CAN AN OLD DOG LEARN NEW TRICKS?

 

Can An Old Dog Learn New Tricks?

By Buffy Silverman

Illustrations by Colin W. Thompson

Lerner, 2010

Is That A Fact? series

ISBN # 978-0-8225-9083-5

Grades 4-6

Nonfiction

“Perhaps you’ve heard these common syaings about animals:

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks!

If you touch a baby bird, the mother will abandon it!

But are these sayings true? Is there any science behind stories?”

This book has tons of kid appeal! I read it straight through myself. The straightforward approach and snappy writing uses facts to explain, often in great detail, the science behind these long-heard truisms. The best part is that some of them are true and others aren’t, and reading the book is the best way to find out!

It covers topics like worms in the brain, lemmings, praying mantis and mate eating, cats sucking breath from babies, cats landing on their feet, and spider silk strength, among many others. The text is mixed up with photos are drawings, making the information broken into shorter chunks. This appealing book is one in a series, so you may want to check out the others.

Activity

Choose one of the animals investigated. Look up information about that animal’s adaptations. Use the text from the book to help you find what sort of adaptation to investigate.

Use this site to guide your hunt for ways different animals adapt.

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=4750

Here’s another good site about adaptations.

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=3803

National Science Standards: regulation and behavior; diversity and adaptations of organisms; natural hazards

Book provided by publisher