Dinosaur Mike is a roaring success for Year 1
Year 1 had a roaringly exciting morning this week as ‘Dinosaur Mike’ brought the past alive with his collection of fascinating fossils, terrifying teeth and jaw-dropping dino facts.
The boys handled giant shark teeth before feeling inside the skull of an armoured ankylosaurus and trying to mimic its secret weapon - standing statue-still. Not easy when Dinosaur Mike is pretending to be a hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex!
Talking of food, Class 1E also learned how the diplodocus ate, by ‘combing’ plants into its stomach, before finding out where T-Rex kept his secret teeth. When Dinosaur Mike brought out his show-stopping artefact at the end - a huge dinosaur jaw - Mrs Eyley’s class were stunned into awed silence.
“Watching the combing was really good, as well as seeing that massive jaw,” said George. “And I loved being an ankylosaurus,” added Nathan. “They had to be very still so they wouldn’t be seen.”
“It was good to hold and touch the teeth and the jaw too,” said Tommy. “I could see the secret teeth really close up.”
Mrs Eyley, who has been teaching Class 1E all about dinosaurs to prepare for the visit of Dinosaur Mike, said it was a wonderful morning for the boys. “It’s really important for them to have this hands on experience, to feel real bones or teeth that are as long as their arms, rather than just see them in a book. There’s something about the size of dinosaurs which really enthralls children, and Dinosaur Mike brings them to life.”
As he was packing away the last of the teeth, Dinosaur Mike - also known as Mike Walley from Everything Dinosaur - agreed that it had been a productive morning.
“Boys are generally interested in dinosaurs - they all know their names and shapes,” he said. “But being able to hold parts of a dinosaur really engages them, and it also touches on so many other subjects: numeracy, sorting, labelling, science, learning how to describe things. When they go away from this class, they’ll be able to write about dinosaurs with a bit more knowledge and insight: dinosaurs may have walked the earth a long time ago but they remain an inspirational subject, and encourage creativity."
