The tools we use vary, but mostly we collect bones with our hands, awls, paintbrushes and dental picks. It takes anywhere from one week to one month to excavate a dinosaur (it could take even longer) depending on the size of the skeleton, the hardness of the ground that the skeleton is in, the number of people working on it and the delicateness of the bones.

--- 11/6/97, Allison Beck to Mrs. Lesher’s 5^th grade, Univ. of Chicago Lab Schools

Have you found anything yet?

The expedition has experienced a very successful first month! We have dug up about 15 tons of fossils --- almost all belonging to a huge new dinosaur that ate plants. It is a sauropod dinosaur ( a "brontosaur") and we are deciding what to name it now!

--- 11/19/97, Paul Sereno to Linda Lindstrom’s 4^th grade, Prairie School

What is it like to find a new species of dinosaur?

Unfortunately, I have not found a new species of prehistoric animal. But I can tell you that finding a fossil is one of the most thrilling experiences I have ever had. I love to try and figure out what it is and how it fits with other bones. I have wanted to study fossils since I was in the fourth grade. I am fascinated by the questions surrounding them. How did the animal live? How did it die? What environmental factors directed its evolution? This is my first expedition.

--- 11/6/97, Allison Beck to Mrs. Lesher’s 5^th grade, Univ. of Chicago Lab Schools

What have you found besides bones?

Personally I’ve found some pretty neat things. I found a tooth of a Carcharodontosaurus, which is a carnivorous dinosaur. That means they ate meat, which you probably already knew. I also found a skull of a tiny lizard about the size of my thumb nail. It wasn’t an old bone but still it was a nice find.

--- 11/13/97, Greg Wilson to Ms. Marinier’s 5^th grade, Sward School

We do a lot more that just dig bones. We look carefully at the rocks the bones are in and at any other fossils we find buried along with the bones. The very first day I found a piece of wood, a tiny crocodile tooth and a dinosaur tooth next to the bones. All these details help us to learn about the world the dinosaur lived in.

--- 11/4/97, Gabrielle Lyon to Mr. Salk’s 1^st grade, Fiske School