MANSFIELD Second-graders at the John Hydock Elementary School went prehistoric, putting on a dinosaur play for kindergarten and first-grade students recently in the school’s auditorium.
By:David Koch
The play, known as the "Valley of the Bones," was written by Betty Barlow and Joyce Merman. It is designed to teach kids about dinosaurs with an environmental message.
The play highlights dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Anatosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus rex. Second-graders dressed up in a costume for each dinosaur while a chorus of classmates sang about their individual characteristics.
All dinosaurs had a costume except for Tyrannosaurus rex which was a yellow cutout that moved in the background while kids sang about his terror to a heavy bass beat.
The play is about a group of students dressed in Columbus Cougar sweatshirts who are transported to the Valley of the Bones.
They go back in time and are greeted by a group of friendly plants who tell them about each dinosaur.
The plants were the second-graders with green crowns on their head. The background was two cardboard palm trees.
"It was very nice," said second-grader Jaclyn Cuccia who played the Anatosaurus. "It was good."
For the part of the Anatosaurus, Jaclyn dressed in a purple costume with a duck’s head. The original Anatosaurus had a duck-bill, was 14 feet tall and 35 feet long.
The play was put together by second-grade John Hydock School teacher Barbara Moore and music teacher Carol Manion.
"Valley of the Bones" was a supplement to the second-graders’ six-week instruction on dinosaurs and fossils.
"I thought they did really well," said Ms. Moore. "They had a lot to learn, and they know more about dinosaurs than I do."
Funding for the props in the play came from New Jersey Education Association’s special "Pride in Education" unit. They were awarded the money because the play was " a collaboration to incorporate music into their current study," said Ms. Manion.
The second-graders have been practicing the play for eight weeks. All the singing parts were done during the students’ music period.
Along with teaching kids about dinosaurs, "Valley of the Bones" also has an environmental message.
The last song in the play was "We’re Sharing This Planet" which has such lines as, "We’re sharing this planet/with the birds and bunnies and bees/our world should be green and clean."
