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teacher notes

Big Book of Aussie Dinosaurs By Kel Richards Illustrated by Glen Singleton

SynopsisStomp your way through the BIG world of Aussie dinosaurs!

Discover the wonderful world of prehistoric Australia in this fun book that will entertain and inform all young readers. Includes loads of pictures and facts on every page — and even a pronunciation guide to help kids say all those tricky dino names!

About the Author Kevin Barry ‘Kel’ Richards (born 8 February 1946) is an Australian author, journalist and radio personality.

He worked as a Presenter and Producer for the ABC’s national NewsRadio network, and wrote and presented the daily WordWatch radio program.

In the past Kel has compered the national daily radio current aff airs program. He also hosted his own top rating evening show on Radio 2GB, has been a senior reporter with the ABC’s TVs current aff airs program, Nationwide and was the executive producer at ABC Radio National.

Kel has had 44 books published – from children’s books to crime novels to nonfi ction for adults.

About the Illustrator Glen Singleton was born in Brisbane, Queensland and has lived there all of his life. He has loved drawing from as far back as he can remember, and recalls spending hours engrossed in it, using his dad’s old ink pens (Glen’s dad was a shop designer) to make elaborate pen and ink drawings.

After leaving the Queensland College of Art in 1979, Glen became a freelance illustrator for advertising agencies and art studios. His love of children’s books drove him to send samples to publishers. Glen’s fi rst book, Father Koala’s Nursery Rhymes, written by Kel Richards, was published by Scholastic Australia in 1992, and he has since gone on to illustrate a wide range of books, plus cartoons and illustrated park maps.

Glen uses various mediums to create his art. He says that in a digital age it’s great to still be drawing by hand using traditional materials, but at the same time he says he couldn’t live or work without email and the internet!

When asked what books have infl uenced him most, Glen recalls his dad reading to him and his three brothers Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit books. He loves bringing his own animals to life on paper, and always remembers Potter’s delightful pen, ink and watercolour animal images.

When he’s not illustrating, Glen trains for adventure races, doing mountain biking, kayaking and mountain treks.

• Dinosaurs • Science • Nonfiction• Different ways to present information• Illustrations to support reluctant readers

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Discussion PointsWHICH DINOSAUR WOULD YOU BE?

Ask your students:

With your class in a circle, have each student take a turn to say which dinosaur they would be and why. For example,

I would be a pterodactyl so that I could fly and swoop through the trees.

I would be an iguanadon because I am a vegetarian.

I would be a brachiosaurus so I could see what’s going on with my long neck.

It may be a good idea to display images and names of the dinosaurs to prompt the students.

FUN FACT HUNT:

Look up the following dinosaurs on the internet and see what facts you can uncover about them. List the facts as a class. What sorts of physical features do the dinosaurs have?

Why do you think each dinosaur may have evolved to have these features?

• Psittacosaurus (SIT-UH-JO-SAWR-US)

• Gigantoraptor (JI-GAN-TO-RAP-TOR)

• Parasaurolophus (PARA-SAW-OL-UP-FUS)

• Ceratorsaurus (SIH-RAH-TO-SAW-US)

A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME:

Visit the Melbourne Museum website and learn about the different life forms that have evolved over time:

http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/600-million-years/timeline/cretaceous/

Activities and Copy MastersACTIVITY 1: DINOSAUR RESEARCH MISSION

Explain to your students that for this task, we are going to imagine that The Natural History Museum would like us to research dinosaurs for an exhibition in the near future.

Start by asking:

What do we want to find out? Talk to your partner.

Share responses and make a class list of questions/starting points.

Talk about where/how we will find out this information.

Set up the opportunity for the students to research, using the class books, the school library, the internet, the local library, etc.

The children then complete their research on CM a.

a. CM- Dinosaur Research Mission

ACTIVITY 2: DINOSAUR FACT FILE MISSION

As a class, share all of the interesting facts uncovered from activity 1.

Explain that everyone did such a great job researching that The Natural History Museum has now requested a Fact File to display alongside the bones of your chosen dinosaur at the upcoming exhibition.

Talk the children through CM b and allow them to complete a Fact File individually or in groups.

Depending on your access to computers this could be completed in stages, written first then transferred to a Word/Publisher file.

b. CM b Dinosaur Fact File Mission

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