On January 12th, 2015 both the 3/4 and Pre-K classes went on a field trip to visit the Burke Museum. This trip coincided perfectly with this month’s class themes, which are dinosaurs, volcanoes, and winter. We all gathered together to explore the dinosaur section of the museum with our docent Kenan and a couple of museum volunteers. He started off by reading the classes a book about dinosaurs, called “How Big Were The Dinosaurs?” by Bernard Most, that made great comparisons with daily life, allowing the kids to get a clearer picture of what dinosaurs were like and how they lived. Then we moved to an area with artifacts that the children could gently touch with two fingers. There were tables with fossils from the ocean, fossils showing the existence of plant life, dinosaur teeth, and a table with a random assortment of bones. It was clear from the kid’s responses that most of them really enjoyed the teeth and the shell fossils. Then they got a clipboard with pictures of different dinosaur related items and they got to circle the picture when they found that item represented in the museum. That was a lot of fun! Many parents hadn’t been to the Burke Museum either so it was a treat for all.
