Objective
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to understand basic math concepts through fun activities related to mosasaurs, including counting, simple addition and subtraction, and understanding measurements by comparing the size of mosasaurs to everyday objects.
Materials and Prep
- Paper and pencil for drawing and notes
- Measuring tape or ruler (can use a string if no ruler is available)
- Imaginary or real toy dinosaurs for comparison
- Access to a computer or tablet for looking up mosasaur facts (optional)
Before the lesson, it’s helpful to know some basic facts about mosasaurs, such as their size, diet, and habitat. This will make the activities more engaging!
Activities
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Mosasaur Measurement: Use a measuring tape or ruler to measure how long the student’s arm is. Then, compare that measurement to the average length of a mosasaur, which could be around 30 feet! Have the student draw a picture showing how many arms long a mosasaur is.
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Counting Mosasaurs: Create a fun counting game where the student pretends to be a mosasaur. If you have toy dinosaurs, place them around the room and have the student count how many there are, adding or subtracting as you go along.
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Mosasaur Addition and Subtraction: Create simple math problems based on mosasaurs. For example, "If you see 5 mosasaurs swimming and 3 more join them, how many are there now?" or "If 2 mosasaurs swim away from a group of 6, how many are left?"
Talking Points
- "Did you know that mosasaurs were huge sea reptiles? Some were even longer than a school bus!"
- "Let’s measure your arm and see how many arms long a mosasaur is! How many of your arms do you think it would take?"
- "Counting is super fun! How many toy dinosaurs do we have? Let’s count them together!"
- "If we add more mosasaurs to our group, how does that change our total? Let’s do some adding!"
- "What happens if some mosasaurs swim away? Can we figure out how many are left?"
- "Mosasaur fossils help us learn about how big they were. Isn’t it cool that we can measure things to understand their size?"
- "Math is everywhere, even in the ocean with mosasaurs! Every time we count or measure, we’re doing math!"