Dinomummy: The Life, Death, and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek by Dr. Phillip Lars Manning. Boston: Kingfisher, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7534-6047-4

Archaeologists attempt to uncover the facts surrounding the mysterious death of a dinosaur whose fossilized remains were found buried in North Dakota.

Media: photography, computer-generated images

Rating: 4Q/4P

Literary device utilized: sophisticated language

Example: “Those bones tell us that it is very likely that Dakota is an Edmontosaurus annectens, a species of hadrosaur that was common in Hell Creek.”

Curricular connection: Science/History, upper elementary school level

Lesson plan:

1. This lesson will begin on a Monday during the section in which the class is studying about prehistory.  The teacher will start with an introduction to archaeology, and how it’s related to our knowledge of dinosaurs.  Each student will be given their own fossil kit, and the last 20 minutes of each class during that week will be set aside to allow the students to work on excavating their fossils.  An example of the kits can be seen here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Young-Scientist-Club-WH-925-1114/dp/B000809O4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249241190&sr=8-1
2. The next day, the class will view the National Geographic documentary “Dino Autopsy” (approx 50 min.) and continue to work on excavating their fossils.
3. Over the next two days, the teacher will present a two-part PowerPoint slideshow lecture utilizing the book Dinomunny: The Life, Death, and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek, and the students will continue to work on excavating the fossils from their kits.
4. On Friday, the students will finish up excavating their fossils, share their thoughts about the experience, and take a written multiple-choice test based on what they’d been taught throughout the week.

submitted July 2009 by Josh Mitchell  

Dinomummy: the life, death and discovery of Dakota, a dinosaur from Hell Creek by Dr. Phillip Lars Manning. Boston: Kingfisher, 2007.

            ISBN: 9780753460474

            Annotation: The book tells the story of Dakota a dinosaur that was discovered in Hell Creek. The authors go back 65 million years to try to figure out how the dinosaur died and then they come to present time to put together the dinosaur.

            Media: Computer generated art-work

            Rating: 5Q/5P

Subject: Science, Dinosaurs. Grade 5-9

Lesson Plan

Goal

To teach students about Paleontology

Objectives

-         To see how paleontology science works

-         To learn about dinosaurs

-         To be exposed to a non-fiction picture books

Lesson

1. Read the book. Discuss the story with students. Talk about the characters in the story.

2.   Have students make a short research paper on paleontology

1.      Field trip to a museum that has dinosaur fossils

Assessment

      -     During the discussion make sure every student participates and let them run the discussion to see if the students understood the story.

-         Set a minimum and some specifications for the research paper.

-         Ask students to take some notes from the museum for a further discussion in class

The artwork of these book is all computer generated art and some photographs. These could be the future of a lot of non-fiction books because thanks to computers pictures can be created with a lot of precision. The illustrations are very realistic which shows the advancement that picture books are having, these has allow new artists to enter the field of picture books.

Armando Rivera 7-24-09