I am so disappointed I can't share my favorite Jurassic Park quote with my students when I do this transformation, so I will use it here.
My school uses EL Education for our ELA curriculum. It's not fantastic, but it's definitely workable. My team spent three hours of an unpacking day to dump some of the useless parts and ensure our kids are getting quality lessons.
We spend the entire quarter on the same topic, so I *need*
to keep engagement up or the kids zone out. Module Two is all about fossils and paleontology! So, of course, Jurassic Park is the perfect way to introduce it!
I don't advise working over school breaks, but I decided I'd rather go in over fall break to set up than do it after school the first week back. My incredible roommate came with and helped me get it together in just a couple of hours. And ensure I didn't fall off our old, rickety ladder.
So, usually I just decorate one wall and then hang things from the ceiling. However, we had just gotten a daily email with a reminder to not hang things from the ceiling the week before so I decided it wasn't the time to rebel. It would've been more eye catching, but oh well.
The archway above my door is by far my favorite part! I used butcher paper, hot glue, and construction paper. Easy peasy but makes a BIG statement! I found the Dino footprint clings for $10 on Amazon.
Funny story. I *may* have rear ended someone on the way to school on the first day... So I was wearing my Alan Grant costume. It could've been worse, I guess. 😂
The backdrop was a big hit with the kids. This is year 4 using this same $15 Amazon find. I bought new vines this year for $12 because my old ones were done after 3 years. This is all clipped to the ceiling with binder clips.
I turn their desks into "jeeps" with butcher paper and pie pans. Super easy. It doesn't look amazing but the kids love it and I am over the whole decorating process by the time I get to this part.
Greenery is my simple go to to add some fun elements around the room. I do NOT largely decorate the whole room but I do not want to spend the time on it. I tried that in the past and found one big wall and small elements elsewhere are all we really need. My roommate took the job of hanging the vines around the room.
Our ELA lessons were an introduction to the new module. We began reading Stone Girl, Bone Girl about Mary Anning and her contributions to the field of paleontology. They were shocked to find out that paleontologists are real and not just in books. The whole vibe of our surroundings definitely ignited extra excitement to our new topic.
When I first did Jurassic Park 4 years ago, my roommate and a good friend of mine split the cost of an inflatable triceritops costume just for the joy of seeing me wear it. It has been the reason for MANY smiles around my school campus every year. A large group of first graders now call me the "dinosaur lady" after I visited them in the costume. It's silly, fun, and totally pointless other than kids will likely remember their crazy teacher in a giant dino costume for years to come.
In math, we had begun our place value unit introducing the hundreds place. This is a HARD unit. Students usually struggle to grasp the flexibility of numbers.
I made this dinosaur themed activity for us to do to practice. I gave some students 2-digit numbers and others 3-digit numbers to meet their needs.
After explaining the idea behind the assignment, a student said "Wow! Math is fun today!" 😍
They did a great job of building the dinosaur nest to match their number. They struggled once we got to the worksheet portion and they were asked to decompose a hundred or a ten to represent their value in a different way. A week later and I'm proud to say they ended up absolutely owning the assessment we took. Their growth from start to finish on that unit is probably the most drastic I have ever seen in my 6 years of teaching. SO proud of them! (And we definitely celebrated).
How cute is this?! (work shared with parent permission)
It was a very fun week full of learning and excitement! Everything is down now except the archway which I might keep up for the duration of this module. I love it!
You can find the math activity in my TPT store at: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Place-Value-Activity-7315720
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