Our school is on the campus of The University of Chicago, so Professor Sereno and Project Exploration are neighbors. We are looking forward to the arrival of the bones which will be prepared only a few blocks from our classroom. Our class is made up of 10 boys and 13 girls. This is a bright, lively group of children. They love reading books of all kinds and are wonderful, creative writers. The children have many special talents and interests including: participating in team sports such as soccer, baseball and swimming, roller blading, biking, dancing, horseback riding, building models, drawing and playing a variety of musical instruments.
The class started its study of Dinosaur Expedition 2000 with a piece of historical fiction, My Daniel, by Pam Conrad. This is a story of a dinosaur found on the farm of a Nebraska family in the late 1800's. After reading this book, the children became enthralled with dinosaur prospectors. We've continued by studying Professor Sereno's 1993 and 1997 expeditions to Niger through videos as well as written material. It is exciting to be able to follow the 2000 expedition on the website. We also intend to write letters to the team in the field.
The focus of study has been on the planning and preparation for expeditions, the grueling work in the field, and preparation of bones in the lab. We will also study the cultural and geographical significance of the sites. The children will be doing research and working in teams to write reports about the countries that surround Niger. They will also study some of the famous paleontologists and dinosaur prospectors who have preceded Professor Sereno.
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools