Fossils! Digging Up Dinosaurs

2 min Magic Box hook

Shake the box. It goes clunk — heavy today. Hold it to your ear. Whole class chants:

Peek in. Frown. Pull out… a rock. Look disappointed. Then turn it over and gasp.

Everyone presses two palms together, hard, and opens them. “Fossil!”

4 min Teach · A fossil is a very old picture in a rock

Three words, three gestures, three times each, getting faster:

Now the story chant. Do it slow and low the first time, then let them join:

Littles say the one bold word with the gesture — “Rock!” Bigs say the whole line, then the frame: “This rock is very old.”

Teacher fails: hold the fossil up, say “Mmm, a cookie!” and pretend to bite it. Ouch. Wait. Let them shout “NO! It's a ROCK!” twice before you believe them.

3 min Song · “Dig, Dig, Dig” — chorus + Monday verse

The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. Sing it twice.

3 min Game · What's under the sand?

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Put the sand bowl in the middle. Nobody touches it yet.

One child at a time, fingers only, three scoops. Whole class chants with the scoops: “Dig! Dig! Dig!” When something appears, they all freeze and whisper it:

Found things go on a cloth beside the bowl, in a row. Four diggers, then stop — leave them wanting it. Bigs announce their find: “I found a shell!”

This bowl is Tray 2 on the shelf — carry it straight from the circle to the cultural shelf with the brush and a skeleton card, and it works itself all week.

1 min Close

Everyone digs on the spot, whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Fossil (Bill Thomson) — wordless, so they tell it. Point and ask “What's that?” and let the class narrate the whole book.

2 min Magic Box hook

It is 六一儿童节 today — open with the cheer, “六一快乐! Happy Children's Day!”, then the box chant. This time the box rattles — shake it four times and let them hear it.

Reach in slowly. Pull out the bone. Hold it up like a treasure.

Everyone knocks their own arm: tok, tok. “Bone!”

4 min Teach · I have bones, the dinosaur had bones

Hunt for your own bones. Knock gently and name each one — head bone, arm bone, leg bone, ribs. Then the chant:

Now the word skeleton: all your bones together. Say it in three claps — SKEL-E-TON — and let them clap it back three times.

Littles: “Bone!” and a knock is plenty. Bigs: “This is my arm bone.” and “Bones make a skeleton.”

Teacher fails: knock on your tummy and announce “bone!” — it goes boof, not tok. They will fall over. Let them move your hand to your elbow themselves.

3 min Song · “Dig, Dig, Dig” — chorus + Tuesday verse

Sing chorus → Tuesday's verse → chorus. By Friday they will know five verses without ever having been taught one.

3 min Game · Build the skeleton

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The empty dinosaur outline is on the wall. It has no bones. That is very sad.

Hand one paper bone to one child. They stick it anywhere on the outline while the class chants “Bone! Bone! Bone!” — then everybody roars once. Next child.

Bigs place and say: “The leg bone goes here.” Littles place and shout: “Bone!” Eight bones, eight roars, done.

Wonky is fine. A skeleton with the head on the tail is funnier and just as much language. Leave it on the wall all week — Friday's finale points at it.

1 min Close

Stack your fists one on top of the other, growing taller, whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Dinosaur Bones (Bob Barner) — short, rhyming, and every page is a bone. Knock on your own arm each time the book says “bone”.

2 min Magic Box hook

Box chant, but whisper it today — today is a quiet day.

Out comes a spoon. And a paintbrush. Look at them. Look confused.

Everyone scoops twice, then brushes twice. “Dig! Brush!”

4 min Teach · Slow hands find fossils

Two rules, and they are the whole lesson: dig slow, brush soft. Say each rule, do it, then have them do it in the air.

Now the clay. Every child gets a disc and presses one thing into it — a shell, a leaf, or the dinosaur foot — then lifts it off and looks at the print. That mark is a fossil.

Littles: “Press!” and “Dig!” Bigs: “I can dig.” and “I made a fossil.”

Teacher fails: attack the sand bowl with the brush like you're sweeping a floor — sand everywhere. Gasp. “SLOW!” They will police you all week for this one.

3 min Song · “Dig, Dig, Dig” — chorus + Wednesday verse

Sing this verse at half speed. It is the only slow moment in the week and the contrast is what makes the fast chorus fun.

3 min Game · Brush it gently

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” One shell is buried in the sand. One brush. One child at a time, ten seconds each — and the whole class counts the seconds in a whisper.

When the shell finally appears, everybody exhales “Ohhhh!” and the finder holds it up.

“Shell!”  Bigs: “I found a shell in the sand.”

This is the quietest game of the year and they love it. Whispering is a game, not a rule — and the concentration is real Montessori work.

1 min Close

Slow scooping hands, whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Digging for Dinosaurs (Judith Curran / any board-book version) — stop on every tool and let them name it: “Brush!” “Spoon!”. Lay the clay discs out flat to dry — they go in tomorrow's Magic Box.

2 min Magic Box hook

Box chant. Shake it carefully — today the box is precious.

Lift out the clay discs, one by one, and give each child their own back.

Everybody knocks their own disc: tok, tok. “Fossil!”

4 min Teach · Old, new — and the dinosaur that flew away

Now the reveal. Hold up the feather. Go very quiet.

Everybody flaps. Littles: “Bird!” Bigs: “A bird is a little dinosaur.”

Teacher fails: put the shiny plastic dinosaur toy carefully on the Old! mat and look very pleased with yourself. Wait for the riot.

3 min Song · “Dig, Dig, Dig” — chorus + Thursday verse

Tomorrow is the whole song, top to bottom. Tell them that today — the promise is half the excitement.

3 min Game · Old or new?

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The two mats go on the floor, far apart. You hold up one thing at a time.

“OLD!” (everyone strokes the long beard) — then one child walks it to the mat.

Run through: the fossil, the plastic toy, the leaf, the shoe, the shell, the feather. Bigs say the sentence as they place it: “This rock is very old.” / “My shoe is new.”

Trap them once with the shell — a shell can be new (from the beach) or old (in a rock). “It depends!” is a wonderful thing for a five-year-old to discover.

1 min Close

Beard-stroke, whisper → normal → shout — then drop straight back to a whisper for the last line:

Got 3 spare minutes? Any dinosaur-to-bird picture book, or just the window. Watch one real bird together for sixty seconds and whisper “dinosaur”.

2 min Magic Box hook

The box is heavy. Stagger under it. Drop it (gently). Box chant, twice, because today is big.

Open the lid and look inside for a long moment without saying anything.

Take out one thing — the torch. Switch it on. “Light!” Put it down. That is all for now; the rest come out in the game.

4 min Teach · The story of everything, in seven moves

Stand up. Everyone stands. Seven moves, in order — you say it, they do it with you:

Do it three times: slow, normal, then as fast as you can — the fast one falls apart in laughter, which is the point. Littles ride along on the actions and shout the bold words. Bigs get the joining words: “First it went bang, then the stars came out.”

Teacher fails: do the seven moves in the wrong order — put the rocket before the stars. They have watched these five weeks happen. They will fix you, loudly, and that correction is your assessment.

3 min Song · “Dig, Dig, Dig” — the whole song, top to bottom

Chorus, then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then Friday's May finale verse, then the chorus twice more, loud:

Friday's finale is the review. Five verses = five days. Sing it once through and you have revised the whole week without a single flashcard.

3 min Game · The May finale quick-fire

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Now the box empties. Hold up one prop. They shout the word. Fast, no thinking.

…rocket → “Blast off!” …dinosaur → “ROAR!” …fossil → “Fossil!” …feather → “Bird!”

Second lap: hand the props out. Each child holds one, stands in the story order along the wall under the five posters, and says their word when you point. Bigs add the sentence: “I have the rocket. It goes up!”

Then the awards: every child gets their palaeontologist badge and one line read out loud about what they found this week.

Photograph the line-up under the five posters. It is the single best parent photo of the whole month — put it straight on the wall next to the wrap-up sheet.

1 min Close

Crouch tiny for the whisper, grow all week long, explode on the shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Re-read any one book from the whole month and let them choose which. They will choose the dinosaur one.

The three chords

Tempo: a steady digging pace — slower than last week's stomp. Every “dig” is a scoop, so the beat is in their arms before it's in your uke. Chant it once with no ukulele first.

Chorus — sing it every single day

Sing the chorus twice each time. On the final “gold!” everyone hugs their treasure in tight.

One verse a day — verses use only C and G7

The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — Friday's finale is the whole thing top to bottom, and it doubles as the review of the entire month.

If you're brand new to ukulele

Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That's the entire song — and it's the same three shapes you have used all month, so if you played “Blast Off!” you can already play this one. C is one finger, and the verses are just C and G7.