HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. 1-Lesson 12Do you have a warm wool sweater that you love to wear? Have you ever
wondered where wool comes from? It usually comes from sheep. People use
sheep’s wool because it is very warm and the sheep can grow it quickly. Plus,
taking the wool from a sheep doesn’t hurt it at all.
Once a year, sheep owners collect all their sheep in one place. Then they
shear, or cut off, the long, thick coats the sheep have grown over the last twelve
months. Once all the wool is removed from the sheep, it is washed until it is nice
and clean. Most of the wool is white when it comes off the sheep. So how is it
possible for us to have blue, green, or purple sweaters made of wool?
The answer is easy: after washing the wool, workers soak some of it in dye.
This ink will turn the wool into any color you like. You can make wool in any
color of the rainbow!
After the wool has been colored with dye, it is sent through rollers that are
covered with little teeth. This process is called carding. The teeth on the rollers
take the knots and tangles out of the wool. It’s as if the wool goes through a
giant hairbrush!
Now the wool is ready for spinning. To spin wool, you take small sections and
pull them very tightly. Then you twist them together into strings. We call these
strings of wool yarn. The strings of yarn are much stronger than single threads
of wool. They are much easier to make clothing with.
There are many kinds of yarn. Some are very thick. People use thick yarn for
knitting heavy clothing, such as sweaters. Other yarns are thin. People weave
this kind of yarn into soft, smooth cloth for pants, jackets, and suits. Weaving
means to braid threads of wool over and under each other until a patch of
cloth has been made.
Wool is a wonderful and useful material that keeps us warm. So the next
time you see a sheep, be sure to say, “Thank you for sharing!”
COMPREHENSION Which words help you understand the things people
do to turn wool into cloth? Why do people soak wool in dye?
Wonderful
Wool
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To stay alive, animals need to eat. But they also need to keep from being
eaten. Many animals use camoufl age to do these things. Camoufl age means
using the way you look to keep from being seen. Animals that use camoufl age
have special features that help keep them from being seen.
Some animals’ camoufl age stays the same. For example, certain kinds
of frogs and lizards have a pattern of colors on their skin that is almost an
exact match of the plants and leaves where they stay. This helps them in two
ways. First, the insects that land near the frogs and lizards will not see them
easily. This gives the frogs and lizards time to catch the insects and have a
tasty snack! Or, if bigger animals are hunting to eat frogs and lizards for
lunch, camoufl age helps the frogs and lizards hide by making them look like a
copy of the plant they are sitting on. This means the hungry animals will have
to look in another location for their food.
Would you believe that some animals can actually change color? The arctic fox
is an example of this. It has a dark coat of fur in the warmer months. The dark
color of its fur has a similarity to the dark ground where it lives. But in the winter,
when snow falls, the dark fur on the arctic fox would stand out, and it would be
very easy to see. The arctic fox solves this problem by changing the color of its
fur to white! Then the fox matches the snow, and it can hide while it hunts.
Another example of color-changing camoufl age is the cuttlefi sh. Cuttlefi sh
are sea animals that can change color in seconds! They do this so that they
become the same color as whatever is nearby. This makes it very hard for
bigger fi sh to fi nd them!
Other animals have shapes that help them hide. The walking stick is an
insect that looks like a long twig. It is almost impossible to see one in a tree,
even if it is right in front of your eyes! Some other insects take the shape of
the leaves they live on.
There are many other kinds of camoufl age. Some animals move like the
things around them, and some animals make noises that sound like other
things. Camoufl age is nature’s way of helping animals play “Hide and Go Seek”!
COMPREHENSION Which words help you understand how camoufl age
helps animals? Why is it important for an arctic fox to change color in
the winter?
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