HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. K-Lesson 24Clever
Camouflage
Imagine this. You are taking a walk. You see a small brown stick on the
ground. You reach down to pick it up—and it fl ies away! That is because what
you thought was a stick is actually an insect called a walking stick. Looking
like a stick helps it hide from birds that like to eat insects. Birds do not think
real sticks are good to eat, so they leave the walking stick alone. The walking
stick is an example of camoufl age. Camoufl age helps keep an animal safe by
making it look like something else. Camoufl age saves a lot of animals from
becoming another animal’s dinner!
Zebras are pretty fast runners. They can usually run away from a hungry
lion. But would you guess that a zebra’s stripes give it even better protection?
A lion cannot see color. This means that to the hungry lion, the zebra’s stripes
look like tall grass. This confuses the lion and makes it look somewhere else for
food.
Some animals use their camoufl age to be great hunters. Like zebras, tigers
have stripes. Only they use their stripes to hide low in the grass. This helps
them sneak up on animals they want to catch and eat.
Other animals have camoufl age that changes with the seasons. The arctic
fox has fur that is brown or gray in the summer. It is the same color as the
ground. This helps the arctic fox sneak along the ground while hunting birds
and mice. But when white snow falls in the wintertime, a wonderful change
happens to the arctic fox. Its fur begins to grow as white as the snow! This
helps the fox hide in the snow from bigger animals, like polar bears.
The next time you go outside, try to look for animals or insects that have
camoufl age. Just remember, if the camoufl age is good, you won’t be able to
fi nd them easily!
COMPREHENSION Better and great are words in this passage that tell
how good something is. What are some other words that tell how good
something is? As the seasons change, what happens to an arctic fox’s fur?
34
35
One day, a small green caterpillar was climbing on a tree branch, looking
for something to eat. Just then, a beautiful butterfly landed next to her.
“Hello,” said the butterfl y. “My name is Amber.” Her speech sounded
smooth and velvety. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Olive,” the caterpillar said.
“Well, Olive, you should climb onto that leaf over there so that a bird can’t
see you,” Amber said.
“Why?” asked Olive.
“Well, you see,” explained Amber, “birds eat caterpillars. I like to retell
a story that my grandpa once told me. It is about something that almost
happened to him when he was caterpillar. Would you like to hear it?”
“Sure,” said Olive.
Amber said, “One day, Grandpa and another caterpillar were chewing on
a green leaf. Grandpa was sitting on the leaf, but the other caterpillar was
sitting on a brown tree branch. A hungry bird started fl ying over them. Then
the bird fl ew down and picked up the other caterpillar. Grandpa was safe
because the bird couldn’t see him. Grandpa was green, like you, so he looked
like part of the leaf.”
“Oh, I see,” said Olive. “Then I will move onto this leaf to be safe. But
what about you? Won’t a bird see you on the branch?”
“Do you see these big black circles on my wings?” asked Amber.
Olive answered her question. “Yes. What are they for?”
“Some birds think the circles on my wings look like the eyes of a big animal.
The birds will not come near me because they are afraid of the bigger
animal,” Amber explained.
“Oh, I understand now,” said Olive. “The birds won’t know that you are
really a butterfl y.”
“That’s right,” said Amber. “Different animals have different ways of
protecting themselves.”
“Thanks for teaching me so much!” said Olive.
COMPREHENSION Which words are about speaking? What does
Amber tell Olive about how to protect herself from birds?
36
37