DVD Learning Guide
When Dinosaurs Ruled
Birth of the Giant
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DVD Learning Guide
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When Dinosaurs Ruled: Birth of the Giants
(2000)
®
A Homeschool Learning Network Learning Guide
Format:
Age Levels:
Genre:
Category:
Rating:
Length:
Producer:
Warnings:
DVD
Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Documentary
Science
NR
52 minutes
Mandacy Entertainment
Discussions of evolution.
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Summary
When dinosaurs ruled the earth life was very different. Where did these giants come from? How did
they care for their young? How have paleontologists uncovered the clues and pieced together what
dinosaurs looked like? This documentary seeks to answer these questions and many more! From
the vineyards of France to the mountains of Romania, paleontologists try to discover the origins of
dinosaur life and what happened to them. Interplayed with fact sheets about various dinosaurs, this
documentary reveals a vast amount of information about how various species of dinosaurs are
providing us with the knowledge necessary to create a fuller picture of what kinds of animals the
dinosaurs really were!
Vocabulary (Grades 3-12)
Try the following activities with the vocabulary words to the right. Depending
on the age and ability of your students, they may be able to complete
assignments from multiple grade levels.
1-2:
Ask your students to copy the following words in alphabetical order,
and to describe each of the words verbally. Practice spelling.
3-5:
Look up each word in a dictionary, and write down its definition.
Write each word in a sentence, or write a paragraph using the words.
6-8:
Write a description or review about this DVD using the vocabulary
words. Above each vocabulary word, write N if it is a noun, V if it is a
verb; ADJ if it is an adjective; ADV if it is an adverb.
Vocabulary
Paleontology
Museum
Primeval
Extinction
Dinosaur
Fossilized
Evolution
Pangea
Metabolism
Reptilian
9-12: Write down words you hear in the video you don’t understand. Break
the words into parts and see if you can determine the meanings. Look
up the meanings.
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DVD Learning Guide
Page 2 of 7
Discussion Questions
Ask students to read through their questions carefully before watching the film, and take notes
during the film. After watching it, ask students to write their answers to the following questions on
a separate piece of paper.
Elementary
1. What country were the dinosaur fossil eggs found?
2. What kind of eater was the Telmatosaurus? Was it bigger than a man?
3. Where did the dinosaur Baryonyx live? How big was its claw? What was it used for?
Intermediate / Advanced
1. What kind of land was Europe covered with during the time of the dinosaurs?
2. How did the river floods aid in the fossilization of dinosaurs?
3. How long ago did the Ampelosaurus live?
4. What did a rockslide in Romania uncover?
5. How many millions of years ago did the New Raptor (as it is now called) live?
6. What does the fact that the eggs were broken suggest?
7. What does the bone growth of the embryos suggest?
8. Who was George Cuvier?
9. What does the dinosaur name Iguanodon mean? What is its nickname?
10. What did Charles Darwin theorize? Why were his theories so controversial?
11. What discovery in Belgium brought a dinosaur “to life”?
12. What happened after Pangea broke up? Explain how this changed the Tematosaurus.
13. Archaeopteryx was a bird-like dinosaur that had a wingspan of how many feet? What period did
it live in?
14. Are dinosaurs more bird like or reptile like according to the European finds?
15. Why was the discovery of Scipionyx so important?
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DVD Learning Guide
Page 3 of 7
Lessons & Activities
Dinosaur Firsts
Subjects:
Grades:
Style:
Science
K - 12
Visual/Auditory/Experiential/Kinesthetic
Concepts:
You will learn about the different theories that scientists believe are the cause for the extinction of
the dinosaurs.
Lesson:
It all began a long time ago, over 225 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period. Dinosaurs
were born and began to obtain dominance over other animals. The land was dry and desert like.
The Plateosaurus, the Coelophysis, and the Saltopus were some of the first dinosaurs to roam the
earth.
Have student visit the links below or look up each of these dinosaurs in an encyclopedia to learn
more about the first dinosaurs. Ask them to write five facts about each dinosaur.
•
Plateosaurus
http://web.archive.org/web/20050131033753/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/fact_files/dried/pla
teosaurus.shtml
This is a Walking with the Dinosaurs: Fact Files page. Visit this site to watch a video clip and a
moving image of the Plateosaurus.
•
Saltopus http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinos/Saltopus.shtml
This fact sheet about the Saltopus is an Enchanted Learning page.
•
Syntarsus
http://web.archive.org/web/20040416235725/http://dinosauricon.com/genera/syntarsus.html
Dinosauricon.com’s collection of facts and figures about the Syntarsus.
•
Coelophysis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030201205907/http://kids.discovery.com/dinos/triassic/coelseaso
n.html
Plenty of information about the Coelophysis from Discovery.com.
•
Anchisaurus http://www.dinodata.net/Dd/Namelist/TABA/A122.htm
All the vital Anchisaurus information can be found here. Click on the illustration from the top
menu to see an image of this dinosaur.
With the information you have learned about these dinosaurs try one of the following activities:
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DVD Learning Guide
Page 4 of 7
Grades K-2
Use our trading card worksheet found at the end of this lesson plan to keep track of your early
dinosaurs. Can you find any more?
Grades 3-5
Choose two of the above dinosaurs and write a story about them as if they met out in the desert
one morning. Use the information you gather in your research to add in what they ate, if they were
enemies or friends, how big they were, what they looked like, and where they lived.
Grades 6-8
Write a newspaper report describing the loss of the habitats where one of the above mentioned
dinosaurs lived. Describe what is happening to the climate, food supply, continental shift, and any
other information that you think should be included. What effect is it having on your dinosaur?
Grades 9-12
Write a 500-word essay describing the habitat, the time period, and the different dinosaurs that
lived during the Triassic period. Describe what they ate, who their enemies were, if they lived in
herds, and how big they were. Include an illustration of the environment in your report.
DIRECTIONS:
Either draw or obtain a picture of a dinosaur from the Internet. Place on the trading card and fill out
the important information about your dinosaurs!
My Name: _____________________________
I lived during the ________________Period that
was over ___________________million years ago.
My Name: _____________________________
I lived during the ________________Period that
was over ___________________million years ago.
Fossils of me have been found in _____________
________________________________________
Fossils of me have been found in _____________
________________________________________
I was ________feet tall and weighed __________
I was ________feet tall and weighed __________
I am a ______________. I like to eat__________
I am a ______________. I like to eat__________
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DVD Learning Guide
Page 5 of 7
Learn More! Books and Online Resources
BOOKS
The End of the Dinosaurs: Chicxulub Crater and Mass Extinctions
Frankel, Charles. Cambridge Unit Pr (Trod); ISBN: 0521474477
Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs: A look at Dinosaurs Reproduction (Life of the Past)
Carpenter, Kenneth, Indiana University Press; ISBN 0253334977
Walking on Eggs
Chiappe, Luis, M, Lowell, Dingus.. Simon & Schuster ISBN:0743212118
Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs: A photo biography of Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews
Bausum, Ann,. National Geographic. ISBN: 0792271238
ONLINE RESOURCES
Sue at the Field Museum
http://www.fmnh.org/sue/
Are you wondering who Sue is? She was the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex
The World of Dinosaurs
http://library.thinkquest.org/J001504/
This ThinkQuest project provides information on 15 dinosaurs
DinoBase at University of Bristol
http://dinobase.gly.bris.ac.uk/
This database contains a listing of the different dinosaurs, their classification, lots of pictures, and
more dinosaur information.
When Dinosaurs Roamed America
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/dinos/dinos.html
This interactive tour across time and place will introduce you to some of the dinosaurs that roamed
the land and how geological changes transformed the earth over time.
Dinosaurs
http://web.archive.org/web/20050421235613/http://www.marshall-es.marshall.k12.tn.us/jobe/ReadWrite/dinosaur/dinosaurs.html
Includes extensive teaching activities
Dinosaurs Fact and Fiction
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dinosaurs/
This website from the United States Geological Service answers many of the questions kids have
about dinosaurs. The information is suitable for kids ages 8 and up.
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DVD Learning Guide
Page 6 of 7
Paleontology & Fossil Resources
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~jmount/paleont.html
This specialized link page lists over 200 resources for discovering more information about the
science of paleontology and fossils
Jurrasic Park institute
http://www.jpinstitute.com/index.jsp
A fun highly graphical website that is sure to entertain and inform everyone who want to know
more about dinosaurs! There is a dinolab, a dinopedia and dino news. Easy to navigate and lots of
teaching resources.
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DVD Learning Guide
Page 7 of 7
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ANSWER KEY:
Elementary
1. The Fossilized eggs were found in France.
2. Telmatosaurus was the same size as a man in height although it was 14 feet long. It was a plant eater)
3. Around London England. The claws were 12 inches long and it was used to eat armored fish.
Intermediate / Advanced
1. Europe was covered with swampland during the time of the dinosaurs.
2. The floods would cover the remains of dinosaurs with silt and deposit them along riverbanks where they would be
buried by more layers of silt and rock, eventually fossilizing.
3. Ampelosaurus lived 75 million years ago.
4. The rockslide in Romania uncovered 16 intact dinosaur eggs.
5. The New Raptor lived 125 millions years ago.
6. The fact that the eggs were broken suggests that they had hatched.
7. The bones of the embryo suggest that some dinosaur mothers stayed with the nest because the babies could not
walk when they were first born.
8. George Cuvier was a famous paleontologist. He was one of the first and lived from 1769 – 1832.
9. Iguana tooth is what the dinosaur name means. Its nickname was cow of the cretaceous.
10. Darwin came up with the theory of natural selection and evolution. Darwin’s theory was controversial because the
Church had estimated the world to be only 4, 000 years ago. Darwin’s theories indicated the world was much
older than that.
11. Miners found a complete skeleton of an iguanodon. 16 complete skeletons.
12. Isolated pockets of life formed and began to evolve on their own. The Tematosaurus changed or evolved into
dwarf forms.
13. The Jurassic period. It was about 2 feet across.
14. Dinosaurs are more like reptiles according to the European finds.
15. It is the first time that soft tissues of a dinosaur have been found. The internal organs of the dinosaur were visible
and that structure may be an answer to many questions about dinosaur metabolism.
DISCLAIMER: Homeschool Learning Network, Inc. has provided this Learning Guide to enhance your learning experience. Reviews, questions and resources
within this Learning Guide are not endorsed by DVD producers. Links to outside Web pages do not constitute an endorsement of the sites by Homeschool Learning
Network, nor does Homeschool Learning Network maintain the sites. Links are included at the discretion of the editors and are intended as a service to readers. We
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