Anyway, finishing up my last term of grad school meant three classes and a 'student teaching' experience in the local middle school's library. Obviously, this kept me pretty busy, but it hasn't kept me out of the kitchen entirely. Just look at what I cooked up for school:
Yes! That is what you're thinking (as long as your thinking it's a dinosaur bone)! I did a three day mini unit in the library with the life skills students on dinosaurs. It turned out pretty well, and the last day was the best. I created a dinosaur dig for the students to participate in. There were two parts and I'll share the first part today.
I created dinosaur bones the night before the dig. I made 9 bones in three different 'styles,' the recipie is at the end. The next day I buried them in tubs full of sand. After a discussion about what a Paleontologists is, and instructions on how to dig each student got their own tool kit (a bucket, shovel and paint brush), a fun nickname (at their request) my favorites were: fossil, sharkman, and, of course, the girl who picked Ms. Kelly as her nickname:), and a visor. Then we went to work!
The students used their shovels to dig until they found what they thought was a bone. Then they switched to their paintbrush so that they wouldn't damage the bones they found. The kids did a great job!
Once they completely uncovered their bones they took them to a table nearby where they had to use the picture to figure out which dinosaur their bone came from. Once they knew what dinosaur they found they drew a picture of the bone and the dino it was from in the dinosaur notebook which they had used each day to take notes in.
I had planned to keep the bones, but the students were so excited about their finds I ended up letting them take them home. The bones weren't hard to make, I used this simple recipie which you could use to make your own bones, or any clay figurine you want. I used the recipie here
Bread Dough Clay
2 C. Flour
1/2 C. Table Salt
3/4 C. Water
Mix the salt and flour together. Then make a well in the middle of the flour and slowly add the water. Mix it with a fork or your hands (I used my hands). Knead the mixture till it is not sticky but smooth. It should feel similiar to clay. If it is to dry add a little water at a time, and if it is too wet add a little flour. Theny go ahead and make your bones! Place them on a baking sheet and bake them at 300* for about an hour. Keep an eye on them, depending on their size will depend on how long it takes. They're done when they are hard and starting to brown on the bottom.
I hope you'll give this a try sometime, it would be great not only for a school lesson, but for a dinosaur birthday party too!
Ok, name that dinosaur:
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