A Dinosaur Arrives in the Atrium!

Before April Recess, SKers were imagining sizes and shapes of different dinosaurs. While learning about the many kinds of dinosaurs and their habits, they were also trying to imagine just how big a T-Rex skull was, just how long a Giganotosaurus was and just how big the eyeball of a T-Rex might be. Wouldn’t it be nice, they thought, if they could actually measure a T-Rex? They built a model of a skull with big blocks and used about 690 Unifix cubes to measure the length of a Giganotosaurus. And they thought they were done.

To their surprise, when they arrived at school on Tuesday after Recess, a dinosaur skull had arrived in the Kindergarten Atrium! The SK and JK teachers got together and found a way to get Norm, the T-Rex, to the atrium all the way from the Field Museum. Not only do they have Norm’s skull, they also got to see what a T-Rex tooth looks like (guess how many cubes long THAT is!), the T-Rex brain and a T-Rex eyeball. They are also exploring Troodon eggs and the skulls, teeth and claws of other dinosaurs, all on loan from the Field Museum. Now the students can have some hands-on experience with these items—measuring, estimating and exploring the pieces scientifically.

During the past few months, the SK and JK teachers have been taking advantage of the loan program at the Field Museum to bring a great horned owl and a raccoon into the classrooms. Stay tuned for what else will arrive in the classrooms in the coming months!

And if you’re wondering how we got the skull into the atrium, with the help of Mr. Moster, Mr. Kirk, Ms. O’Brien and a U-Haul truck, Norm traveled the distance. Norm is originally from the Smithsonian Museum and is very happy to be here.

Click here for photos.