Dinosaur Naming Activity
Part of the Dinosaurs: Activities and Lesson Plans Curriculum Collection.
Part of the Dinosaurs: Activities and Lesson Plans Curriculum Collection.
Dinosaur names are often made up of combinations of Greek and Latin root words that describe characteristics or how the animal might have behaved. Other dinosaur names describe where the fossil remains were discovered or the name of the paleontologist who made the discovery. In 1841, Richard Owen, the first director of London’s Natural History Museum, gave the name dinosaurs to these giant prehistoric reptiles. The word dinosaur is from the Greek deinos (terrible) and sauros (lizard). Some dinosaur names are short; others are tongue twisters.
In this activity, students will be introduced to dinosaur names and their meanings.
Tyrannosaurus rex = tyranno + saurus +rex
Stegosaurus = stego + saurus
Triceratops = tri + cerat + ops
Apatosaurus = apato + saurus
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