5 4 3 surviving the weather TG

Surviving
the Weather
SUMMARY

This book presents information
about various world habitats, such as the
Antarctic, tropical forests, grasslands, and
temperate forests and the animals that live
in these areas. The emphasis is on how
animals adapt to their environments.

LESSON VOCABULARY

critical
mucus
specialize

enables
scarce
sterile

INTRODUCE THE BOOK
INTRODUCE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR

Discuss with
students the title and the author of Surviving
the Weather: Animals in Their Environments.
Ask: In this context, what does environment
mean? Based on the title, ask them what they
think they will learn about in this book.
BUILD BACKGROUND Ask students to share information about animals they are interested in.

Where do these animals live? Show students a
world map and invite them to discuss different
types of environments around the world.

Invite students to name and describe
some animals in their home languages. You
may wish to introduce terms they will come
across in the book, such as environment,
migrate, and adapt.
PREVIEW/USE TEXT FEATURES

Have students
look at the Table of Contents on page 3. Ask
how this book is organized. Have students
look at the photos and the maps. Ask how
these features could add to, or help them
better understand, the information they learn
in the text.

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5.4.3
GRAPHIC SOURCES
MONITOR AND FIX UP

READ THE BOOK
SET PURPOSE

Have students set a purpose for
reading Surviving the Weather: Animals in Their

Environments. Students’ questions about
animals and how they have adapted to different environments around the world may drive
their purpose.

STRATEGY SUPPORT: MONITOR AND FIX UP

As students read, encourage them to ask
themselves questions and otherwise monitor
their comprehension. You may ask students
to take notes of the facts and details they
remember after they read each chapter.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

PAGE 4 In the second paragraph, what is the
main idea? What are the supporting details?
(Animals adapt to survive. Changes can take
thousands of years. They make animals better
at finding food, running fast, hiding from enemies, and developing other survival skills.)
PAGE 15

Use the map to determine the continents on which grasslands are found. (North
America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia)
PAGES 16–17

What animals do you see in the
photos? What did you learn about these animals in the text? Find the African grasslands
on the map. (Elephants, lions. Elephants get
water from Boabab trees, Lions live in prides
to hunt together.)

PAGE 19

How has the black-tailed Jack Rabbit
adapted to life in the desert? (Spends most of
day in shade to conserve water and stay cool)

PAGE 21

Why do you think so many different
types of plants and animals live in tropical rain
forests? (Possible response: Plentiful food and
water, trees offer protection from predators)

Surviving the Weather

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REVISIT THE BOOK
READER RESPONSE
1. Student responses will vary but should
mention one of the habitats from the book.
2. Possible response: Tundra: Average winter
temperature is − 30°; permafrost frozen
all year; musk ox, polar bear, brown bear
Temperate Forests: Four seasons; squirrels,
raccoon

3. Possible response: Animal would have to
change its coat to live in a cold environment.
4. Student responses will vary.
EXTEND UNDERSTANDING

Encourage students
to use the notes they took during reading to
create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting three different habitats they read about in
the book.

RESPONSE OPTIONS
WRITING

Encourage students to pick a favorite
animal from the book. Have them write a poem
about the animal. They should include facts
they learned from the book in their poems.

WORD WORK Have students look up the word
adapt. How many other words can they
find that have adapt as a root? How many
synonyms of adapt can they think of?

SCIENCE CONNECTION
Have students research an
endangered animal. They
should include information about
that animal’s habitat and how that
habitat may be changing. Students may discuss whether the animal could adapt quickly
enough to our changing world to make a

comeback.

Skill Work
TEACH/REVIEW VOCABULARY
Have students locate the vocabulary words
in the text. Have them define each word
using context clues, the glossary, and a dictionary. Then invite students to list for each
word as many words as possible that have
similar meanings or are related in some way.

TARGET SKILL AND STRATEGY
GRAPHIC SOURCES Remind students that
graphic sources are graphs, maps, pictures,
photographs, and diagrams that help
strengthen their understanding of the text.
Have students read the text and look at
the map on page 15. Discuss how the map
helps deepen their understanding of the
text. Encourage students to keep in mind
the connection between graphic sources
and the text as they read.
MONITOR AND FIX UP

Remind students
that good readers constantly monitor, or
check, comprehension as they read. If the
text isn’t making sense, they can use fix up
strategies, such as adjusting reading rate,
reading on, summarizing facts and details,
or rereading and reviewing. Have students

read pages 8 and 9. Encourage them to ask
questions as they read (“Do I understand
this?”) and use fix up strategies when
their comprehension falters. Discuss with
students the strategies they used and how
they worked.

ADDITIONAL SKILL INSTRUCTION

MAIN IDEA AND DETAILS Remind students that
the main idea is the most important idea
about a topic. It is usually stated very briefly.
The supporting details are small pieces of
information that tell more about the main
idea. To practice identifying the main idea
and supporting details, have students read
page 7. Ask them what the main idea is.
(Many different habitats on our planet.) Ask:
What details relate to this idea? (Habitats
can be wet, dry, hot, cold. The shape of the
land can affect a habitat. Students may name
six different habitats.)

Surviving the Weather

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Name

Surviving the Weather

Graphic Sources
Graphic sources are graphs, maps, pictures, photographs, and diagrams that help strengthen
one’s understanding of text.

© Pearson Education 5

Directions On the map below, mark where the world’s different habitats are found, including the
Arctic, temperate areas, grasslands, deserts, and tropical rain forests. Show the animals that live in
each area. Remember to include a title for your map and a key.

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Surviving the Weather

Name

Vocabulary
Directions Choose the word from the box that best matches each clue.
Write the word on the line.

Check the Words
You Know

1. If a person does this, he or she helps
make something possible.
2. This is something slippery that comes
from the body of an animal.
3. This means you are referring to
something that is very important.

critical
enables
mucus
scarce
specialize
sterile

4. This refers to a place that cannot sustain life.
5. This is when there aren’t very many of a certain thing.
6. When an animal does this, it changes to suit its habitat.

© Pearson Education 5

Directions Write a brief paragraph about Surviving the Weather: Animals in Their Environments
using each of the words in the box above.

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