8The New VICTORY® TheATeR / NewVICTORYSChOOLTOOLS.ORG © The New 42Nd STReeT, INC.

AFTER

BEFORE

BEYOND

BEFORE provides teachers engaging, ready-to-implement classroom activities that explore the themes and art form of the show prior to travelling to 42nd Street. Utilize this tool in order to integrate the content of the production into your curriculum in a hands-on experiential way, while building student anticipation and overall impact for the upcoming performance. This section also includes Creativity Pages that provide students the opportunity to personally connect to the show content.

MAKING CONNECTIONS TO LEARNING STANDARDS New Victory School tool Resource Guides align with the Common Core State Standards, New York State Learning Standards and New York City Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts. We believe that these standards support both the high quality instruction and deep engagement that The New Victory Theater strives to achieve in its arts education practice.

WHAT IS “BEFORE” DINOSAUR ZOO?

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EN ROUTE

This section is part of a full New Victory® School toolTM Resource Guide. For the complete guide, including information about the New Victory Education

Department check out: NEWvICTORySCHOOLTOOLS.ORG

COMMON CORE

Speaking and Listening: Standard 1; Standard 2Language: Standard 6

NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS

The Arts: Standard 1; Standard 4English Language Arts: Standard 1; Standard 4

BLUEPRINT FOR THE ARTS

Theater: Theater Making; Developing Theater Literacy; Making Connections

DON’T LET THE FOSSIL CRuMBLE

PIECING IT TOGETHER•CREATIvITy PAGE: PALEONTOLOGy PuzzLE

Photos Courtesy of Erth Visual & Physical Inc., Susannah Wimberley

before | DINOSAUR ZOOINSIDE

9The New VICTORY® TheATeR / NewVICTORYSChOOLTOOLS.ORG © The New 42Nd STReeT, INC.

ACTIvITy 1: DON’T LET THE FOSSIL CRuMBLE

AFTER

BEFORE

BEYOND

This activity will provide your students a fun and innovative way to discover the process of paleontology (the scientific study of life forms that existed in the earth’s distant past as revealed though the examination of fossils of plants, animals, and other organisms)!

Materials: Chocolate chip cookies (1 per student), toothpicks (1 per student)

1. Brainstorm a list of everything the class already knows about dinosaurs (this can be done in groups or as a full class).

2. Ask the students: How do we know this information? How much of it is actual fact? How do scientists know about dinosaurs?

3. Ask your students to imagine that they are paleontologists, working on a dig to uncover a dinosaur.

4. Provide each student with a chocolate chip cookie (which they shouldn’t eat!) and a toothpick. Ask the students to imagine that the cookie is the dig site, and the chocolate chips are the dinosaur fossils.

5. Explain that it is very important to make sure to collect all of the “fossils” and keep them intact.

6. Instruct the students to use the toothpick to dig out as many of the chips as they can, making sure to damage as little of the site as possible as they dig.

7. Tell the students that when dinosaur fossils are found in rock, the whole rock is usually carried to a museum, where scientists can work on it using special tools.

8. Reflect on the activity with your students:

• What do you think is similar about this process and the real experience of paleontologists?

• Based on what we did, what kinds of skills do you think you would need to be a successful paleontologist?

• How do you think you would feel if you discovered a dinosaur bone?

• Why do you think people work to uncover the truth about dinosaurs?

EN ROUTE

DON’T LET THE FOSSIL CRuMBLE

PIECING IT TOGETHER•CREATIvITy PAGE: PALEONTOLOGy PuzzLE

Photos Courtesy of Erth Visual & Physical Inc., Susannah Wimberley

before | DINOSAUR ZOOINSIDE

10The New VICTORY® TheATeR / NewVICTORYSChOOLTOOLS.ORG © The New 42Nd STReeT, INC.

This activity will get your students collaborating to reconstruct a dinosaur, on the page and physically, to bring dinosaurs to life in your classroom.

Materials: Scissors, Paleontology Puzzle Handout (next page)

Prior to the start of the lesson, pre-cut the pieces of the Paleontology Handout and ensure that you have enough “bone section” pieces for half of your class. Once you’ve cut them out, mix up the pieces.

PART I: SKELETON SEARCH1. Ask your students: How have paleontologists learned about dinosaurs? How do you imagine they construct dinosaur skeletons from the bones they find?

2. Put your students in pairs.

3. Give each pair a “bone section” piece of the handout.

4. Instruct the pair to examine the “bone section” and tell them to find their own space in the room. Ask the pair to imagine they’ve just unearthed this section of the dinosaur. Ask them: What kind of dinosaur do you think it comes from? What clues help you make a prediction?

5. In their pairs, instruct the students to walk around the space and check out the bones the other pairs found.

6. Explain that each pair holds one of three sections of one type of a full dinosaur skeleton. Ask the students to try to find the other two pairs of students to complete their dinosaur skeleton.

PART II: DINOSAuR CONSTRuCTION1. Once the groups of six have constructed their dinosaurs, ask the group to study their dinosaur from the image. Ask them to decide: How do you think this dinosaur moves? What do you think it ate? What do you think was the skin color? Do you know what kind of dinosaur this was?

2. Ask the students to create an information card with their answers, as if it were the information in front of a statue of this dinosaur in a museum.

3. As a full group, ask the students to create a statue of their dinosaur, as if it were on display in a museum.

4. Using only their bodies as the bones, ask the students to create one dinosaur together. Encourage them to be as creative as possible in representing the dinosaur physically!

5. Once each group has created their dinosaur, ask half the class to display their dinosaur exhibits with the physical statue and the information card, while the other class navigates the “museum” to look at the dinosaur exhibits.

6. Now switch, so everyone has a chance to both embody the dinosaur and walk around the “museum.”

ACTIvITy 2: PIECING IT TOGETHER

AFTER

BEFORE

BEYONDEN ROUTE

DON’T LET THE FOSSIL CRuMBLE

PIECING IT TOGETHER•CREATIvITy PAGE: PALEONTOLOGy PuzzLE

before | DINOSAUR ZOO

Photos Courtesy of Erth Visual & Physical Inc., Susannah Wimberley

REFLECTION QuESTIONS:How were you able to construct the image of the dinosaur on paper?

What clues from the image did you use to construct your dinosaur?

How were you able to create the dinosaur physically? What choices did your classmates make in constructing their exhibits that surprised you?

INSIDE

CREATIvITy PAGE: PALEONTOLOGy PuzzLE

© The New 42Nd STreeT, INc.

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PALEONTOLOGY PUZZLE

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