10:10 a.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
12:10 p.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 2 – 6
Length: 45 min.

Join us to learn all about Montana’s dinosaurs! From Tyrannosaurus rex to Triceratops, Montana is home to some of the world’s most famous dinosaur discoveries. In this program, you will learn where some of Museum of the Rockies’ best fossils have been discovered in the state and why Montana’s geology is perfect for discovering some of the world’s most famous dinosaurs.

Student Objectives:

1. Name three dinosaurs found in Montana.
2. Explain the study of paleontology and give a few examples of fossils.
3. Give a simple explanation for where to search for dinosaurs.

Montana Science Standards

2^nd Grade
Life Science: Make observations of plants and animals to compare and contrast the diversity of life in different habitats.

3^rd Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

4^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

5^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, or atmosphere interact.

6^th – 8^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6 billion-year-old history.

Life Science: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past. 

10:10 a.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
12:10 p.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 3 – 8
Length: 45 min.

We all have skeletons in our bodies, but have you ever wondered why we have a skeleton? Learn about the evolution of the skeleton, what your bones do for your body, and how your skeleton is not so different from a dinosaur’s as you might think! Join MOR Paleontology Field Professional Lee Hall for a journey through time, evolution, and biology and learn all the wonderful secrets of your skeleton!

Student Objectives:

1. Explain the difference between a vertebrate and an invertebrate organism.
2. Give examples of a few basic functions of a skeleton in vertebrates.
3. Make comparisons between the skeletons of dinosaurs, humans, and other animals, and how their bones have changed and adapted based on their environment, diet, evolutionary lineage, etc.

Montana Science Standards

3^rd Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.

4^th Grade
Life Science: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

5^th Grade
Physical Science: Use models to describe that energy in animals' food was once energy from the sun.

6^th – 8^th Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

Life Science: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth and development of organisms.

9:10 a.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
11:10 a.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: K – 3
Length: 45 min.

How do scientists categorize dinosaurs? Long-necked sauropods, frilled ceratopsians, and duck-billed hadrosaurs are only three of the five groups of dinosaurs that we will explore in this program. Join museum educator Dillon Warn to learn more about the lives of these incredible dinosaurs!

Student Objectives:

1. Recall the five simplified dinosaur families.
2. Identify one unique feature that defines each dinosaur family.
3. Categorize dinosaur species that make up Museum of the Rockies collections.

Montana Science Standards

Kindergarten
Life Science: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals, including humans, need to survive.

1^st Grade
Life Science: Use information from print and other media to identify patterns in the behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.

2^nd Grade
Life Science: Make observations of plants and animals to compare and contrast the diversity of life in different habitats.

3^rd Grade
Life Science: Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

10:10 a.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
12:10 p.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
Grade: 2 – 4
Length: 45 min.

Did you know that rocks can GLOW? While some rocks and minerals can look plain and dull under different wavelengths of ultraviolet light, they fluoresce hot pink, orange, purple, red, and more! Why do some rocks fluoresce while others don’t? Explore the world of brightly colored fluorescent minerals with paleontologist and educator Ashley Hall.

Student Objectives:

1. Explain fluorescence and the mechanism by which objects fluoresce.
2. Give examples of objects besides rocks (animals, plants, objects) that fluoresce.
3. Understand that different wavelengths of light affect how we see and perceive objects.

Montana Science Standards 

4^th Grade
Physical Science: Make observations to provide evidence of transfer of energy from place to place by sound, light, heat, electric currents.

5^th Grade
Physical Science: Observe and record qualitative and quantitative evidence to support the identification of materials based on their properties.

6^th – 8^th Grade
Physical Science: Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

10:10 a.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
12:10 p.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 2 – 6
Length: 45 min.

What did T.rex look like growing up? Through Montana’s rich fossil record, paleontologists have pieced together what these incredible dinosaurs looked like - from tiny hatchlings to bone-crushing adults. What did their eggs look like? Did they have feathers? What did a teenage T.rex look like? Join Scott Williams, Paleontology Lab and Field Specialist to learn about the dynamic life of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Student Objectives:

1. Understand that all baby animals go through changes in their bodies as they grow and that young animals may look very different from adults of the same species.
2. Describe how T.rex changes from hatchling to adult based on our understanding and interpretation of paleontological discoveries and current hypotheses.
3. Give three examples of morphological characteristics T.rex juveniles inherit from their parents.

Montana Science Standards 

2^nd Grade
Life Science: Make observations of plants and animals to compare and contrast the diversity of life in different habitats.

3^rd Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.

4^th Grade
Life Science: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

5^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, or atmosphere interact.

6^th-8^th Grade

Life Science: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

Earth & Space Science: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6 billion-year-old history.

10:10 a.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
12:10 p.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 2 – 6
Length: 45 min.

Birds are dinosaurs, and they are hard-working parents! Birds care for their babies by providing food and protection so that they can grow strong enough to leave the nest, but what about their ancient dinosaur relatives? Dinosaur parental care was a real mystery until the discovery of Maiasaura nesting grounds in northern Montana. Join MOR Paleontology Field Professional Lee Hall for a trip to Montana’s ancient dinosaur nursery, where you will learn about dinosaur nests, eggs, and babies, and why Maiasaura really was the “good mother lizard”!

Student Objectives

1. Name three dinosaurs that lay eggs, both modern and extinct.
2. Describe how paleontologists know that some dinosaurs took care of their young.
3. Compare and contrast dinosaur parental care vs. parental care of birds today.

Montana Science Standards

2^nd Grade
Life Science: Make observations of plants and animals to compare and contrast the diversity of life in different habitats.

3^rd Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.

4^th Grade
Life Science: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

5^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, or atmosphere interact.

6^th – 8^th Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

Earth & Space Science: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6 billion-year-old history.

10:10 a.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
12:10 p.m. MST Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 4 – 8
Length: 45 min.

Rocks, rock! While rocks aren’t living things (or even squishy, for that matter!), they still go through cycles – changing and morphing from one type to another over time. Learn about the three basic rock types with paleontologist Ashley Hall, and how sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks form and change through Earth’s dynamic forces.

Student Objectives

1. Identify the three basic rock types.
2. Explain that tectonic processes are continually occurring.
3. Understand the forces that contribute to the rock cycle.

Montana Science Standards 

4^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

5^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

6^th – 8^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time scales and spatial scales.

Earth & Space Science: Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of past plate motion.

10:10 a.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
12:10 p.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 2 – 6
Length: 45 min.

The Hell Creek Formation in Montana and surrounding areas contain the fossils of some of the last non-avian dinosaurs to walk the Earth. Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, and more all roamed the area about 66 million years ago. Join MOR Curator of Paleontology Dr. John Scannella to travel back to the end of the Cretaceous Period and meet the dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Formation!

Student Objectives

1. Recall three dinosaurs from the Hell Creek Formation.
2. Understand that fossils at MOR are excavated from Montana by our team of paleontologists.
3. Explain what the ecosystem was like in Montana, 66-68 million years ago.

Montana Science Standards 

2^nd Grade
Life Science: Make observations of plants and animals to compare and contrast the diversity of life in different habitats.

3^rd Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

4^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

5^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, or atmosphere interact.

6^th – 8^th Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

Earth & Space Science: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth’s 4.6 billion-year-old history.

1:10 p.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 4 – 8
Length: 45 min.

What can we learn about dinosaurs by looking inside of their bones? Join Museum of the Rockies Paleohistology Lab Manager Ellen-Therese Lamm to explore her unique role in science and discover how researchers use microscopic information to piece together details about extinct animals.

Student Objectives

1. Explain the basic internal structure of a bone.
2. Describe the process of paleohistology.
3. Construct a scientific explanation of what we can describe about extinct animals based on the internal structure of fossilized bones.

Montana Science Standards 

4^th Grade
Life Science: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

6^th-8^th Grade
Life Science: Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern organisms and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.

Life Science: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

10:10 a.m. MDT Register Your Montana Classroom
Grades: 2 – 8
Length: 45 min.

Lots of kids dream of becoming a paleontologist but may not truly understand what the job entails! Learn all about the process of paleontology - from discovering fossils in the field to mounting dinosaurs for display - with Paleontology Lab and Field Specialist Scott Williams.

Student Objectives

1. Explain multiple steps in the process of paleontology.
2. Describe how paleontologists use a geologic map to find fossils.
3. Explain the role erosion plays in the process of paleontology.

Montana Science Standards

2^nd Grade
Earth & Space Science: Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.

3^rd Grade
Life Science: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.

4^th Grade
Earth and Space Science: Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time. Make observations or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

5^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, or atmosphere interact.

6^th– 8^th Grade
Earth & Space Science: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6 billion-year-old history. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time scales and spatial scales. Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.