HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. 2-Lesson 7We all need to help the global environment. This means that we need
to think about keeping the whole world healthy, not just our own yard or
neighborhood. Without our help, our planet, Earth, will suffer. And the
people, animals, and plants living on Earth will suffer, too. What’s good is that
there are many easy ways that we can all help the environment.
One way we can help is to save energy. We can do this by turning off the
lights when we leave a room. When we turn off the lights, power, or electricity,
stops fl owing to the light bulbs. And the less electricity we use, the more
energy we’ll save.
We can also help our environment by using less water. One easy way we
can do this is to turn off the faucet when we brush our teeth. When we leave
the water running, we use an excess of water, which is more than we need. We
should save the water we have for important things like bathing, cooking, and
watering the plants.
Another thing we can all do is cut down on the amount of pollution we
create. Cars can cause pollution by sending unhealthy gases into the air. So if
we drive our cars less, we can keep our air cleaner. The next time your family
has an errand, you could ask your parents if you can walk or ride bikes instead
of using the car.
The less pollution we put into the air, the healthier Earth’s atmosphere will
be. The atmosphere is high in the sky, and it surrounds the Earth. It is made of
many different kinds of gas. These gases help protect our planet from the sun’s
strong rays. Many people believe that if our atmosphere becomes polluted,
the sun’s rays will break through more easily and make the Earth a lot warmer
than it should be. This kind of global warming could hurt the environment.
Look around your own home. Can you think of other ways that you can help
the environment?
COMPREHENSION Why is it important to help the environment? What
words in this selection describe ways to help the environment?
How to Help the
Environment
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“Hey Mikey, Fred Jarvis came home from the hospital today,” my mother told me.
“But I’m sure he’s still in a lot of pain from his back injury.”
“Great,” I muttered, under my breath. Luckily, my mom didn’t hear me.
Later, I said to my friend Ariana, “Mr. Jarvis came home from the hospital today.
My mom said his back hurts. I bet he is meaner than ever now.” None of the kids
in the neighborhood liked Mr. Jarvis. He always kept our balls if they landed in his
vegetable garden. Once, he even yelled at me for riding my bike too loud! I’m still
trying to fi gure that one out.
“I feel bad for him. It must be hard to live all alone like Mr. Jarvis does,” said
Ariana. “You would have no one to help you out. It must be even harder when you’re
hurt. Maybe we should offer to help him out.”
“Oh no,” I said. “Don’t you utter another word. I won’t do it.”
“You will do it. It’s the right thing to do,” Ariana insisted.
Ariana rounded up some other kids. Then she took us all to Mr. Jarvis’s house. We
all held our breath as she knocked on his door.
After a few moments, Mr. Jarvis opened the door. “What do you want?” he snapped.
“Hi, Mr. Jarvis. We heard that your back was hurting, so we’re here to help. We
thought we could take care of your garden for you,” Ariana explained.
Mr. Jarvis looked surprised. “You don’t need to do that.”
“Now, sir, please don’t argue,” said Ariana. “Gardening requires a lot of bending
and stooping. You can’t do that if your back is hurting.”
”Well, now that you mention it, my garden does need some work. I guess you kids
could help,” Mr. Jarvis agreed.
For the next hour, we weeded his garden and picked his vegetables. When we
fi nished, his garden looked better than new.
“You kids did a great job,” said Mr. Jarvis. We couldn’t believe it! It wasn’t like
him to give us praise. We walked away from Mr. Jarvis’s house with proud feelings—
and a big bag of vegetables!
COMPREHENSION Which words help you understand how people in the story
speak? What do Ariana and the other kids learn about Mr. Jarvis?
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