HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. 1-Lesson 11I just went on the coolest fi eld trip with my fi rst-grade class. I have to tell
you about it! We went to visit a salt marsh. I had never seen one before our
trip, so I didn’t know what it would look like. I had seen ponds and lakes and
rivers before, but never a marsh.
Our school bus drove for a long time until we were near the ocean. Stepping
outside, we felt the fresh, cool air blow on our faces. And then we looked
around us. For miles, we saw low, wet lands. Far away, we could see where
these lands fi nally met the ocean.
Our teacher said, “The reason they call this kind of marsh ‘salty’ is because
salt from the ocean washes into the marsh. The salt washes in and out of
the marsh with the tides. That means that sometimes the water here is high
enough to swim in. Other times, like right now, the tide is low, so we can walk
and wade through the water without getting very wet. Would you like to see
what lives inside this marsh?”
We all shouted, “Yes!”
“OK, then,” our teacher continued. “Is everyone wearing their waterproof
boots? We need to make sure our feet stay dry!”
We nodded, and with that we all walked toward the marsh.
In small creeks between chunks of land, we saw tiny crabs. Smooth, slippery
grass growing on the land slid right through our fi ngers. Birds—brown, black,
and white—fl ew silently above our heads. It all felt very peaceful.
We headed toward the bus when dark clouds began to move in and we
thought it might rain. I decided that I would go home that night and look up
more about salt marshes. What a beautiful, amazing place!
COMPREHENSION What words help you understand what a salt marsh
looks like? Do you think these children enjoyed their trip to the marsh?
Why or why not?
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Ollie Octopus lived in the ocean. He did the standard things that an octopus
does. He crawled along the ocean fl oor. He used his eight arms to catch crabs
to eat. Sometimes Ollie went swimming when he was bored.
Ollie loved to watch his friend Delphine Dolphin leap and dive. “I wish I were
a dolphin so I could leap,” sighed Ollie. “But I’m just a plain octopus. I can’t
leap or dive. All I can do is crawl and swim.”
“I don’t think you are ordinary,” said Delphine. “I have no arms, but you
have eight arms! I think that makes you remarkable. If you want, you can
crawl onto my back, and I’ll take you for a ride.”
Ollie agreed. How exciting! He crawled onto Delphine’s back and held on
tightly so he wouldn’t fall off. Delphine leapt out of the water again and again.
Ollie laughed and cheered each time. The two friends had lots of fun.
Suddenly, they noticed a hungry shark racing toward them. Hundreds of
sharp teeth sparkled in its huge open mouth.
“Oh no! We’ve got to get away from that shark or it will eat us!” yelled Ollie.
Delphine tried to swim fast, but she was too tired from all the leaping and
diving. The shark swam closer and closer, snapping its jaws.
Then Ollie had an idea. “Keep swimming, Delphine! I’m going to do
something that may seem odd, but it’s something that every ordinary octopus
does to keep safe,” he said. Then he squirted a dark cloud of ink into the water.
The shark couldn’t see a thing through the dark cloud. By the time the inky
cloud disappeared, Delphine and Ollie had swum far away.
“You saved my life!” said Delphine. “As thanks, I’ll take you for a ride every day.”
“Thank you,” said Ollie. “But I think I’ll stay on the ocean fl oor. I’m perfectly
happy being an ordinary octopus.”
COMPREHENSION What words help you understand what Ollie is like?
How do Ollie and Delphine escape from the shark?
The Adventure of
Ollie Octopus
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