The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Classifying Dinosaurs

Classifying Dinosaurs

A 1st grade STEM lesson

Kari Sjursen

June 2023

Notes for teachers

List of Materials:

• Printouts of Dinosaur Skeletons (I purchased and used this set from Teachers Pay Teachers) or Dinosaur Figurines (from Amazon)
• Classifying Dinosaurs Worksheet (make your own copy in Google Slides)
• Pencils
• Scissors and Glue Stick (if using printouts of Dinosaur Skeletons)
• Whiteboard and Expo Markers

• This lesson is part of a larger unit on dinosaurs and fossils. On its own, it takes one day to complete.
• Students may work individually or in pairs.
• There is no one correct way to sort the dinosaurs. Students should be encouraged to try multiple ways before they choose one to document on their Classifying Dinosaurs Worksheet.
• After all students have sorted their dinosaurs, engage students in a class conversation on how they sorted their dinosaurs. You can keep track of different ways on the whiteboard and track how many groups used the same way to sort their dinosaurs to extend your discussion of data.

Arizona Science Standards

1.L4U1.10: Develop a model to describe how animals and plants are classified into groups and subgroups according to their similarities.

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• Develop and use models
• Analyze and interpret data

Science & Engineering Practices

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1.MD.C.4: Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.

Arizona Math Standards

Objective(s):

• Students will be able to create a rule to sort dinosaurs into groups based on similarities.

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• Students will be able to explain their rule to others.

Agenda (30-60 minutes)

Sorting and Classification

What is it? When have we done it?

Classifying Dinosaurs

Sorting Activity

Data Talk

How did you sort your dinosaurs?

What was the most common way to sort dinosaurs?

Intro/Driving Question/Opening

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In Science, we often sort things in order to understand them better.

What does it mean to sort something? Does anyone have any examples?

Sorting Examples:

Colors, Size, Shape

Types of animals- Dogs and Cats

Intro/Driving Question/Opening

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What are the different ways you could sort the buttons in this picture?

Hands-on Activity Instructions

1. Look closely at your dinosaurs.
2. How are they alike? How are they different?
3. Then sort your dinosaurs into two groups.
4. When you are done sorting them, write a complete sentence explaining how you grouped the dinosaurs.
5. Respond to the questions on the next page.

Science Assessment

Student should

• Identify two rules to use to sort their dinosaurs
• Successfully sort all dinosaurs using the two rules
• Successfully explain how they sorted their dinosaurs to the class

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ELA Assessment

Student written responses should:

• Begin with a capital letter
• End with a punctuation mark
• Have a finger space between each word in the sentence
• Spell words correctly that are featured on the word wall

Differentiation

Students in need of additional support may be provided with a Ziploc baggie of specifically selected dinosaurs that feature additional similarities to make it easier for them to find two rules. Students may also receive a reduced number of dinosaurs to sort.

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The teacher may provide writing support, providing sentence frames for the second page of the worksheet or pre-write the sentences in yellow highlighter, using student words, and have students trace over them.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Advanced students can be provided with additional dinosaurs to sort or asked to sort dinosaurs into three categories instead of two.

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Another option is advanced students can take one of their categories of dinosaurs, after completing the initial sort, and further sort those dinosaurs based on additional rules. For example, the initial rules for sorting dinosaurs might be those who walk on two legs and those who walk on four legs. Students could then take the group of dinosaurs that walk on four legs and further separate them into groups, such as those with long necks and those with short necks or those with spikes and those without spikes.