Two Words, One Answer.
builds
 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House $19.98 This is an old black and white classic that starts slow but ends up successfully portraying several varieties of humorous characters and behaviors all typically found present in home renovation. If you have gone through home renovation or are contemplating one, view this movie to enjoy some humor in the process and see who you recognize in yourself and others involved. One other aspect after viewing this movie is the amazing demonstration that there is nothing new under the sun. The portrayed story here, although set in the past, is played out the same today.  50 Reproducible Strategy Sheets That Build Comprehension During Independent Reading (Grades 4-8) $16.99 I don't think this is a tool that is age-appropriate for the higher age groups (6th-8th) and really can't be (and no reason to be) modified for high school. There are several sheets to aid in illustrated stories, and effective worksheets to help with beginning to intermediate readers.  How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn't Have to Be Forever $25.95 This is a fascinating look at some groundbreaking work on a Tyrannosuarus fossil that may contain preserved soft tissue as well as fossilized bones. The book recounts the story of Mary Schweitzer finding what might be cartilage, blood vessles and red blood cells in a T. Rex skeleton found by Dr. Horner (one of the book's authors). Additionally, Mary Schweitzer believes that she can tell us that this particular T. Rex was female and pregnant at the time of its death. This claim is based on Ms. Schweitzer having found what might be medullary bone, which is found only in pregnant birds. This work also discusses the possibility of reverse engineering a dinosaur. By this I mean taking the DNA of a bird and manipulating its DNA in such a way as to "bring back" traits that were present in Dinosaurs, but which modern birds no longer have. Scientests have apparantly done enough work in this area to create birds with teeth! This is coming at the possibility of "cloning" a dinosaur from the opposite direction of the one Michael Crichton took in Jurasic Park. This book does a good job of explaining the various, highly complicated tests used on the fossil in ways that a laymen can readily understand. The book's one weakness is that it meanders into topics that add interesting color to the story, but which are not directly related to the topic at hand. Over all, this is a delightful read and recommended to anyone interested in Dinosaurs. |
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