New Dinosaur in the Class

How Do Dinosaurs Go to School

Written by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Published by Scholastic Inc.

Copyright 2007

31 Pages

Fictional Poetry

 

This book stuck out to me because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies when I was a child, The Land Before Time. The story is a comparison of what a dinosaur might do at school, and what a dinosaur actually does at school. By starting off with several questions about things a dinosaur may do, the author engages a child’s attention. All of these questions are centered around things that children obviously shouldn’t or don’t do at school. So, by presenting these questions in this way, children can relate to the story and realize some of the things they are and aren’t supposed to do. The last part of the story revolves around statements about what a good dinosaur does do at school. Some of these statements are simple things like raising our hands, helping out, being friends with everyone, etc. This was a great book with a poetic style that really relates to the kids who read it.

          

The illustrations in this book are humorous. They have distinct lining around every object in each picture. It does a great job showing proportion for the dinosaur to the students and the classroom.  The images nicely fill up the pages. I found very interesting and helpful in every picture the actual name of the different types of dinosaurs were minutely written somewhere near their body.

           

As stated earlier, this book would be exceptional for reestablishing classroom rules. If the class was starting to lose focus and control, then you could use this book to show how ridiculous it looks to others when students are misbehaving. This book could be used for a science lesson on all of the different types of dinosaurs in the book. It could also be used during a poetry lesson, or a lesson taught about rhymes and word endings. This book has not received an award.