How to Write a Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals Report

TeachingWithATouchOfHoney
Jun 25
3 min read

Updated: 5 hours ago

Are you writing dinosaur reports with your students? Few topics capture a young writer's imagination quite like dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. This guide walks through the exact process, so your students can go from choosing a dinosaur to finishing a polished, illustrated report.

What Is a Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals Report?

A dinosaur report is a piece of informative writing where a student researches a dinosaur or other prehistoric animal and shares what they learned with a reader. Students research categories like appearance, habitat, diet, and time period, then organize their findings into a written report.

Dinosaurs are a topic students are often already excited about, which makes this report a great way to build research and writing confidence at the same time.

How to Write a Dinosaur Report in 7 Steps

Step 1: Choose a Dinosaur or Prehistoric Animal

Students can find their topic in a few different ways:

Choose their own dinosaur or prehistoric animal
Pick a name out of a hat
Be assigned a topic by the teacher

A ready made dinosaur topics list takes the guesswork out of this step, giving students enough choice to feel ownership without an overwhelming decision.

Want a quick visual reminder of the whole process? Grab the free Report Writing 7 Step Poster and hang it up for students to reference anytime.

Step 2: Research the Dinosaur

Once students have their topic, it is time to gather information using:

Kid friendly websites
Books
Magazines
Museum resources or nonfiction readers

Step 3: Make Jot Notes

This is often the trickiest step for young writers, and it is also the most important one. Jot notes teach students to pull out key facts about their dinosaur instead of copying whole sentences from their source.

A jot notes template built around clear research categories makes this step much easier. Common categories for a dinosaur report include:

Appearance
Habitat
Diet
Time period
Extinction or predators
Other interesting facts

Structured note taking helps students find success from their very first attempt at an informative report, and offering different note taking options for different skill levels helps students focus on picking important facts instead of writing everything down.

Step 4: Write the Draft

With jot notes complete, students turn their facts into paragraphs. Each research category becomes its own paragraph, so a report naturally ends up with a paragraph on appearance, one on habitat, one on diet, and so on.

Step 5: Revise and Edit

Now it is time to make the writing stronger. A simple, differentiated checklist helps students revise and edit their dinosaur report at their own level.

Step 6: Write the Good Copy

After editing, students write their final good copy of the dinosaur report, using a differentiated template or regular writing paper depending on what they need.

Step 7: Illustrate the Dinosaur Report

The last step is adding color with illustrations of the dinosaur or prehistoric animal, based on what students learned in their research. It is a satisfying way to wrap up the project.

Bonus Step: Assess the Report (Optional)

Once the report is finished, a simple rubric makes grading straightforward. Many teachers also like to include a self assessment, so students reflect on their own work before it's handed in. For a closer look at how the assessments work, including self, peer and teacher options, check out How to Use Report Writing Resources in Your Classroom.

How to Differentiate Dinosaur Report Writing

Every classroom has a range of writers, and a dinosaur report is a great place to meet students where they are.

For reluctant writers, use a template that only asks for one fact per research category, keeping the task manageable and building confidence.
For students who are ready for a challenge, use a template that asks for three or more facts per category, pushing their research and writing further.

Printable and Digital Versions

This process works whether you are using paper templates or digital slides. Digital versions let students complete their jot notes, drafts, and final dinosaur reports right on the slide, which is a nice option for classrooms using Chromebooks or iPads.

A Simple Recap

Writing a dinosaur report does not need to be complicated. To recap, the seven steps are:

Choose a dinosaur or prehistoric animal
Research the topic
Make jot notes
Write a draft
Revise and edit
Write the good copy
Illustrate the report

If you would like ready to use templates for every step of this process, including jot notes, draft pages, rubrics, and checklists, take a look at the Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals Report Writing resource on Teachers Pay Teachers.