weighed between 20 and 25 pounds. Think of a small dog, and you will have a good idea of the size of this small dino!
Don’t let its small size fool you into thinking this dinosaur was not ferocious! Eoraptors could be formidable predators. Its size did not make it an easy meal either. The Eoraptor was speedy, agile, and able to evade predators pretty easily. Using fossil remains and studying the Eoraptor’s teeth, biologists believe it was an omnivore. The different shapes and sizes of the teeth indicate that the dino probably was a scavenger hunter and used its long neck to feed on plants. It was a near-perfect species to survive in the forests and open plains.
The Name of the Eoraptor
The name Eoraptor means dawn thief and comes from the Greek word eos (dawn) and the Latin word raptor (thief). It is sometimes called “early plunderer.” Dr. Paul Sereno, who uncovered Eoraptor fossils in Argentina in 1993, named the dinosaur. He and other scientists believed the name fit because it was one of the earliest dinosaurs to appear on the earth. Paleontologists estimate that Eoraptors appeared about 231 million years ago.
Though the evidence is incomplete, scientists believe the Eoraptor was covered by scales or feathers. It is hard to tell exactly what a dinosaur may have looked like from fossil evidence, particularly one as old as the Eoraptor! By reconstructing the bones, scientists know that the dinosaur had short arms, a long tail for balance, and powerful legs. As more dinosaurs are discovered, we learn about what Earth was like millions of years ago. And Eoraptor fossils provide clues to the earliest years of the earth’s formation.
DINOS A TO Z: EORAPTOR LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Dinos A to Z: Eoraptor lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a practice worksheet. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson.
SIZE COMPARISONS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will compare the size of an eoraptor with the average person. They will think of and write down as many animals as they can think of that were around the same size as an eoraptor. Then they will draw an eoraptor in the bottom box on the worksheet and and outline of themselves relative to the size of the eoraptor.
REVIEW PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet requires students to answer a series of 5 questions. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them for the answers.
