HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. K-Lesson 5Have you ever seen a small pile of sand in your yard or on a sidewalk? Look
closer. It could be an anthill.
Ants are tiny insects that live in groups. A group of ants is called a colony.
One colony can have thousands of ants! All the ants in a colony live together in
a nest. Many ants build their nests underground.
Ants build a nest by digging in the ground. They leave the dirt they dig in
a pile above the ground. By doing this, the ants create a hill of dirt at the
opening of their colony. This is called an anthill. When the nest is fi nished,
it has many underground rooms. All the rooms are connected by small
tunnels, or hallways.
Each room in the nest has a purpose. Some rooms are used to protect
the eggs laid by the queen ant. Some are used as nurseries to care for
young ants. Other rooms are used for keeping food. The queen, of course,
has her own room all to herself.
Each ant has a job. The ants must do their jobs to help the colony stay alive.
Each ant colony has at least one queen ant and thousands of worker ants.
A queen ant is a large female. Her job is to lay eggs. The worker ants do all
the other jobs. Their jobs include caring for the queen and her eggs, gathering
food, feeding the young ants, protecting the nest, and building new tunnels
and rooms. The worker ants often work together. For example, a few ants will
leave the nest in search of food. Once they fi nd the food, they return to the
nest to get other worker ants. These other worker ants help carry the food
back to the nest.
Teamwork is an important part of ant life. Ants have been around for
millions of years, so they must be doing something right!
COMPREHENSION Which words tell about an ant colony? What do
ants do to help one another?
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Hugh and Stu were rabbit brothers. They liked to play outdoors in all
seasons. But their favorite season was winter. In the winter, the pond froze.
Then Hugh and Stu could ice-skate. In the winter, snow fell. Then Hugh and Stu
could go sledding. The brothers agreed that winter was the best season of all.
One winter day, Hugh and Stu were sledding down the big hill. It was Stu’s
turn to go on the sled.
“Here I go!” Stu shouted. He jumped on the sled and started sledding down
the hill. Stu went faster and faster. Halfway down, the sled tipped over. Stu fell
off the sled and into the snow. He did not get up.
Hugh hopped down the hill to check on Stu. He saw that Stu was holding his
back leg. “My leg really hurts. I think I have an injury,” said Stu.
“Can you hop?” Hugh asked.
Stu tried to hop, but he could not even stand on his hurt leg. “I’ll need help
to get home,” said Stu.
Hugh helped Stu get back on the sled. Then Hugh pulled Stu home.
At home, Dad looked at Stu’s leg. “You need to see the doctor,” Dad said.
So they went to the doctor’s office.
At the doctor’s office, Stu was holding his hurt leg. “I can see you’re not
here because of an illness. You’re not sick,” Dr. Dean said.
“It’s my leg,” Stu said sadly.
Dr. Dean took an x-ray of Stu’s leg. “You have a break in the bone. That
means the bone is in two pieces,” explained Dr. Dean.
“Can you fi x my leg?” asked Stu.
“I’ll put a cast on your leg. It will be healed in no time. The bone will mend
together,” Dr. Dean said.
Stu asked, “How long will it take?”
Dr. Dean winked. “You may not be sledding again this season. But there is
always next winter!”
COMPREHENSION What words help you understand what happened to
Stu? How do others help Stu when he gets hurt?
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