Solomon School
Chicago, Illinois
Denise Edelson, 4th Grade

Hannah G. Solomon School Information

Solomon School is a Chicago Public School of Excellence, located in the Peterson Park area, in the northwest side of Chicago (6200 North and 3700 West). It is an economically and academically diverse school with a multi-ethnic population of approximately 400 Pre-K through 8th grade students comprised of approximately 40% White, 30% Black, 12% Asian/Pacific Islander.
A Northwest Magnet Cluster school, Solomon School offers an International Scholars Program. For example, Mandarin Chinese is taught throughout all grades. Technology is integrated across Solomon’s entire curriculum.
As a result of Solomon’s previous contribution to Project Exploration 2000, internationally renowned paleontologist Paul Sereno, from the University of Chicago, facilitated Solomon’s current participation in Gear Up, a college preparatory program for upper grade students. Solomon parents are supportive and involved. As a result, Solomon has a strong sense of community, celebrating collective successes.

Student Questions:

1. What are the names of the tools you use?
   
   MILLER: In searching for dinosaur bones, we use a mixture of compasses, maps, hand-held GPS units, and our boots for walking. Finding a dinosaur is all about being in the right place and looking for the right thing. When we have found a dinosaur, our best friends are an ice pick and a two-inch paintbrush. We also use lots of shovels and picks if we have to remove a lot of ground to get to the bones.
   
   
2. How do you communicate with the African people in Niger?
   
   SERENO: I speak French well enough to communicate most things. English won’t get you very far here. The other most common language is Hausa, an African language. But I know only a few words in Hausa, such as greetings.
   
   
3. How did you know there were dinosaur bones in Niger?
   
   GRAY: Geologists looking for uranium after World War II found dinosaur age sedimentary rocks with fossils, which lead to a few expeditions by some French scientists over the next couple of decades. They recovered some dinosaur material, but plenty of rock remained to be checked – which Paul and his crews have been doing since 1993.
   
   
4. When the bones of different dinosaurs are all mixed together, how do you know which bones belong to which dinosaur?
   
   GRAY: If you know the anatomy of a lot of different kinds of animals well enough, you can compare the features of the bones in front of you with those you’ve studied in the past and try to figure out what each bone is, where in the body it is situated and from which type of animal. This in even more difficult when most of the bone is in the ground and/or deteriorated. Many bones that we find are too fragmented or weathered away to make much of a determination, but we are always honing our skills and trying to expand our knowledge of dinosaur bones.
   
   
5. Parent Question:
   What would you like to be remembered for?
   
   SERENO: I suppose I would like to be remembered for having led teams on exciting, adventurous expeditions, for digging up most of Africa’s dinosaurs, and for helping build the best dinosaur museum on Africa.