Dinosaur Roar is the Year 1 topic this term and, in their Jurassic art lesson, the children made fossils and drew pictures of the famous scientist and fossil finder, Mary Anning.
The children are fascinated by Mary, who was born in Dorset in 1799, and discovered the complete 30 ft fossil skeleton of the great Ichthyosaurus when she was only 12. It was the first of her many finds and played an important part in the new science of Evolution – eventually leading to Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’. Mary later uncovered Plesiosaurs, Pterosaurs, several other Ichthyosaurs and hundreds of other fossils which can be found in museums worldwide.
One Year 1 girl said: “The best thing about learning about dinosaurs is finding out how big they are.” Her friend added: “You have to be patient to be a palaeontologist because it takes a long time to find fossils.”
