KS: Upper KS2
Year Group: Year 5
Literary Theme: Ambition & Aspiration, Ambition & Desire, Fighting for Freedom, Inspiration & Activism, Power vs. Principles
Author(s): Margot Lee Shetterly
This is a Vocabulary Vine for Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
A Vocabulary Vine is designed to be a sister resource to a Writing Root and Spelling Seed. It sits within our wider Teach Through a Text approach by explicitly identifying vocabulary from the book and providing additional opportunities for paired, small group and whole class experimentation with this vocabulary in context. Vocabulary Vines further complement spelling development too through exploration of the morphology (word structure) and etymology (origins) of words. They also provide oracy opportunities through a focus on talk tasks and on oral sentence construction. They are designed for short burst oral and vocabulary development.
Some Vocabulary Vines for longer texts include an additional resource called a Forest of Words. This resource offers extra vocabulary drawn from throughout the text, which has been identified as having strong potential for further language exploration. The words or phrases in the Forest of Words are grouped by chapter. Words that are also featured in the main Vocabulary Vine resource are highlighted within the Forest of Words for easy reference.
A Writing Root is available for Hidden Figures.
Non-chronological reports, job adverts, formal persuasive letters, informal letters, diary entries, character descriptions, opinion pieces
Non-chronological report on the life and achievements of the women and history of NASA/NACA.
15+ sessions, 3 + weeks
This is a 3-week Writing Root using Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and illustrated by Laura Freeman in which children learn about the achievements and determination of four iconic women at key moments in American and world history. This provides the inspiring context for children to write for a range of purposes and for different formal and informal contexts. References will be made to the Young Readers' Edition of the text (which can be read in conjunction) as well as the 2016 movie directed by Theodore Melfi of the same name.
Based on the New York Times bestselling book and the Academy Award–nominated movie, author Margot Lee Shetterly and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award winner Laura Freeman bring the incredibly inspiring true story of four black women who helped NASA launch men into space to picture book readers!
Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were good at math…really good.
They participated in some of NASA's greatest successes, like providing the calculations for America's first journeys into space. And they did so during a time when being black and a woman limited what they could do. But they worked hard. They persisted. And they used their genius minds to change the world.
In this beautifully illustrated picture book edition, we explore the story of four female African American mathematicians at NASA, known as "colored computers," and how they overcame gender and racial barriers to succeed in a highly challenging STEM-based career.
"Finally, the extraordinary lives of four African American women who helped NASA put the first men in space is available for picture book readers," proclaims Brightly in their article "18 Must-Read Picture Books of 2018." "Will inspire girls and boys alike to love math, believe in themselves, and reach for the stars."
This important text by Margot Lee Shetterly is the previously untold story of four African-American women, all with exceptional maths skills, who helped America win the Space Race. This book is important for Black representation and themes of empowerment and feminism are strongly woven throughout. Other curriculum links can also be made to history, DT, geography and science.
Space, space-travel, space race, African-American, feminism, women in science, NASA, Black history, feminism, empowerment
Date written: February 2019
Updated: December 2022
A Home Learning Branch is available for Hidden Figures.
This is a Home Learning Branch for Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race. These branches are designed to support home learners to access literature-based learning using a selection of books we love from Writing Roots. They include purposeful writing suggestions, links to the wider curriculum so that texts can be used across other subjects, key questions as well as spelling or phonics investigations.
View Hidden Figures Home Learning Branch
