Description
What our Dinos A to Z: Camarasaurus lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Dinos A to Z: Camarasaurus is a high-interest reading comprehension lesson plan. As such, students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. In addition, they will learn some basic information about these interesting prehistoric animals. This lesson is for students in 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and 4th grade.
DINOS A TO Z: CAMARASAURUS LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Camarasaurus
The Dinos A to Z: Camarasaurus lesson plan contains one content page. When you think of long-necked dinosaurs, what’s the first one that comes to mind? Probably the Brontosaurus! But, one smaller dinosaur may have been more common. It is called the Camarasaurus (CAM•er•ruh•SOAR•us). It could grow to about 50 feet high.
Like its Brontosaurus cousin, the Camarasaurus was an herbivore. It weighed somewhere around 20 tons. You may think that is a lot, and it is. Compared to other family members who might weigh up to 100 tons, though, it was small. Fossil evidence indicates that the Camarasaurus roamed what is now called the Great Plains on the North American continent.
Scientists use fossils in many different ways. Fossils tell stories, after all, such as what kind of plants a dinosaur eats. Camarasaurus fossil teeth are shaped to shred fibrous, stalky plants. That means they probably fed on the plants that other herbivores would have difficulty digesting. Its predators feasted on the injured, sick, or young Camarasaurus dinosaurs. Their smaller size would have made them easier prey for predators like the Allosaurus.
Common or Rare?
Based on the many Camarasaurus fossils they have found, scientists think these dinosaurs were more plentiful than others. Finding a lot of dinosaur fossils doesn’t always mean there was more of one species than others, though. It might mean that the place where they found the fossils is a better preserver of fossils than other areas. Utah is a good example. The hot, dry, arid areas preserve more fossils than, say, the swamps of Florida. Fossils can be buried under millions of years of dirt and sediment.
One unique feature of the Camarasaurus was that it had large openings in its head. Scientists think the holes might have kept the dinosaur cool. They also believe the dinosaur might have eaten small stones to help digest its food. But they use Camarasaurus fossils to simply infer these findings. There is no direct evidence that either theory is true.
DINOS A TO Z: CAMARASAURUS LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Dinos A to Z: Camarasaurus lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a practice worksheet. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson.
FOSSILS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For this activity, students will review several skeletal images of 7 different dinosaurs. They will then write one fact about each one based on what the fossils “tell” them about that dinosaur.
REVIEW PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet requires students to answer a series of 5 questions. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them for the answers.
