Researchers have long believed that all four-limbed animals or tetrapods, a group that includes amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, evolved from an ancient group of fish known as Elpistostege watsoni, which lived between 416 million and 358 million years ago, during the Devonian Period. Over the years, partial remains of the creatures, which possessed characteristics of both lobe-finned fishes and tetrapods, has shed light on some of the anatomical change the creatures underwent, such as breathing, hearing, and feeding. However, the lack of a complete pectoral fin fossil had made it impossible to determine the evolution of one of the most important features for the transition — hands!
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SCHOOL STARTS in ten minutes, so you figure it’s about time to roll out of bed and get ready. You look in your closet and pull out a black shirt, black pants and belt, black socks, and black shoes. You take one glance in the mirror. Perfect. As you race through the kitchen, you bump into Mom. She takes one look at you and screams. Near hysteria, she rants about the way you look. Undisturbed-you’ve been through this many times before-you tell her, “Mom, this is how all my friends dress.” As you jump into the car you ask yourself, Why am I dressed this way? It’s the dumbest look I’ve ever worn! Why do you wear what you wear? Probably because of your peers-the same people who try to dictate the words you use, the people you associate with, the places you go, and the attitudes you hold. Peers press you to conform to their standards even if you don’t want to. Depending on where your friends are coming from, peer pressure can either help you or hurt you. In the 1960s, the most powerful influence in a teen’s life was his parents, followed by teachers and then peers. But ever since the 1980s, peer pressure ranks first, followed by parents, and then the media. It’s not like peer pressure didn’t exist when your parents were kids, but the intensity wasn’t the same. Your dad being pressured to smoke a cigarette out in the school parking lot is nothing compared to the pressure on you to smoke crack. Nor can your mom’s one experience with her boyfriend wanting to take her “parking” compare to the pressure you get to go all the way because it’s supposedly what everybody does today. Because the intensity levels are light-years apart, some parents find the peer pressure you face hard to understand. Peer pressure is so powerful because every single person on earth has a God-given need to be loved and accepted. God wants to fulfill this drive first in your love relationship with him. He wants you to be secure in how much he loves and accepts you as his chosen child. He knows that if you aren’t secure in him, you will look to friends for acceptance. The greater your insecurity, the greater your need for acceptance, and the more the opinions of your friends matter. For some, a friend’s opinion becomes the driving force of life. Christ accepts you totally. Romans 15:7 confirms it. The more you experience his acceptance, the less you will need your friends’ opinions to help you feel accepted. Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more!Add “snake worms” to the list of things Americans can worry about this year. These jumping earthworms, which came from Asia, are known for their wild thrashing behavior. Now they are eating their way across the United States. Along the way, they are displacing other earthworms, centipedes, salamanders and ground-nesting birds. This alters forest food chains. And the jumpers are spreading fast. They can invade an area the size of 10 U.S. football fields in a single year! Now research shows they also damage the forest soils they inhabit. Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more!Two people have become the world’s first passengers to ride a futuristic* high-speed transport system known as a hyperloop. Developed by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop, the technology uses high-powered electromagnets* to push levitating* pods through a tube at up to 1000 kmh. The company announced this week that two staff members had ridden a capsule at a test site in the Nevada desert in the US for the first time. Chief technology officer Josh Giegel and Sara Luchian, director of customer experience, hit speeds of 170 kmh on a 500m test track. Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more!On March 30, 2018, Arike Ogunbowale put up a shot that shocked the college basketball world. With a buzzer beater, she sent home a favoured UConn team that featured Kia Nurse and Napheesa Collier. In the stands were Kobe Bryant and his family. Moments after celebrating on the court, she received a tweet from the Black Mamba himself. The video of her reaction spread rapidly on social media: Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more!"World Series Champions!" Those three words are what all players, coaches, and fans dream of saying about their team each year. After a grueling 162-game season, the feeling of being crowned champs is indescribable. However, this year was different. It started off as a normal spring training in Florida and Arizona until the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S in mid-March. MLB initially delayed Opening Day by two weeks, but the season's status quickly became unknown as the virus spread. Players were forced to find creative ways to train at home. By the time baseball started again, it was July. The league shortened its regular season from 162 games to only 60, and players were given the choice to opt-out of the season. Stars like David Price, Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Zimmerman sat out the season as a precaution to protect their families. Games looked and sounded different, too. Fans were replaced by cardboard cutouts, and players noticed the unusual feeling of playing in an empty stadium. No fans cheering, no families present to support them, and most of all, no normalcy. Teams used piped-in crowd noise to attempt to mimic the same atmosphere that live fans bring to the ballpark. Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more!Anyone that has attempted to build a free-standing Lego tower knows how difficult it is to keep it from toppling over. So it is not surprising to hear that the elementary students in Budapest requested a team of official Lego builders from Denmark to help them build one that would surpass the existing record holder - a 112-ft 11-inch tower constructed in August 2013, by students from John Dickinson High School in Wilmington, Delaware.
![]() With access to school limited by the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, children need lots of things to do at home. While there’s important ‘school stuff’ they still need to learn, there’s surely room for some fun too! So why not combine fun and education and try out our 15 Fun Science experiments? My name is Claire Mitchell, mother of two, keen author and lover of anything to do with science. My family really enjoyed these home science experiments and we’re sure you will too! Note: The above comes directly from Mrs. Mitchell's webpage. She approached me asking if I would be willing to share. I am glad to do so. Click here to learn more. While gorillas are perfectly capable of walking on two legs, most take just a step or two before dropping on all fours. However, Louis, a 16-year-old male gorilla at the Philadelphia Zoo, is often seen taking longer strolls, especially when the ground is wet or he is holding a delicious snack or two. According to a 2015 blog by the great ape’s keeper, “When caught out in a rainstorm, he'll run bipedally across the yard to seek cover, and when he accidentally steps in mud, he'll find a leaf or a paper bag and wipe his hand or foot off until they are clean again.” To help Louis in his desire to keep his hands clean, the zoo has created a bridge using fire hoses which allows the gorilla to avoid muddy puddles in his enclosure. Note: ![]() Note: Click here to read more
Ever since she was little, 15-year old gymnast Konnor McClain has always had a love for gymnastics. McClain's passion for the sport first began when she was just a toddler trying to do flips in her house. She grew up idolizing gymnasts Aly Raisman and Shawn Johnson and first dreamed of making the U.S. Olympic team while watching the London Games in 2012.
McClain is a three-time USA national team member, 2019 U.S. Classic Junior All-Around Champion, and a silver medalist at the 2019 U.S. National Championships. Last year, she upset two Russian gymnasts, Vladislava Urazova and Elena Gerasimova, to win the junior all-around title with a score of 56.167 at the 2019 City of Jesolo meet in Italy. She placed first on vault, third on bars and third on floor for Team USA... Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more! |
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This blog is for elementary age students. The posted devotions, news articles, videos and other materials are gleaned from websites by my student advisers. They believe this material would be of interest to other students of their same ages.
Student Advisers (grade):
N. Shackleford (6 Technician),
J. Crawford (6) "Tech and Science"
E. Unthank (5) "DOGO News"
J. Wood (4) "TKSST"