Grab your imagination and join me as we follow Jack and Annie throughout their dinosaur adventure. Students will create a paper version of Jack’s backpack to house their completed activities. Students will read, discuss, create art, draw a T-Rex and science projects throughout the week. Students will deepen their vocabulary, gain insight from others’ perspectives, learn to make predictions, summarize main ideas and much more.   Optional STEM Challenges will add to the fun.

Prior to the start of each class, students will need to read the assigned chapters either with the help of an adult, on their own or utilizing an audiobook.  In between each class, along with the reading, there are optional STEM Challenges that students can share if they want. 

Below is a breakdown of each class:

Remember, students should read the assigned chapters prior to class. Also, please print out the supporting PDFs prior to the first class meeting (Annie’s Map, Backpack, Jack’s Facts, Stem Challenges). If a printer is unavailable, your child is free to create their own version of the documents.

Class 1  
Chapters 1-2  Activities and Discussion Questions:
Who are the main characters?
What is the setting?
What clues in the text tell you that this is the first of many adventures with Jack and Annie?
Why doesn't Jack want to race Annie away from the “monsters”?
Why does Annie want to enter the treehouse but Jack does not?
What made Jack decide to go up the ladder?
What did Jack cause to happen when he opened up the book?
What did Annie see out the window of the treehouse?
What does the author mean when she says the oak tree is not the same one?

• Participate in guided discussion (questions listed above)
• Document story elements onto Annie’s Mapping Quest 
• Analyze and discuss vocabulary words via PPT slides: pretend, peering, ancient, reptile, soaring, fern, volcanoes, stammer, cautiously, medallion, engraved
• Introduce and create a paper version of Jack’s backpack to hold novel documents
• Homework: Read chapters 3-5
• Optional STEM Challenge Homework: Make a Fossil Print!
• STEM Supplies: Crayola Model Magic, shells, watercolors, shells/leaves/rocks 


Class 2
Chapters 3-5 Activities and Discussion Questions:
Has the setting changed?
How was traveling made possible?
Why does Jack tell Annie she is crazy?
What is surprising about the Pteranodon’s skin?
Why did Annie call him Henry?
What did Jack and Annie discover about Triceratops?
How is Annie’s character different from Jacks?
Which character do you feel most similar to and why?
What does Jack find in the grass?

• Participate in guided discussion (questions listed above)
• Document story elements onto Annie’s Mapping Quest 
• Analyze and discuss vocabulary words via PPT slides: clutching, valley, couching, bellowing, stampede
• Make an acrostic Poem with “Jack’s Fact Tracker” for the words: Dinosaurs Rock
• Students share optional STEM challenges
• Homework: Read chapters 6-8
• Optional STEM Challenge Homework: Create a Tyrannosaurus Rex’s footprint to compare to your foot
• STEM Supplies: large butcher/construction paper or tape together paper to make a T-Rex
footprint measuring 30 inches x 18 inches, extra paper, pencil, scissors


Class 3
Chapters 6-8 Activities and Discussion Questions:
What type of dinosaur did Annie meet?
Why was the Anatosaurus alone with all of the babies?
Why was it important for Jack to have his backpack?
What monster do Jack and Annie see?
Do you think Jack should run from the T-Rex? Why or why not?
What surprised you about Jack when getting his backpack?

• Participate in guided discussion (questions listed above)
• Document story elements onto Annie’s Mapping Quest 
• Analyze and discuss vocabulary words via PPT slides: wobbly, bolted, coasted,dazed, vanished
• Through a directed draw, create a T-Rex on  “Jack’s Fact Tracker” 
• Students share optional STEM challenges
• Homework: Read chapters 9-10 and research 3 dinosaur facts. Record on Jack's Fact Tracker.
• Optional STEM Challenge Homework: Become a paleontologist and use air clay to invent a new dinosaur discovery.
• STEM Supplies: air dry clay or use paper and crayon

Class 4
Chapters 9-10 Activities and Discussion Questions:
What was happening to make Jack wish to go back home?
What does the author mean by saying, “No time had passed since they’d left”?
Why do you think Annie and Jack decided to not tell anyone about their adventure?
Which character do you think changed the most: Jack or Annie. Explain your text evidence.

• Participate in guided discussion (questions listed above)
• Document story elements onto Annie’s Mapping Quest 
• Track and write 3 favorite facts with “Jack’s Fact Tracker” 
• Assemble backpack art project
• Students share optional STEM challenges
• Play a game to see who knows their book!
• Optional STEM Challenges: Compare how long dinosaurs are using sidewalk chalk, string or measuring tape and Build-A-Timeline Research Project
• STEM Supplies: string or sidewalk chalk, measuring tape, paper, online search engine, or Magic Tree House Fact Tracker, Dinosaurs (the non-fiction companion) See the STEM Direction page for more details.

*Please note that each class has a posted minimum. All classes that do not meet the minimum within 24 hours of the class might be canceled. For live meetings, Ms. Kelli will wait for 10 minutes in the classroom. If no one shows up, the class will be cancelled. I will reach out to you if this is the case. Otherwise you may view the recorded lesson.