Guided and
Independent
Reading Kit
Sample material from the
Habitats and Communities
unit.
This sampler includes:
9 5: Desert Life
Lesson Plan
9 6: Tundra
Lesson Plan
9 7: Habitats in Danger
Lesson Plan
9 8: Tidal Pools
Lesson Plan
4A
Habitats and Communities
Desert Life
Nelson
What is a desert?
A desert is a place that gets very little rain
or snow. This means that deserts are very,
very dry.
• There are hot deserts and cold deserts.
• Hot deserts get very hot in the day and
very cold at night.
• Cold deserts are cool or cold all the time.
The Sahara Desert
is the largest hot
desert in the world.
NEL
Antarctica is the
largest cold desert
in the world.
1
Animals of the Hot Deserts
How do animals survive in the hot deserts?
In the daytime, animals hide from the blistering
sun. Snakes, scorpions, and lizards hide under
rocks or bury themselves in the sand. Some
animals go underground to keep cool.
At night, animals come out in the cooler air to
hunt and eat. Animals that eat plants get water
from seeds and plants. Animals that eat meat
hunt the plant eaters.
Many snakes, like
this sidewinder,
live in the desert.
Kangaroo rats keep cool
in underground tunnels
called burrows.
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A Saguaro cactus
can live for 200 years.
Plants of the Hot Deserts
A desert marigold
blooms after a
little rain.
How do plants live in the hot deserts?
Cactuses (or cacti ) store water in their
stems. They have sharp spines, like
needles, that help to keep animals
away. Their waxy skin protects them
from the sun.
Some desert plants wait years for rain
to make them bloom.
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3
How do animals and plants live in the
cold deserts?
Animals and plants have ways to protect
themselves from the cold air and dry
wind. They can live with very little water.
Penguins in
Antarctica get
all their food
from the ocean.
Antarctica is the coldest, highest, driest,
windiest place on Earth. There is almost
no plant life. Antarctic animals hunt and
eat in the ocean.
Try This
Imagine that you are planning to go to a hot desert. Make a list and
draw pictures of what you would need to take with you.
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NEL
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
Animals and Plants
of the Cold Deserts
Habitats and Communities
4A
Desert Life
Level: Well Below (M)
Before
LITERACY FOCUSES
Reading: Visualizing
• Tell students that they will be reading about desert habitats. Ask them
to share what they already know about this kind of habitat. Ask:
- What might you see, hear, feel, and smell in a hot desert?
- Can a desert be cold? What might that be like?
- What do you think is the biggest problem for animals and plants
living in a desert habitat?
Text Patterns: Identifying
Characteristics of Descriptive
Text Pattern
Writing: Identifying Which
Details are Important to the
Main Idea
Listening: Visualizing While
You Listen
• Distribute the selection and read the title. Tell students that this
selection is an example of descriptive text pattern. Review the
characteristics of descriptive text pattern with them so they can use this
information to help them read the selection.
During
SCIENCE FOCUS
Structural adaptations of
plants and animals
VOCABULARY
These words may require
some prereading introduction:
Sahara Desert
Antarctica
scorpions
burrows
Saguaro cactus
MATERIALS
• Guided Reading Selection
4: Tundra; Guided Reading
Selection 5: Habitats in
Danger; or Guided Reading
Selection 6: Tidal Pools
(Listening Focus)
Page 1
• Invite students to read the first heading and note that it is a question.
Ask them to predict some answers to that question.
• Have students read the page. Ask:
- What are some characteristics of deserts?
- What did you learn about deserts that you didn’t know before?
• As students look at the photos at the bottom of the page, ask:
- How are these two photos alike? How are they different?
Tell them that one is the Sahara Desert and one is Antarctica. Have
them read the captions, then tell what they learned.
Page 2
• Read out the heading Animals of the Hot Deserts. Ask students what
animals they know of that live in hot deserts. Ask:
- What challenges would animals living in a hot desert have?
- What are some things animals might do, or special features they
might have, to help them survive in the hot desert?
• Have students look at the photographs and read the captions. Ask:
- What do you think the relationship between a snake and a kangaroo
rat would be? What makes you think so?
- Can you guess where the sidewinder snake gets its name?
Give them the hint that it relates to how it has adapted to living in
hot deserts. Then explain that the sidewinder is called that because it
moves across the hot surface using a wiggly, sidewinding motion that
means only a small part of its body is on the hot sand at one time.
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• When students have read the text on the page, discuss how the
challenges of animals that live in the hot desert match what the
students described before reading.
Related Instructional
Page 3
WRITING: Identifying Which
Focuses
Details Are Important to the Main
• Read out the heading Plants of the Hot Deserts. Ask students to name
any plants they know of that live in hot deserts. Then ask:
- How do you think any plants survive where there is almost no water?
- Why are plants important in any habitat?
• Have students read the page. Help them read the captions as they
study the photos. Ask:
- What have you learned about plant life in hot deserts?
- What do you visualize when you think of hot deserts in the daytime?
What do you imagine seeing, hearing, and feeling?
Page 4
• Have students read the heading and the first paragraph. Ask:
- How is life in a cold desert similar to life in a hot desert? How is it
different?
- On page 1, what did you learn is the largest cold desert in the world?
- What do you know about the plant and animal life of Antarctica?
• Have students read the paragraph about Antarctica, look at the
photograph, and read the caption to find out something about plant
and animal life there. Ask:
- What do you visualize when you think of a very cold desert like
Antarctica? What do you see, hear, and feel?
After
• Review the characteristics of descriptive text pattern. To confirm that
this selection meets the criteria, ask:
- What is the topic? Where did you look to find out? (title)
- What attributes of the topic are in this article? (animals and plants of
hot and cold deserts) Where did you look to find out? (headings)
- Do you agree or disagree that each chunk or section of text has
details that describe something important about the topic?
Ask students to give specific details from each section of the text.
• Ask individuals to picture and describe scenes that you suggest, for
example, a snake on hot sand, heading for shade; a bighorn sheep
trying to get past the spines on a cactus to get at the juicy insides.
• Students can work on the Try This activity independently and share
the results with a partner.
NEL
Idea
Have students plan a short
presentation for Kindergarten
students about deserts. To
prepare, have them
• write down the topic
• write a list of details about
deserts
• write down the main idea
about the topic
• decide which of the details
are important to the main
idea and cross out those
that aren’t important
As they write the text for
their presentations, remind
them to consider what kind
of diagrams or illustrations
they want to include.
Encourage them to use
powerful descriptive
language so their audience
can visualize.
LISTENING: Visualizing While
You Listen
Choose descriptive passages
from Selection 4 (“Tundra”),
Selection 5 (“Habitats in
Danger”), Selection 6 (“Tidal
Pools”), or another selection
of your choice to read aloud.
Ask students to share one
image they visualized.
Alternatively, write a short
paragraph describing an
event of desert life and
read it to the students. Ask
volunteers to share the
images they visualized.
5
Habitats and Communities
4
Tundra
Level: Easy (P)
Before
LITERACY FOCUSES
Reading: Visualizing
• Tell students that they will be reading about a habitat called tundra. Ask
them to share what they already know about this habitat. Ask:
- What do you think you might hear, feel, and smell if you could stand
on the tundra in summer?
- What do you think the tundra is like in winter?
Text Patterns: Identifying
Characteristics of Descriptive
Text Pattern
Writing: Identifying Which
Details Are Important to the
Main Idea
Listening: Visualizing While
You Listen
SCIENCE FOCUSES
Dependency of plants and
animals on their habitat
Structural adaptations of
plants and animals
VOCABULARY
These words may require
some prereading introduction:
nutrients
permafrost
lichens
hibernate
rodents
migrate
predators
camouflage
MATERIALS
• Guided Reading Selection 5:
Habitats in Danger; Guided
Reading Selection 6: Tidal
Pools (Listening Focus)
• Review the vocabulary words listed in the margin. Record them on a
word chart, read out each word, and ask students to
- identify and describe the words they already know
- speculate on the meaning of words they’re not familiar with
- suggest how each word might relate to the topic of the tundra
• Distribute the selection and read the title. Give students time to
examine the photo and discuss how the photo matches what they
envisioned the tundra to look like.
• Tell students that this selection is an example of descriptive text pattern.
Review the characteristics of descriptive text pattern with them (the
topic is clearly identified, the attributes of the topic are identified, the
attributes are often organized in “chunks,” the chunks have details
about the topic) so they can use this information to help them read the
selection.
During
Page 1
• Have students read the first column, and then ask them to share and
describe some images they have in their minds after reading. Ask:
- What are some of the things you can feel about the tundra? (cold,
dryness, wind)
- What can you hear? (wind)
- Which word from the word chart did you find? (permafrost)
- What did you find out about permafrost?
• Have students read the title of the next section, Plants of the Tundra.
Ask:
- What do you already know about the soil in the tundra? (it’s low in
nutrients)
- What do you think that means for plants there?
• Have students read the section to find out if their speculations were
correct. Then say:
- In my mind, I can see rocks with a hard, crusty plant growing on them.
What plant am I seeing? (lichen)
• To help students describe what they visualize, ask:
- What do you “see” when you imagine moss? What do you “see” when
you imagine trees on tundra?
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Help students to realize that the descriptions of the plants help them to
visualize aspects of the tundra habitat, which helps them to remember
more of what they read.
Pages 2–3
Related Instructional
Focuses
WRITING: Identifying Which Details
Are Important to the Main Idea
• Read the title of the next section, Animals of the Tundra. Ask students
what animals they know of that live on tundra. Ask:
- Can you think of any special characteristics that animals living in that
habitat might have?
- When you visualize a tundra mammal in winter, what do you see?
• Have students read both pages to find out which mammals are
described and what other tundra animals are mentioned.
• Following the reading, ask students to describe what they “see” when
they picture a muskox.
Page 4
• Read the section title How Tundra Animals Adapt, and ask students to
predict what they will be reading about. Have them read the first
paragraph to confirm their predictions.
• Have students read the rest of the section to find examples of how
some tundra animals adapt to their habitat.
• After reading, ask:
- How does the description of the hare’s “feet that work like
snowshoes” help you to see a snowshoe hare in your mind? How well
does the photo match what you visualized?
After
• Review the characteristics of descriptive text pattern:
- The topic is clearly identified.
- The attributes of the topic are often presented in “chunks.”
- Each chunk has details that describe something important about the
topic.
• To confirm that this selection meets the criteria of descriptive text
pattern, ask:
- What is the topic? Where did you look to find out? (title)
- What attributes of the topic are included in this article? (plants,
animals, how animals adapt) Where did you look to find out?
(headings)
- Do you agree or disagree that each chunk or section of text has
details that describe something important about the topic?
Tell students that they are to
plan a short presentation to
some kindergarten students
about the tundra. To prepare,
have them
• write down the topic
• write a list of details about
the tundra, using the text
they just read
• write down the main idea
about the topic
• decide which of the details
are important to the main
idea and should be included
in the presentation; cross out
those that aren’t important
As they write the text for their
presentations, remind them to
consider what kind of
diagrams or illustrations they
want to include.
Encourage students to use
powerful descriptive language
so their audience can visualize.
LISTENING: Visualizing While You
Listen
Choose descriptive passages
from Guided Reading Selection
5: Habitats in Danger, Guided
Reading Selection 6: Tidal
Pools, or another selection of
your choice to read aloud.
Then ask students to share one
image they visualized.
Ask students to give specific details from each section of the text.
• Ask individuals to picture and describe scenes that you suggest, for
example, a caribou searching for food in the winter; a snowshoe hare
in the summer who senses a wolf nearby; a tundra field in the spring or
early summer.
• Students can work on the Try This activity independently and share
the results with a partner.
NEL
9
5
Habitats in Danger
Nelson
Habitats and Communities
by Rosie Harlow and Sally Morgan
Plants and animals are found
almost everywhere on Earth—in
the air, on the land, underground,
and in the water. Each living thing
belongs to a particular kind of place, called its
habitat. When people cut down trees to make
way for roads and farms or pour harmful
chemicals into the environment, they damage
these habitats and destroy the wildlife.
Plants and animals that share the same habitat depend on
each other for their survival. The amount of food available
has a big effect on the balance between plant and animal
species. Plants are able to make their own food, but
animals have to find their food. The balance is easily
upset. For example, if fishers catch too many sand eels,
the seabirds that feed on the eels may die because they
have no more food.
NEL
1
squirrel
Woodlands are important habitats
because they are home to so
many different plants and
animals. The leaves and
branches of the trees form
a canopy high above the
ground, providing shelter
and food for birds and
mammals. Leaf litter
covers the woodland
floor. It is crawling with
creatures such as
spiders, beetles,
centipedes, and sow
bugs. When woods
are cut down to make
lichen
way for roads,
factories, farms, and
growing towns, all of
these animals lose their
homes.
caterpillar
bird’s nest
moth
beetle
Trees are very useful plants.
Not only are they home to a lot
of wildlife, but their wood can be used
for making paper, for building homes and
furniture, and as fuel. Also, when plants make food
from sunlight, they use up a gas called carbon dioxide
and release the gas oxygen. People and animals
breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, and
trees help to balance the level of these gases in the air.
Yet all around the world, irreplaceable forests are being
cut down for timber or to grow crops.
fox
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Clean, fresh water is home to a wide variety of wildlife. Animals such as
fish, snails, crayfish, and insects live in the water itself, dragonflies and
mayflies skim across the surface, water birds live close by, and
water plants grow on the banks. But many of our rivers,
ponds, and lakes have become polluted by waste
chemicals that pour into them from farms and factories.
nuthatch
Sometimes, only the strongest plants and animals
survive in the filthy water.
woodpecker
These young people are helping to clean up
their local river to make it safer for wildlife.
Today, our seas are in danger. We depend on the seas to provide
us with food, especially fish. But we are catching far too many fish,
so their numbers are going down quickly. Pollution, too, is a
problem. For many years, people thought that getting rid of waste
at sea was safe and that it would be quickly diluted. But poisons
build up in the water and affect the health of sea animals. All over
the world, dolphins and seals are dying from new diseases, and
fish are found with strange-looking growths on their skin.
NEL
3
Copyright © 2007 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
The number of people in the world has grown quickly
over the last 200 years, and it is still growing. All these
extra mouths need food to eat, and farming has had to
keep up with the demand. Natural habitats are destroyed
to make way for huge fields.
Chemicals are sprayed onto farm fields to increase the
amount of food grown. Some chemicals feed the crops
and others kill pests. But these chemicals cause pollution
and can kill more than just the pests. To avoid using
harmful chemicals, some farmers grow small pockets
of woodland in the corners of their fields. Many of the
animals that live in the woodlands feed on the pests
in the fields.
Many plants and animals have disappeared
completely from Earth. That is, they have become
extinct. Many species are now extinct because
of humans. Destruction of habitat
is the biggest threat to wildlife.
It has made animals, such
as the whooping crane,
become endangered—
that is, there are only
a few thousand individuals, or
even fewer, left in the world.
Only about 500 whooping
cranes now live in Canada
and the United States.
Try This
Create some slogans to remind people how to help stop habitats from
being damaged and destroyed. Use the slogans to design bumper
stickers, posters, or newspaper advertisements.
4
NEL
Habitats and Communities
5
Habitats in Danger
Level: Average (Q)
Before
LITERACY FOCUSES
Reading: Visualizing
Text Patterns: Identifying
Characteristics of Descriptive
Text Pattern
Writing: Identifying Which
Details Are Important to the
Main Idea
• Read the title and briefly discuss what students know about habitats and
why they might be in danger.
• Choose a habitat that was described in the Student Book or in the
Read-Aloud selection for this unit in Transparencies for Shared Reading
and Modelling. Ask students to brainstorm a list of words and phrases
that describe that habitat. Then identify which items on the list they can
visualize (or “see in their minds”).
• Reread the title, preview the subheads, and ask:
- What is the main topic?
- How is the text organized to help you read about the topic?
Listening: Visualizing While
You Listen
During
SCIENCE FOCUS
How humans change habitats
and the effects of these
changes
VOCABULARY
These words may require
some prereading introduction:
carbon dioxide
oxygen
flourish
diluted
fertilizers
pesticides
extinct
MATERIALS
• Transparency 2: Building a
Main Idea (Writing Focus)
• Guided Reading Selection 4:
Tundra; Guided Reading
Selection 6: Tidal Pools
(Listening Focus)
Page 1
• Have students read the first paragraph independently. Ask:
- Where have you read or heard about habitats before?
- What are some of the ways habitats are in danger?
- What questions do you have before you read the next section?
• Read the heading Keeping the Balance. Ask students what they think of
when they hear the phrase “keeping the balance,” and then what kind
of balance they think of when they think of habitats.
• Have students read the section Keeping the Balance to find out what
kind of balance is described.
Page 2
• Read the heading Wonderful Woodlands, and then ask students to
predict how this text might relate to the main topic of habitats in
danger.
• Have students read the first paragraph of Wonderful Woodlands to
confirm their predictions.
• Ask:
- How do you visualize the woodland that is described here?
- How do the creatures who live there depend on the woodlands?
- How does this paragraph relate to the main topic?
• Have students read the second paragraph of Wonderful Woodlands.
Ask:
- Were there any tricky parts where you got stuck? What did you do?
- What is another example of “balance” in nature?
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Page 3
Related Instructional
• Read the heading Rivers, Ponds, and Lakes, and then ask students to
visualize the scene you describe as you read aloud the first two
sentences.
Focuses
• Have students finish reading the paragraph themselves and visualize
the scene again. Ask individuals to describe what they “see” now.
Are Important to the Main Idea
• Read the heading Save Our Seas. Ask students to predict what they will
find out about how this habitat is in danger.
• Have students read the paragraph independently to confirm their
predictions.
• Ask students what they envision when they read about fish with
“strange-looking growths on their skin.”
Page 4
• Read the heading Farming Takes Over. Briefly discuss why farming
might be included in an article about habitats in danger.
• Ask:
- What are pesticides used for? What are fertilizers used for?
- How might they be related to endangered habitats?
• Have students read the section independently to confirm their ideas.
• Ask:
- Why are many natural habitats being destroyed for farms?
- How does farming continue to contribute to the destruction of
wildlife?
- What do you think the writer means in the sentence “... these
chemicals … can kill more than just the pests”?
• Read the heading Endangered Wildlife. Ask students for a definition of
extinct.
• Have students read the section independently to find out what the
biggest threat to wildlife is.
After
WRITING: Identifying Which Details
Ask students to use the text to
research a habitat of their
choosing and write down jot
notes. Tell students they will
use the notes to create a
pamphlet or flyer to convince
people to protect the habitat.
Then, have students write
down the main idea for their
writing and review their jot
notes to determine if each
detail is important to the main
idea. Students may use a copy
of Transparency 2: Building a
Main Idea (a wheel web) to
focus their ideas. Have
students complete their
pamphlet or flyer using the
important details from their
research.
LISTENING: Visualizing While You
Listen
Read out descriptive passages
of your choice from Guided
Reading Selection 4: Tundra or
Guided Reading Selection 6:
Tidal Pools. Ask students to
describe what they see in their
minds.
• Ask students to identify the different habitats they read about. For each
one, discuss one reason they are “in danger.”
• Ask individuals to choose one of the habitats and describe what they
envision.
• Have students find examples of descriptive text in the article that
helped them to “see” the habitat or what was happening to it.
• Ask:
- What elements of descriptive text pattern did you find in this text?
- How did the chunks of text help you understand the topic?
• Students can work on the Try This activity independently or with a
partner.
NEL
11
Habitats and Communities
6
Tidal Pools
Level: Challenging (T)
Before
LITERACY FOCUSES
Reading: Visualizing
Text Patterns: Identifying
Characteristics of Descriptive
Text Pattern
Writing: Identifying Which
Details Are Important to the
Main Idea
Listening: Visualizing While
You Listen
SCIENCE FOCUSES
Dependency of plants and
animals on their habitat
• Distribute the selection. Ask students to read the title and to check
headings and other features that might tell them about the topic.
• Ask students what they think the text might be about and what clues
helped them make their predictions. Then ask what they already know
about tidal pools. Begin a K-W-L chart about tidal pools by completing
the first two columns.
• Tell students that this selection is an example of descriptive text pattern.
Review the characteristics of descriptive text pattern with them (the
topic is clearly identified, the attributes of the topic are identified, the
attributes are often organized in “chunks,” the chunks have details
about the topic) so they can use this information to help them read the
selection.
During
Page 1
Structural adaptations of
plants and animals
• Have students read page 1. After they are finished, ask them to identify
the topic of the selection and two things they learned about tidal pools.
VOCABULARY
Page 2
These words may require
some prereading introduction:
• Help students see that the text is in “chunks,” rather than one long
section. Have them read the subheadings on the page. Ask them how
they will approach this page:
- What will you read first?
- What will you read next?
- How do the headings help you to figure out what you’ll be reading
about?
• After they have read the page, ask students to name some creatures
they’d find in a high-level tidal pool.
tidal pool
surf
splash zone
crevice
kelp
sea anemone
plankton
lichen
algae
limpet
• Ask individuals to describe what they visualized when they read about
creatures “hiding out” when their tidal pool is drying out.
MATERIALS
• Guided Reading Selection 4:
Tundra; Guided Reading
Selection 5: Habitats in
Danger (Listening Focus)
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Page 3
Related Instructional
• Ask students to read the chunk of text under the heading Mid-Level
Tidal Pools, and then describe what they visualized as they read.
Focuses
• Before students read the section of text about armour-plated barnacles,
say:
WRITING: Identifying Which Details
- As you read, identify at least five words or phrases that help you
visualize barnacles. Remember to change your image as you get new
information.
Tell students that they have
been hired to write a
pamphlet about an aspect of
tidal pools. The pamphlet is to
be read by people living in the
desert. To prepare for writing,
have students
• After reading this section of text, have students share the words and
phrases they noted. Have them check the photograph to see if they can
add more information to their images.
Page 4
• Ask:
- Now that you’ve read about high-level and mid-level tidal pools, what
do you think this last page will be about?
- What clues do you see when you skim the page?
• Have students read the text under the first heading for a description of
low-level tidal pools. Ask:
- When you visualize a low-level tidal pool, what do you see?
• Remind students that visualizing can include sounds and smells, as well
as what can be seen. Have them read the section Holding On, then ask:
- What is this chunk describing?
- What do you see in your mind when you read this chunk? What do
you hear?
- Which words helped you to add sound to your image?
After
• After reviewing the characteristics of descriptive text pattern with
students, talk about how well the article fits the characteristics. Ask:
- What is the topic?
- How is the text organized?
- What are the attributes of the topic?
- In the chunks, what details describe something important about the
topic?
• Ask individuals to choose something from the selection that they could
visualize quite clearly. Ask them to describe what they are visualizing,
and let others try to identify which part of the text is being described.
• If you started a K-W-L chart before reading, complete it with students.
• Students can work on the Try This activity independently or with a
partner.
NEL
Are Important to the Main Idea
• write down the topic
• write a list of details about
tidal pools, using the text
they have just read
• write down the main idea
for the pamphlet
• decide which of the details
are important to the main
idea and should be included
in the pamphlet; cross out
those that aren’t important
As students write the text for
the pamphlet, remind them to
consider what kind of
diagrams or illustrations they
want to include.
Encourage students to use
powerful descriptive language
so the desert dwellers can
visualize a tidal pool.
Share the pamphlets and
encourage students to visualize
what they are reading.
LISTENING: Visualizing While You
Listen
Choose descriptive passages
from Guided Reading Selection
4: Tundra, Guided Reading
Selection 5: Habitats in Danger,
or another selection of your
choice to read aloud to
students. Then ask students to
share with a partner one image
they visualized.
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