HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. K-Lesson 13Humita’s
Plate of Colors
Humita’s
Plate of Colors
Humita loved all colors, but her favorite colors were the colors of the
rainbow. One morning at breakfast, Humita noticed all the colors on her plate:
her orange fruit, her yellow scrambled eggs, and her brown toast with purple
jelly. This gave Humita an idea. “I’m going to eat all the colors of the rainbow
today!” she told her grandmother. Humita’s grandmother thought it was a
wonderful idea.
For lunch at school, Humita ate a sandwich with brown peanut butter on
white bread. Then she enjoyed a bright red apple.
For dinner that night, Humita ate black beans, white rice, and a green salad
with lettuce, spinach, and cucumbers.
After dinner, Humita drew a picture of a beautiful rainbow. She smiled as she
thought about all the colors she had eaten that day. But then Humita looked
bothered by something.
“What’s wrong?” her grandmother asked.
“Grandma, I tried to eat a food of every color of the rainbow today, but I
didn’t eat anything blue.”
Humita’s grandmother smiled. “I know a blue food. I will get some at the
market tomorrow.”
The next morning, Humita’s grandmother returned from the market with a
bag full of corn. She handed an ear of corn to Humita.
“This corn looks dark,” said Humita. “I thought corn was yellow.”
“This corn is very special,” said her grandmother. She peeled back the husk
that covered the corn. Humita was surprised. The corn was blue!
“How do you eat blue corn?” Humita asked.
“Many foods are made with blue corn,” her grandmother explained. “Let’s
cook some of these ears of corn together.”
That day, Humita helped her grandmother cook. For breakfast, they made
a soft blue corn porridge that was almost like oatmeal. For lunch, Humita’s
grandmother made fl at blue corn tortillas to use instead of bread. For dinner,
Humita and her grandmother made blue corn stew. Humita was happy. Her
plate of colors was complete!
COMPREHENSION Name some of the different colored foods Humita
eats. What are some other foods that are the colors of the rainbow?
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How Stripes
Protect the Zebra
Did you ever wonder why zebras have stripes? The stripes are a trait, or a
special feature, that help to keep the zebra safe from other animals. But how
does this work?
The zebra’s biggest enemy is the lion. Lions hunt and kill zebras for food. But
if a lion can’t see a zebra, the zebra will be safe.
Zebras usually live in places where there is tall grass. Sunlight makes light and
dark stripes on the grass. These stripes look a lot like the zebra’s stripes. If a
zebra stands in the grass without moving, a lion may not be able to see it at all.
Instead, the zebra will just look like part of the grass to the lion.
If you look at a picture of a zebra standing in tall grass, you will probably
be able to see the zebra clearly. But it’s harder for a lion to see the zebra. The
lion is colorblind. This means that a lion’s eyes can’t tell the difference between
colors the way ours can. Everything the lion sees is black and white or gray.
This means that the zebra’s black and white stripes make it hard for the lion to
see the difference between the zebra and the grass around it.
But what if the zebra isn’t standing still? The zebra’s stripes will still help to
keep it safe. Zebras live together in large groups. These groups usually run
together. The lion can see all the stripes moving together, but it has a hard
time seeing just one zebra in all those stripes. The lion may have trouble
seeing where a zebra’s head is. Also, the lion may not be able to tell which
direction a zebra is moving. This makes it hard for the lion to hunt the zebra
and helps to keep the zebra from getting caught.
Many other animals hide from their enemies this way. They look like the area
around them. This way of hiding is called camoufl age. Do you know any other
animals that use camoufl age?
COMPREHENSION Which words help you understand how a zebra
looks? Why would a lion have trouble seeing a zebra?
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