There are two different kinds of animals. First, there are animals without backbones. These were the first animals. These are animals like starfish, bugs, and crabs. Other animals have backbones. There are many different animals with backbones. Fish were the first animals with backbones. Fish live in the water. They cannot take in air like humans. They have to take in water to breathe. There are many different kinds of fish. Some fish live in the sea, and some live in lakes and rivers. Some fish, like sharks, are very large, but other fish are tiny. A very unusual kind of fish are eels. Eels look like snakes, but they are fish. For a long time, fish were the only animals. Then, some fish became able to get out of the water and move on land. These fish became "amphibians," which means "having two lives." One life is in the water, and the other life is on the land. A young amphibian lives in water. A fully grown amphibian lives on land and can take in air. The best known amphibian is the frog. At first, amphibians had their babies in water. Eventually, some amphibians became able to have their babies on land. The first animals to have their babies out of water were reptiles. Reptiles are animals like lizards, snakes, and crocodiles. Dinosaurs were reptiles, too. Dinosaurs were very large lizards that lived on the Earth millions of years ago. They all disappeared around 65 million years ago. Some reptiles became very light and developed feathers. These became birds. Birds are light and can fly. Some birds swim or run instead of flying. The next animals to come along were mammals. Mammals have hair and produce milk for their young. Mammals are animals like dogs, cats, horses, and humans.

Reading One way to learn about the millions of ••••••• in the world is to put them in groups. By looking at animals in groups, we ••• see interesting points that are the same or are different about animals. In •••• way, we can say that some animals belong to certain ••••••. People belong to a group that includes dogs, bears, horses, and monkeys. ••••••• in this group all have hair. Babies come out of their mothers, not out •• - " eggs. And babies in this group of animals drink milk \ from their mother. ••••• are another group of animals, i~ "~ x.".,~ " Not all birds can fly, but ••• birds lay eggs. Baby birds come out of eggs, and their mothers give them food ••• care for them. Some animals eat plants, some eat other animals, and some ••• both. Many that eat plants eat only one kind of plant, or one part of a plant. •• this way, different kinds of plant-eating animals can live together in the •••• place and have enough food. Animals come in all different shapes, sizes, and ••••••. Their bodies help them get food and keep them safe from other animals •••• want to eat them. Many birds have very good eyes. When they are flying, they ••• see fish in the water and small animals on the ground. Dogs have great ••••• and ears. They can smell and -,, hear things that are far away. Bears are very ••••••. They can kill fish and other animals with their arms. Small animals have ways to protect themselves from bigger ones. Their ••••••, for example, might be the same color as the ground around them. This ••••• them hard to see. Also, some animals can make their bodies •••• bigger and stronger than they really are. Then other animals do not want •• eat them. Reading !- Groups of Animals ! 1

Penguins are very interesting birds. They cannot fly, but they are good at swimming. Penguins spend most of their time in the water. However, they are birds, so they cannot breathe underwater. They can hold their breath for a long time, but at some point, they have to come up for air. Sometimes Penguins swim slowly on top of the water to get there. But when penguins are chasing fish, they can jump out of the water. As they swim fast, penguins will jump out of the water, take a breath of air and go back underwater. Penguins can also jump out of the water onto a flat piece of ice if they are tired of swimming. Most penguins live in cold places. How do penguins deal with it? Well, for one thing, they have two layers of special feathers that keep them warm. They also produce a special oil that they rub over the feathers. This oil keeps water and wind out. So when penguins are swimming, the water does not get through the layers of feathers and the Penguins bodies do not get wet. When they are out of the water, penguins are protected from the wind, too. Penguins also have a lot of fat under their skin. Along with their feathers, the fat helps keep them warm. But if that does not work, they can always use body heat. Penguins are warm-blooded, just like people. So, if they get cold, they can stand close together and share their body heat. Penguins live in cold places where all the fresh water is frozen. So, what do penguins drink? They drink salt water from the ocean. In the penguins mouth, the salt is taken out of the water and goes out through holes in the penguin's bill.

The elephant is the biggest animal that lives on land. Have you ever seen an elephant? They are very big and grey. They also have very long noses, called trunks, which they use to put food into their mouths. Elephants cannot see very well. Their eyes are on the side of their heads, so they have to move their whole body to look at things. All elephants in Africa have very big ears. They use their ears to help them cool down on hot days. Elephants in other countries do not have big ears. Elephants live in both Africa and Asia. They can live for about 70 years. That is a long time. Most of an elephant’s life is spent eating. Elephants spend 75% of their day eating. They eat a lot of plants and trees. They do not eat other animals. Elephants also need to drink a lot of water. They drink more than 250 liters of water a day. That is like drinking more than 700 small bottles of water a day. Elephants do not like to be on their own. They travel around in groups, usually with about 10 other elephants. When new elephants are born, the whole group helps to look after the new baby elephants. Elephants are very lucky because other animals do not attack them. Sometimes baby elephants are attacked by lions and crocodiles. However, there is a bigger problem for elephants than lions and crocodiles. The bigger problem is humans. Humans kill many elephants. Parts of the elephant are worth a lot of money, so people want to get these parts and sell them. People also kill elephants when elephants come too close to houses or towns.

TimeTraveller™ HUD Fly-on-the-Wall Fort Calgary from Obx Labs on Vimeo.

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The following link is a very easy to understand dictionary for students of English as a Foreign Language. It's called your dictionary and I have added the link to the Students Dictionary tab.

During this Spring break I learned to enjoy working with numbers again. I hope you enjoy this little mental exercise!

Just added a lot of new links that I use on a term to term basis. Maybe you'll find something useful.

Ways to use Youtube in the classroom

Web Tools for teachers

I've just added Tededucation. Hopefully, this new website will live up to its promising title!!

I've just added the BBC Learning English to a new category: "Four Skills". The site is made for students of English and is also good tool for teachers to use.

Just added the Khan Academy URL for teachers. Great site for learning anything. I've been using it for learning stats concepts.

According to a teacher I just met, she swears by gradekeeper.com for taking care of her marks. I now have that under the "For Teachers" tab.

New site is up and running.