Dinosaur Extinction

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Dinosaur Extinction

• By Brooke Bradley
• Taylor Foote
• Randi Tucker

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• The morning bell rings and Mrs. Martinez walks up
  to the front of the classroom and says, Good
  morning students! Today we are going to learn
  about something very excitingsomething that
  happened 65 million years ago, but scientists
  still dont know very much about it. Can anyone
  guess what it is?
• Philip yells I know!! We are going to learn
  about the dinosaurs!
• Great guess Phillip, says Mrs. Martinez.
  Class, what do you know about dinosaurs?
• Benny raises his hand and says, I watched
  Jurassic Park and saw that they are still alive
  in the jungles!
• Mrs. Martinez quickly tells the class, Oh no, I
  am afraid that that is just a story in a movie.
  There was actually a mass extinction 65 million
  years ago and there are no longer any dinosaurs
  on the earth. Only their fossils remain.
• Linda questioningly asks, What is an extinction
  and how did it happen?
• Mrs. Martinez then says, That is a great
  question Linda and that is exactly what we are
  going to learn about today.

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• All right, says Mrs. Martinez, I want everyone
  to close their eyes and imagine what the earth
  might have looked like 65 million years ago,
  before humans lived on the Earth and when
  dinosaurs roamed the land. What do you imagine
  that the earth looked like then? How about the
  dinosaurs? Okay open your eyes now. This is a
  picture of what geologists think that the world
  would have looked like 65 million years ago.
  (Teachers Show your students a map of the world
  in the Cretaceous period.)
• Wow! says Gee Gee. What happened that made the
  world change?
• Well says Mrs. Martinez, that is a great
  question! The world has changed slowly over
  time, but it also can change dramatically when
  there are catastrophic event such as earthquakes,
  asteroids or volcanoes.
• So what happened to the dinosaurswhy aren't
  they still on the earth? asks Julie.
• Yeah, I mean, humans are still on the earth and
  dinosaurs were bigger and stronger than us! adds
  Phillip.

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• Mrs. Martinez then says, Well, first of all,
  lets make sure that everyone understands that
  humans have only been on the earth for 10 million
  years. This means that dinosaurs and humans
  never lived together. Dinosaurs lived millions of
  years before humans. Extinction is what happens
  when a species dies out, and this would probably
  result because the species cannot adapt to
  changes in the environment.
• Gee Gee raises her hand and asks, What happened
  to make the dinosaurs become extinct?
• I know, says Tom. I heard that there was a
  huge volcano that erupted and killed them.
• No way, interrupts Phillip, it was an asteroid
  that hit them and killed them!
• Mrs. Martinez clarifies for the class, Actually
  those are both theories that scientists have.
  Since humans were not on Earth when it happened
  we can only have theories about what happened.
  Everyone gather around Lindas computer and lets
  find some pictures of how a volcano eruption
  could have caused the dinosaur extinction.
• AS THE STUDENTS GATHER AROUND LINDAS COMPUTER
  THEY ARE SUDDENLY PULLED INTO THE SCREEN BY SOME
  UNKNOWN FORCE AND TAKEN TO THE SITE OF AN ANCIENT
  VOLCANO THAT EXSITED DURING THE TIME OF THE
  DINOSAURS.

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• WHOA! Says Julie, That was a sweet ride! Where
  are we?
• There is no way that we are really in a
  volcanoI must be dreaming! says Tom.
• Oh no! cries Linda. I didnt tell my mom that
  we were going on a fieldtrip.
• Mrs. Martinez explains, I figured that the best
  way for you to understand how a volcano works was
  for you to go inside one! Dont worry, we will
  be back before school is over. Right now we are
  in the magma chamber. This is where the magma is
  melting and moving, and when there is enough
  pressure and gases built up it will travel up
  through the earth and blow off the top of this
  volcano. This magma is felsic and so it is very
  explosive. It looks like it is just about
  timeHOLD ON!
• AHHH! The students scream as they are shot
  upward with the magma as it spews out of the
  earth. Mrs. Martinez and her class fly out of
  the volcano and meet up on the outside where they
  watch the aftermath of the explosion.
• As you can see, Mrs. Martinez teaches, the
  lava caused quite an explosion, but it wasnt
  only the lava flow that would have caused the
  dinosaurs to go extinct. Following the volcano
  there was a lot of carbon dioxide build-up in the
  atmosphere that caused temperature changes that
  affected all of the life on the planet. This is
  just the first theorywho wants to go to Mexico
  and see where scientists think an enormous
  Meteorite hit and caused the extinction of the
  dinosaurs?

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• Okay everyone, says Mrs. Martinez, gather
  around the laptop and lets go to Mexico!
• Lets go! yells the class.
• Everyone gathers around the laptop and is sucked
  into the screen as Linda presses enter.
• Wow where are we now? shouts Benny, Is this
  where the aliens landed when they came from outer
  space?
• There are no such thing as aliens, says
  Phillip. This is where the meteorite landed 65
  million years ago! I am sure that this is what
  killed the dinosaurs!
• Well, says Mrs. Martinez, we are here at the
  tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of
  Mexico where some scientists believe that a huge
  meteorite hit. This hole that we are in is 120
  miles wide and 1 mile deep! It was a huge
  meteorite. The impact of it hitting would have
  been enough to cause fires, seismic activity,
  volcanoes, acid rain, and huge storms, all of
  which would have changed the environment that the
  dinosaurs were living in.
• This is huge! yells Linda, Do you think that
  there are more meteorites out in space that could
  come and hit us?
• Im not afraid, challenges Julie. You just
  have to make sure that you arent standing where
  it hits!
• Actually girls, explains Mrs. Martinez, the
  impact would have created enough of a change in
  the atmosphere that even if you were far away you
  still would have been affected. But I dont
  think you need to worry too mucha meteorite of
  this size hasnt hit the world in 65 million
  years!

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• Well, should we go? asks Mrs. Martinez.
  Everyone gather around the laptop! Back to
  class we go!
• Before they knew it the students and Mrs. Lopez
  were back in through the computer and in their
  classroom.
• Okay students says Mrs. Martinez, take your
  seats. We still have more to learn about the
  dinosaur extinction.
• Why do we have to learn about this? whines Tom.
  I mean, it happened 65 million years ago, why
  does it matter?
• Im glad you asked that Tom, comments Mrs.
  Martinez. It is important for us to understand
  the earth that we live in, and by learning about
  the dinosaurs extinction we are doing just that.
  What happened to the dinosaurs could happen to
  us if we are not careful.
• What do you mean? Linda asks. Im scared!
• Well I think that it would be fun to be in
  another volcano! giggles Julie.
• Part of the reason that the dinosaurs could have
  gone extinct is because there was too much carbon
  dioxide in the atmosphere due to the volcanic
  eruption. If we arent careful we could create a
  human volcano, because we pollute the earth and
  it is causing a build up of carbon dioxide. It
  is important for us to be educated so we can try
  and stop the excess pollution in our world,
  explained Mrs. Martinez.

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• Now that we are all back lets take a moment and
  reflect on what we have learned today, says Mrs.
  Martinez. How about you all take out a sheet of
  paper and your markers. I want everyone to draw
  a picture of what you think happened to the
  dinosaurs, either the volcano theory or the
  asteroid theory! (Teachers pass out dinosaur
  pictures and have your students draw in which
  theory they think happened.)
• I am going to draw a volcano and a meteoriteI
  think that both happened! says Gee Gee.
• Benny shouts, I am drawing 5 volcanoes! I think
  that it would take that many to kill so many
  T-Rexes.
• Okay, interrupts Mrs. Martinez. Who is ready
  to share their pictures?
• I am, I am! shouts Philip.
• Me too, says Julie.
• THE STUDENTS ALL SHARE THEIR PICTURES WITH THE
  CLASS!
• Hmm I still dont know if I buy this whole
  dinosaur story, says Tom. What proof is there
  that dinosaurs existed?

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• Well, says Philip, I once went to this museum
  and saw dinosaur fossils. I think that is proof
  enough.
• That is true, responds Mrs. Martinez. There
  are many bones that have been found that
  archeologists call fossils. These bones can be
  examined and put together in the shape that we
  know as a dinosaur. There are people that dig
  for them and study them, called archeologists.
• Wow! That is cool! says Tom.
• Gee Gee says, I want to see them!
• Mrs. Lopez Well, I would love to take you to an
  archeological dig to see some, but I think that
  we have had enough adventure for one day!! Maybe
  next week!
• All right! says Benny.
• That was fun, remarks Julie. I think that we
  should go on field trips every day!