Rex and Me by David Drew

Teaching ideas

This book shows us something we don't normally find in books about dinosaurs: life-size diagrams. Each double-page presents us with a detailed diagram of part of a dinosaur at actual size. There is also a scale showing the size in inches or centimeters.

The US edition of the book has a scale in inches.

The e-book gives a choice of inches or centimeters.

Reading the book

Show the cover. Discuss what we can see. Who is "Me?" Who might be Rex? How big is the girl's face? Does it look life-size? Explain that a life-size diagram of your face would show it to be the same size as your real-life face.

Fingers (pages 2-3)

Turn to the page that starts with "My fingers." Cover with a piece of cardboard the right-hand page that has "Rex's fingers." We are doing this in order to look closely at the first page first.

Ask the children whose fingers these might be. (They belong to the girl on the cover.)

Life-size diagrams. Ask, "Do you think the fingers are life-size?" Have some children come out, one at a time, and place their own hand over the girl's. Are their fingers about the same size? (Yes, roughly) So they are probably life-size.

Scale diagrams. Now, how can we measure the fingers? There are two ways. You could use a ruler and place it flat on the page alongside the fingers in the diagram.

Or you could use the scale. The scale shows either inches or centimeters just like a ruler.

If you have the book with the inches scale, you could say, "Is the girl's fingernail an inch long or half an inch?" (They are each about half an inch.)

If you have the book with a centimeter scale you could ask, "Is her fingernail one centimeter long or two?" (About one cm.)

Now reveal the right-hand page, with "Rex's fingers." Discuss where the fingers start, and how many there are.

The children make an estimate using the scale. Then you might measure the fingers with a ruler.

How long is Rex's fingernail? Discuss fingernails: what do we call fingernails on animals? (Claws)

Eyes

Now turn to the next page ("My eye") and again hide the right-hand page ("Rex's eye"). Ask the children to estimate the size of the girl's eye. (More than one inch or 3 cm).

Reveal the right-hand page ("Rex's eye"). The children again use the scale to estimate whether the dinosaur's eye is two, three, or more times the girl's eye. (More than four times)

Then you could check their predictions by placing a ruler next to the eyes and asking a child to read the number.

As you read you might have a flip chart beside you, showing the children that we often make notes as we read information. You could add to the chart:

Rex's eye is about 5 inches (or 13 cm) wide.

This dinosaur's eye is about five times as big as a human eye.

Teeth

On showing the next page, ask the children to use the scale to estimate the size of the girl's front teeth. Ask, "How many teeth would fit along one inch of the scale?" (About 4 to an inch or 2 per cm)

Then they estimate the size of the dinosaur's teeth.

You could also ask the class to estimate the size of something tiny on this page. Use the scale to find the size of the little serrations on the edges of the teeth. Serrations are tiny points like the "teeth" of a saw or breadknife. Rex uses these to saw through its meat. How many serrations fit into one inch or centimeter?

Add to the chart the number facts you have collected, such as:

Our teeth are about 4 to an inch.

Rex's tooth has about 20 serrations per inch.

The children will be able to use the facts you are collecting on the flip chart when they come to write a short report about tyrannosaurs.

Ask children what animal they will see on the last page. By now, if not before, everyone in the class will know that Rex is a dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex.

Me and Rex

Now turn to the final page. Confirm the children's prediction by pointing to the dinosaur's name at the foot of the page.

Ask, is the dinosaur alive? (No. It is a life-size model.) Where is this probably happening? (In a museum)

Some in the class will want to tell you facts they know about this dinosaur. Share the children's prior knowledge about T. rex by noting some of their facts on the flip chart.

Now they are ready to write a short piece about T. rex, including some of the size information they have collected using the scale diagrams.

Ask a rep to show you the book (USA only) This US edition shows the scale in inches.

Buy the e-book (PDF) Coming soon The e-book gives you a choice of inches or cm.

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