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 Where have all the dinosaurs gone??? This is what the children are asking me during this theme for the month. Dinosaur Dig is a pretty awesome theme for the first of the year. The children have been home with their families and they really want to be at home playing with their new toys. Which means they have no motivation to actually listen and follow directions. Then they come back and Ms. Tessie is pure magic, because she has decided that they will learn about DINOSAURS!! shhhh, don't ruin the moment! I know it was Mother Goose Time! One of the best STEM projects so far this month has been making our own fossils. Now I have to tell you when I got the ingredient list, I wasn't super focused on it . I was worried about making sure I had a place to put the fossils in the oven and finding the small pieces for the children to use to create their prints. I gathered all the supplies and then zeroed in on an issue..... DUH DUH DUH!! I NEED COFFEE!!!! But you guys, this is the time of the K-CUP maker. And I don't drink a super epic amount of coffee. So I am staring into my cabinet trying to figure out how in the world I am going to get enough coffee so that 5 children will be able to make their fossils. I stare with slight moisture in my eyes at my peppermint bark k-cup coffee, and come to the realization that I will have to sacrifice them in the name of education.  So, seven k-cups later I have given the ultimate sacrifice to the children. My liquid sanity. So I opened seven of these cups and let the children smell the coffee. They loved the smell. Which made me feel good since the coffee is so good but I wasn't going to be able to drink it. Before we finished mixing and forming the fossils we talked about where the fossils came from, and how they were made. Which meant , I was going to be asked.... "Ms. Tessie, where have the dinosaurs gone." The Paula Cole song runs through my head during this part. But I answer them with the theories scientist have come up with. They decided they like the meteorite theory and made the sounds of crashing to earth the entire time we were working on the fossils. Someone even decided that the dinosaurs should be screaming as the meteor hit. (It wasn't me, but I did help). This STEM activity was so so much fun. The children smelled all the ingredients as we put them in, worked on team work as they worked together to stir them together and they worked on counting as they counted the number of stirs each of their friends do. Instead of using random objects for the stamping part I decided to use the dinosaur manipulatives that came in the theme box for the month. It worked out so great and I am glad that I did it . It brought the concept of fossils alive for the children and when they went outside to play the decided that they should fling dirt everywhere to find fossils in my yard. It was magical! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved participating in it and if you would like the recipe or to ask questions about running your own in home preschool feel free to leave me a question below or email mstessie@perfectstartlearning.com. Keep teaching! Ms. Tessie |
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