A Writing Root for The Fossil Hunter

Overview and Outcomes:

This is a 15-session Literary Leaf for The Fossil Hunter by Kate Winter, covering all aspects of the Lower Key Stage 2 content domain. Children will dig deep into the world of Mary Anning to discover how she became a pioneer in the field of palaeontology. They will explore Mary's personal history using factual clues from the text and their developing inference skills to understand the motivations for her work.  The historical context will lend itself to children sequencing events in chronological order and new vocabulary will be unearthed along the way which children will work to define in context.  Children will consider multiple viewpoints and have the chance to write in role before explaining and justifying their own views about how we should remember people who have achieved great things.

Synopsis of Text:

Have you ever found something mysterious? Something you had no idea what it was but you had this feeling it was important, that it held a secret?

Mary Anning was a fossil hunter, scouring the cliffs and seashores of Lyme Regis for strange rocks and shells. Monstrous marine reptiles and dinosaurs had once reigned the land and seas here millions of years ago, disappearing only to leave mysterious traces for humans to puzzle over.

Mary's fossils paved the way for modern palaeontology and helped to piece together a picture of how the dinosaurs lived and evolved. Little did she know that 200 years later we would still be talking about her amazing discoveries and how she influenced our understanding of the history of the earth.

Beautifully illustrated by brand-new talent Kate Winter, with stunning panoramic fold-out pages, this is a book to treasure and to read again and again, perfect for all fans of natural history and curious young explorers.

Links:

Fossils, dinosaurs, planet Earth, Mary Anning, Dorset