HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. 2-Lesson 25A turtle trudged along a trail one day when a rabbit raced up behind him and
stopped. The turtle heard the rabbit snort, “How can anyone move so slowly?”
With a leap, the rabbit got in front of the turtle and stood in his way. “I feel sorry for
you animals that creep so slowly. Don’t you wish you were a fi ne, fast rabbit like me?”
“No,” the turtle said, walking away, but the rabbit pounced in front of him again.
“I can outrun animals that want to eat me,” said the rabbit.
The turtle said, “No animals want to eat me. Goodbye.”
“Wait!” said the rabbit. “Let’s have a race.” The turtle thought for a minute.
“Are you slow at everything?” cried the rabbit. “How can you take so long to
answer my question?”
“No,” the turtle said. “I don’t want to race.”
“You’re afraid!” said the rabbit. “You know I’d win!”
Now the turtle was angry. “If you want to race, we’ll race,” he said.
So the two animals decided upon a course and a fi nish line.
Then the rabbit crouched down to get a good start. “Ready? Go!” And with that,
the rabbit jumped up and jogged away, moving at a steady pace. The turtle stumbled
over a twig on the path.
“This is too easy,” the rabbit said to himself. Up ahead, he saw a patch of lettuce
and a lawn of soft green grass. “I’ll stop there for lunch,” he said. “Why hurry?”
After eating for a while, the rabbit looked for the turtle, who was still far behind
him. He yawned. “I think I’ll take a nap,” he decided. So he lay down and fell asleep in
the warm sun.
Meanwhile, the turtle kept trudging slowly along the path.
A long time later, the rabbit woke up and looked around. The turtle was nowhere to
be seen. The rabbit smiled. “I bet that slowpoke turtle is only halfway around the course.
Well, I’ll run along now and catch up to him before he reaches the fi nish line.”
The rabbit skipped quickly along the course—but he didn’t see the turtle until he
came to the fi nish line. The turtle was already there, waiting for him!
“Hello,” the turtle said. “I won the race. Maybe next time you’ll remember that even
slow animals can win races, if they just keep moving.”
COMPREHENSION Why does the rabbit decide that he can have lunch and then
take a nap? What words tell you how the animals move?
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Usually when we see horses, they are grazing, or eating grass, in a small, fenced-in
fi eld called a pasture. But some horses are wild animals. Assateague Island is one place
in America where you can still see wild horses.
Assateague Island is in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the states of Virginia and
Maryland. It is currently the home of about three hundred wild horses. This kind of horse
has been on the island for about two centuries, or about two hundred years.
No one knows for sure where the horses lived prior to arriving on the island. Some people
think that the horses swam to the island from a ship that sank in a storm. Others think that
they were owned by people who once lived on the island.
The wild horses are small compared to most horses. This is because they eat grass
that isn’t very healthy. If they were fed what tame horses eat, they would be taller.
If you ever get to see one of these horses up close, you will notice in an instant that
it looks a little chubby. This is because the grass that the horses eat is salty. The salty
grass makes the horses thirsty. They drink a lot of water, and the extra water makes
them look chubby.
People who live on the mainland help the horses. They are careful to control how many
horses are on the island. This helps to protect the island. If there were too many horses
on Assateague Island, they would eat all the grass. Controlling the number of horses on
the island ensures that the horses always have enough to eat. One way of keeping the
number of horses below three hundred is an annual event called Pony Penning Day.
Each year, on one day in July, some of the horses are rounded up by men and led to the
water. The horses swim to Chincoteague Island, part of the state of Virginia. The swim
takes only a few minutes. The youngest horses can easily swim across the channel. Once
the horses cross, the town of Chincoteague immediately holds a huge celebration and
the horses rest in a fenced pasture. To make the size of the herd even smaller, some of
the young horses are sold. This is because they are easier to tame than older horses. But
people who want to buy a young wild horse must show that they can give it a good home.
The wild horses of Assateague Island are interesting to see. Maybe someday you will
get a chance to see them in person.
COMPREHENSION Which words helped you understand when things in the
selection took place? How did the horses change as they adapted to life on
Assateague Island?
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