The Bone-Hunter tells the true story ... - Storytime Magazine

The Bone-Hunter tells the true story of Mary Anning – a poor girl who became a fossil-hunter and went on to make many amazing discoveries. This exciting pack focuses on fossils, dinosaurs, and of course Mary’s life and achievements.

© storytimemagazine.com 2021

StorytimeTM

Teaching ResourcesAwesome Adventures: The Bone-Hunter

In Brief

1 Literacy lesson ideas If you come across a word that you don’t know, just look it up in the Glossary. Why not impress people by using the new words you have learned?

Did you enjoy reading about Mary’s life and discoveries? What did you think of the way people treated her during her life? Check out the questions on the Class Discussion Sheet to start talking about her experiences.

The Reading Comprehension Sheet introduces special words called comparatives and intensifiers – can you find them in the extract from the story?

Retell Mary’s story in your own words! Write about what happened to her under the pictures on our latest Storyboard worksheet.

Answer the questions on the Story Structure Sheet to work out the most important facts about Mary Anning’s tale!

The events of Mary’s life have been jumbled up on the Story Sequencing Sheet. Can you put them in the right order by numbering each section?

Would you like to make up your own story about Mary and her family? Our Story Cards can help! Just print and cut them out, and draw a card to find out who (or what!) appears in your story next!

Learn about how to spot and use special adjectives (describing words) called comparatives and superlatives on the Bigger and Better! worksheet.

Mary Anning found fossils of ancient creatures in the cliffs at Lyme Regis – but can you find the dinosaurs and other giant reptiles in our special Big Word Search?

Continued on page 2...


StorytimeTM


2 Science Lesson Ideas

The Earth is billions of years old, and life on this planet has changed a great deal over that time! The Once Upon an Era reference sheet is filled with facts about eight ancient eras – including the times when dinosaurs roamed the world!

Have you ever wondered about where fossils come from? Check out the How Fossils Are Made sheet for a cool diagram explaining how some of these remains have lasted for many millions of years...

We couldn’t fit all of the fascinating facts about Mary Anning into this month’s story. The Amazing Mary! fact sheet is packed with more info!

Imagine that YOU have found an amazing fossil! Write all about it on the Fossil Discovery Journal sheet...

Art Lesson ideas3 After you have filled in your journal entry, don’t forget to draw what the creature you discovered would have looked like on the Look What I Found! page.

Mary discovered many beautiful swirly shells called ammonites on the beach – and then cleaned and polished them up to sell. Why not colour in the Ammonite Art? It could be worth more than half a crown!

When scientists find fossils of ancient creatures, they have to use their knowledge (and some imagination!) to create pictures of what their discoveries would have looked like when they were alive. The Dino-Draw sheets have skeletons on them – can you draw what the creatures might have looked like over the top of the bones?

© s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1

StorytimeTM


Don’t know a word in a story? Find out what it means here!

STOrYTIME GLOSSArY

The Wasps and the Bees (Page 6)

Honeycomb – honey-holding structure

Property – thing that belongs to someone

Buzzed – made a sound like ‘buzz’

Stinging – attacking with stings

Judge – person who decides winner

Creepy-crawlies – small creatures

Witness – person who saw something

Slimy – covered with slime

Objection – way of saying ‘I don’t agree!’

Stingers – pointy things for stinging

Elderly – old

Ability – skill or talent

The Bone-Hunter (Page 9)

Shore – where the land meets the sea

Cliffs – tall steep areas

Fascinated – very interested

Fancy – expensive or nicely decorated

Souvenirs – things collected on travels

Expeditions – trips

Chip – gently break

Breadwinner – main money-earner

Clay – kind of earth

Half a crown – a type of old coin

Polished – made smooth and shiny

Clogs – wooden overshoes

Wares – things for sale

Marvelled at – were impressed by

Eventually – after some time

Achievements – things she had done

Rosanella (Page 14)

Quarrelled – argued

Council – meeting of important people

Wisest – most wise

Instructed – told

Chamber – room

Peasant – ordinary farmer or farm worker

Cradle – bed for a baby

Birthmark – coloured area of skin

Neighbouring – next door

Charmingly – in a pleasant way

Multi-coloured – with many colours

Horizon – line where land meets sky

Barely – hardly

Tinkling – pleasant-sounding

Possessed – had

Qualities – things that make

someone special

Contest – competition

Hook’s Island (Page 20)

Overboard – off a ship

Pursued – chased

Chasing – going after

Reptile – type of cold-blooded animal

Ashore – onto the shore

Twitched – made a small, quick movement

Papaya – kind of fruit

Weaving – making things from threads

Hammock – sling for sleeping in

Paddled out – swam out

1 OF 2

Continued on page 2...


StorytimeTM


STOrYTIME GLOSSArY

The Big Green Kraken (Page 22)

Currents – flows of water

Steaming – with steam coming off it

Ruffled – messed up

Chores – jobs

Algae – kind of simple plant

Drift – float along with currents

Echoes – reflected sounds

Diving chamber – room for diving out of

Flippers – fins put onto the feet

Snorkel – pipe for breathing through

Tentacle – long flexible arm

Suckers – body part that sticks to things

Dragged – pulled

Curiously – in a curious way

Booming – loud

Polluters – people that pollute

Scrap metal – metal junk

Mythical – from myths

Whirlpools – holes in water caused

by swirling currents

Harmful – having bad effects

Chemicals – substances

Rumbled – made a noise like ‘rumble’

The Raspberry Worm (Page 29)

Gathering – picking

Squealed – yelled in a high-pitched way

Scooped – picked

Smears – stains

Aplenty – in large amounts

Sniffled – sniffed

Creator – being who made everything

Parcel – package

The King of Crocodiles (Page 34)

Trampled – stepped all over

Livelihood – thing needed to make money

Menacing – frightening

Hurriedly – in a hurried way

Scampered – quickly ran

Promise – something he said he would do

Henna dye – reddish dye used on skin

Amazement – surprise and wonder

Trumpets – horn-shaped instruments

Tended – cared for

Beowulf and Grendel (Page 39)

Daybreak – when the sun comes up

Matted – tangled and dirty

Overturning – turning over

Gobbling – eating greedily

Underlings – servants

Spears – long pointy weapons

Pierced – cut or stabbed through

Foes – enemies

Yanking – pulling roughly

Ferocious – fierce and angry

Lair – place where creatures live

Dank – damp, dark and depressing

2 OF 2

We hope you enjoyed reading The Bone-Hunter! Can you answer these questions about Mary Anning?

© s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1

Awesome Adventures: The Bone-Hunter StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Name Class

CLASS DISCUSSION SHEET

Text Questions

1. Mary did not have an easy life! What were two of the problems she

had to deal with?

2. Which person in her life do you think inspired Mary the most? Can you think

of a time in the story when she was probably inspired by that person?

3. What was Mary like as a person? Which three words would you choose

to describe her?

4. What did Mary look like? How do you think this affected the way in which

people treated her?

5. Why do you think the scientists who bought fossils from Mary were able to

claim her discoveries as their own? Why do you think people believed them

instead of Mary?

Answers: . 1. Mary came from a family that did not have much money for food or other necessities, and her father died when she was young. 2. Her father was an inspiration to her. He also noticed her interest in fossils and encouraged her. 3. Possibilities include smart, determined and hard-working. 4. Mary had simple and ragged clothes and sometimes looked dirty after digging up fossils. People might have wrongly assumed that did not know much because she came from a poor family. 5. At that time, people believed that only rich and educated men could be ‘proper’ scientists, and might not have believed that a poor girl could make scientific discoveries.

Imagine that you are Mary Anning and you have dug up an icthyosaur skeleton. Draw what she might have thought the creature looked like when it was alive!

Draw it!

Answers: 1. Assist and help. 2. Very. 3. A verb. 4. Cooler. What’s the Noun?: Thrower, walker and runner.


Awesome Adventures: The Bone-Hunter

READING COMPrEHENSION SHEET

StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Name Class

Check out the excerpt below – and then try to answer the questions about verbs, nouns, comparitives and intensifiers!

Richard started going on expeditions to collect fossils from the cliffs,

and five-year-old Mary was his assistant and helper. She was very clever,

and was great at spotting interesting things to dig up. He gave her a little

pick that she could use to chip fossils out of the rocks, which was cooler

than any toy.

1. The words ‘assistant’ and ‘helper’ are nouns.

What two verbs (doing words) do these words come from?

2. The second sentence has a word that

is an intensifier – it makes the word that

follows it stronger in meaning. Can you

work out what it is?

3. The word chip can be a noun or a verb.

In the third sentence, which one is it

working as?

4. The fourth sentence has an adjective

(describing word) that is a comparative

(can be used to compare one thing with

another). Can you work out which one it is?

WHAT’S THE NOUN? What noun would describe someone who does each of these actions? (Clue: you can usually add ‘-er’ to the end of a verb to make it a noun – for example hunt and hunter.)

THROW _______________WALK _________________RUN __________________

StorytimeTM

Teaching ResourcesRetell Mary’s story by writing in what happened to her in the spaces underneath the illustrations...

1

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

___________________________________

2

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

___________________________________

3

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

___________________________________

4

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

___________________________________


The Bone-Hunter: storyboard

Name Class

Who are the main characters in the story?

What is the solution?

How does the story end?

Where is the story set?

When is the story set?

StorytimeTM

Teaching ResourcesStory Structure Sheet

Name Class

What is the main problem in the story?



© s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1

Awesome Adventures: The Bone-HunterStorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Name Class

Can you put the events of Mary Anning’s life back in order?

Story Sequencing Sheet

When rich people began visiting the village to bathe in the sea, Richard had an idea: he could sell them fossils as souvenirs!

Mary’s father Richard was a carpenter, but Lyme Regis was poor and it was hard for him to make enough money to feed his family.

One day, Mary discovered the skeleton of an ancient fossil fish. It was a major discovery, and helped Mary become famous.

On the beach that morning, she found a lovely ammonite shell. She sold it to a lady – and made enough money to feed her family!

Mary went to the beach with her father and helped him to find fossils that they could sell. She was very good at it!

Unfortunately, Richard slipped and fell while walking along the clifftops. He was seriously injured and soon passed away.

Without Richard, Mary and her family had a hard time affording enough food to eat, and sometimes went hungry.

Mary and Joseph began going down to the beach to collect shells. They sold them to rich visitors, and Mary even opened a little shop.

Mary was determined to find a way to make some money to help her family. One morning, she set out for the beach with her little pick.

Mary was born about two hundred years ago, in a little seaside village called Lyme Regis.

Richard often took Mary and her brother Joseph down to the beach. Mary loved to pick up the fossil bones and shells she found there.

StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources



Story CardsImagine that Mary discovered an incredible new fossil on the beach! Why not make up your own story about this discovery by drawing a card every time you want a new person or thing to show up in your tale?

MARY

ANN

INGRIC

HARD

MYSTERIOUS BONES

SCIEN

TIST

WEAL

THY

LADY

JOSE

PH

StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Comparatives and superlatives are adjectives (describing words) that are used to compare things to each other. This comes in very useful when talking about things like dinosaurs!

Bigger and Better!

ComparativeS

1. A diplodocus is than a london bus (TALL)

2. A Tyrannosaurus Rex’s tis than a (BIG)

3. Dinosaur fossils are than the (OLD)

To make a comparative, you usually add -er to the end of an adjective and then put than after it. See if you can make the right comparative for each of these sentences.

Superlatives To make a superlative, you usually just add -st or -est to the end of an adjective.

1. Argentinosaurus was the land animal of all time (HUGE)

2. The blue whale is the sea creature of all time. (LARGE)

3. The Nyasasaurus is the known dinosaur. (OLD)

Answers: Comparative: 1. taller than, 2. bigger than, 3. older than. Superlative: 1. hugest, 2. largest, 3. oldest.

© s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1


Name Class

Mary Anning found fossils of prehistoric creatures on the beach –

but can you find the creatures hiding in this word search?

ANSWER:

D O I C T H Y O S A U R X B

C I M D N Q B W L C M G C H

A P P U T A H R A P T O R B

T O D L U P V K E O U I G R

R A Z Q O U T T V D B N U A

I B W B F D I E G C Y A Y C

C Q R D Y N O N R M L D E H

E S I P O K E C E O T R Y I

R C G M T E F Z U X S E D O

A R J K A Y P O I S E A G S

T A M B M A R D R X S V U A

O T X F O L J I W C P B S R

P Q B S U F H E L S J A Q U

S E O I A L L O S A U R U S

Ammonite

Brachiosaurus

Allosaurus

Diplodocus

Icthyosaur

Triceratops

Pterosaur

Utahraptor

DOICTHYOSAURXB

CIMDNQBWLCMGCH

APPUTAHRAPTORB

TODLUPVKEOUIGR

RAZQOUTTVDBNUA

IBWBFDIEGCYAYC

CQRDYNONRMLDEH

ESIPOKECEOTRYI

RCGMTEFZUXSEDO

ARJKAYPOISEAGS

TAMBMARDRXSVUA

OTXFOLJIWCPBSR

PQBSUFHELSJAQU

SEOIALLOSAURUS


BIG WOrD SEArCHStorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Name Class © s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1

Cretaceous 145 to 66 MYAWhat was it like? Very warm,

with no ice at the poles.

Creatures to look out for: Dinosaurs ruled the Earth – and they

included the tyrannosaurus rex!

Jurassic 201.3 to 145 MYAWhat was it like? Warm,

with deserts and jungles.

Creatures to look out for: Dinosaurs like the stegosaurus!

Permian 298.9 to 251.902 MYAWhat was it like? Warm and dry,

with large deserts.

Creatures to look out for: The sail-backed dimetrodon,

and early ancestors of mammals.

Triassic 251.902 to 201.3 MYAWhat was it like? Hot and dry, with

many deserts.

Creatures to look out for: Giant flying pterosaurs!

Devonian 419.2 to 358.9 MYAWhat was it like? Most of the land

was part of a giant continent called

Gondwana. Simple plants evolved.

Creatures to look out for: Many

new kinds of fish – watch out for

the early ancestors of sharks!

Carboniferous 358.9 to 298.9 MYAWhat was it like? The temperature

was like in modern times. Forests of

primitive trees grew across the land.

Creatures to look out for: Lots of amphibians, as well as

giant dragonflies and scorpions!

Ordovician 485.4 to 343.8 MYAWhat was it like? Very hot at first –

with an ice age at the end! Mosses

began to grow on dry land.

Creatures to look out for: Orthoceras, a shelled squid-like

shellfish that hunted in the oceans.

Silurian 443.8 to 419.2 MYAWhat was it like? Nice and warm!

There were many shallow seas

and frequent storms.

Creatures to look out for: Eurypterus, a large clawed sea

creature nicknamed a ‘sea scorpion’!

© s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1


ONCE UPON AN ErA

StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

The history of the Earth is divided into ‘eras’ lasting hundreds of millions of years. Cut out these handy cards that give you fun facts about them!

MYA = millions of years ago

Stor

ytim

eTM

Teach

ing Re

source

s

HOW

FOS

SILS

ARE

MAD

E


Aweso

me Ad

vent

ures:

The B

one-H

unter

Name

Clas

s

Fin

d o

ut

ho

w m

an

y f

oss

ils a

re

form

ed

by

ch

eck

ing

ou

t th

e

coo

l d

iag

ram

be

low

!

1. A

n a

nim

al

die

s,

an

d it

s fl

esh

an

d

skin

ro

t a

wa

y

or

are

ea

ten

by

sc

ave

ng

ers

.

2. O

ver

ma

ny

ye

ars

, w

ate

r a

nd

mu

d w

ash

o

ver

the

ske

leto

n,

an

d l

ay

ers

of

mu

d

bu

ild u

p o

n it

. As

the

ce

ntu

rie

s p

ass

, la

ye

rs o

f m

ud

pre

ss

do

wn

on

ea

ch o

the

r a

nd

tu

rn in

to r

ock

.

3. M

ine

ral-

rich

wa

ter

see

ps

into

th

e b

on

es.

Th

e b

on

es

the

mse

lve

s fa

ll a

pa

rt, b

ut

the

m

ine

rals

le

ft b

eh

ind

cre

ate

a

ske

leto

n-s

ha

pe

d r

ock

fo

rma

tio

n.

4. T

he

ro

ck w

ea

rs

aw

ay

, re

vea

ling

a

pre

serv

ed

fo

ssili

sed

sk

ele

ton

fo

r b

on

e-

hu

nte

rs t

o fi

nd

!

Bo

ne

s o

nly

tu

rn in

to fo

ssils

in

pa

rtic

ula

r ci

rcu

mst

an

ces!

R

ock

s th

at

we

re o

nce

pa

rt o

f sh

allo

w s

ea

s (li

ke t

he

clif

fs

ne

ar

Lym

e R

eg

is) a

re o

fte

n

full

of t

he

m!



AMAZING MArY!StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Mary Anning had a hard life, but she achieved

many amazing things! Here are some more

fascinating facts about this feisty fossil-hunter!

1 THE MOTHER OF PALAEONTOLOGY! Mary Anning’s discoveries were very

important to a new kind of science, called paleontology. This is the study

of ancient living things and the fossils they left behind.

2 IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME! Lyme Regis is close to the cliffs of

what is now known as the ‘Jurassic Coast’. It is particularly rich in fossils from

ancient oceans, and Mary made money selling her finds to holidaymakers.

5 NOT A FISH! The giant fossil Mary and her brother found in 1809-11 was the

skeleton of a marine reptile known as an ichthyosaur. You can see the fossil

they found at the National History Museum in London.

4 AHEAD OF HER TIME! The London Geological Society is dedicated to the

discovery of the Earth, but it didn’t allow Mary Anning to join, just because

she was a woman. It finally accepted its first female member in 1904.

3 FOLLOW IN HER FOOTSTEPS! You can visit the Lyme Regis Museum and see

fascinating exhibits about her! The museum also arranges guided walks along

the beach, following the same paths that Mary took when she hunted for fossils.

7 POO DISCOVERIES! Mary didn’t just dig up shells and bones. She also found

lots of coprolites – which is a fancy way of saying ‘fossilised poos’!

6 MARY ANNING’S BEST FRIEND! In 1823, Mary and her dog, Trey, discovered the

remains of another marine reptile, called a plesiosaur. This long-necked sea

creature looked so strange that many people thought the fossil was a fake!

Imagine that you have discovered an amazing fossilised creature! Write a record of your incredible discovery below...

Discovered by (your name): When did it live (era)? What did it eat? How did it move around? What did your creature look like? Now draw a picture of your creature on the next page!

© s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1


Teaching Resources

FOSSIL DISCOVERY JOURNAL

Name Class

StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Look what I found!On the previous page, you wrote about your own imaginary fossil discovery. Now draw a picture of your creation below!

THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF FOSSIL!

They include:

• Moulds showing an

animal’s skin texture

• Preserved footprints left

by ancient creatures

• Frozen remains of actual flesh

and hair from more recent

creatures, like mammoths

• Coprolites, or fossilised poo!

© s

tory

time

ma

ga

zine

.co

m 2

02

1


Name Class

StorytimeTM

Teaching Resources

Ammonite shells were among the many fossils Mary found and sold in her little shop. Colour in the shell below to make it look as pretty as possible! Why not use some collage to add texture?

Ammonite art



Name Class

When scientists discover a fossil, they have to use their knowledge

and imagination to create a picture of what they think the creature

looked like when it was alive. Draw your own amazing dinosaur

over the skeleton shown on this page...



Teaching Resources

Name Class

DINO-DrAW 1

Did You Know?At first, scientists thought that dinosaurs had scales or knobbly skin. However, many now believe that lots of dinosaurs had feathers. This makes sense, because dinosaurs are related to modern birds!

Now draw your own creature over this skeleton! Does yours have

scales, feathers, fins or legs? The only limit is your imagination...



Teaching Resources

Name Class

DINO-DrAW 2

The Bone-Hunter tells the true story ... - Storytime Magazine

Documents