Dinosaurs Before Dark & Dinosaurs

by Mary Pope Osborne                           by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne



For this lesson, these two books will be used.

Osborne, Mary Pope. Dinosaurs Before Dark. Random House, 1992

Osborne, Will, Mary Pope Osborne. Dinosaurs. Random House, 2000.
Summary

This is the first book in the Magic Tree house series. Jack and Annie find a treehouse in the woods. Inside the treehouse are magical books. Jack loves to read so he immediately grabs one about dinosaurs, As soon as he opens the book, he and Annie are magically transported back to the age of the dinosaurs. Jack and Annie encounter many different types of dinosaurs. While Jack is interested in studying the facts about dinosaurs, Annie is developing a personal connection to a dinosaur, a pterodactyl to be specific. As Jack and Annie return to the treehouse, Jack realized he left his backpack behind. When he goes to retrieve it, he runs into a T-Rex. Annie send her new friend the pterodactyl to save him. Jack is able to safely get back to the treehouse and he and Annie are magically returned to their world. Jack and Annie make a pact to keep the treehouse and their journey to themselves.


Lexile Level: 240
Grades: 2nd - 3rd
Domain: Cognitive

Standard

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.5
Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.9
Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.

Goal
Student will learn about a different time period or historical events.

Objectives
After reading Dinosaurs After Dark and the fact tracker that accompanies this book, students will list three facts about dinosaurs.
Students will choose one historical event that they would like to visit and research that event.
Students will be able to identify three facts about the historical event they choose.

Outcome
Students will draw pictures about their visit to their chosen historical event, and include the three facts they identified.

Additional information:
29 Magic Treehouse
28 Merlin Missions
38 research guides or Fact Trackers as they are now called.

Selling Tool