5 2 4 habitats in need of help TG

5.2.4

Habitats in Need
of Help
SUMMARY

The growth of human populations
often results in greater demand for limited
natural resources and the clearing of land to
meet people’s needs. The author explains how
this trend contributes to the alarming loss of
animal habitats such as forests, prairies, and
coral reefs, and results in steeply declining
animal populations. The author also presents
stories of how people across America are fighting back by working to save animal habitats.

LESSON VOCABULARY

conservation
enthusiastic
investigation

contribute
environment

INTRODUCE THE BOOK
INTRODUCE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR

Discuss
with students the title and the author of
Habitats in Need of Help. Invite them to ask

questions about the title. What is a habitat,
and whose habitat needs help? Why? Explain
how the cover image may offer clues on how
the author will answer these questions.

BUILD BACKGROUND

Tell students that a
habitat is a place where living things can find
food, water, shelter, and nesting places. Ask
students to think about their own habitats and
those of different animals. Discuss how these
places meet the needs of living things.

PREVIEW/USE TEXT FEATURES

Ask students
to flip through the book, glancing only at
the photos. Then have them preview it
again, taking time to study the images and
accompanying captions slowly and carefully.
Discuss how this second read-through
changes their understanding of the book’s
subject.

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FACT AND OPINION
ASK QUESTIONS

READ THE BOOK
SET PURPOSE

Have students set a purpose
for reading Habitats in Need of Help. Their
own interests in animals, as well as their
experience and knowledge of animal
habititats, should guide this purpose. How
would animals be affected by the loss of their
homes? How could this loss be prevented?

STRATEGY SUPPORT: ASK QUESTIONS

Tell
students that a good question often starts
with a question word such as who, what,
when, where, why, and how. It also asks about
an important detail of the story that can be
answered in the reading. Based on these
criteria, ask students to record questions they
have while reading about animal habitats.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 3

What are some examples of animal
habitats around the world? (oceans, rivers,
lakes, forests, deserts, and prairies)
PAGES 3 AND 7 How does the destruction of
habitats hurt animals? (Destruction prevents

animals from thriving by harming their sources
of food, water, shelter, and nesting places.)
PAGE 14

Is the author stating a fact or opinion
when she writes that the humpback whale’s
“fame comes from the dazzling leaps and
displays that it makes”? (She is stating an
opinion because it tells about her feelings and
cannot be proven true or false.)

PAGE 23 How can you tell that the author
wants to persuade readers to help animals?
(She offers specific suggestions on what
students can do to raise awareness of
endangered animals and their habitats,
such as adopting birds.)

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REVISIT THE BOOK
READER RESPONSE

1. Possible response: Fact: Forest-clearing
has resulted in a loss of Asian elephants’

natural habitat. Opinion: The habitat of
Asian elephants deserves more protection
than other animals’ homes.
2. Answers will vary but may include forests,
swamps, and marshes; runoff from factories
and air pollution; picking up trash, recycling,
conserving water.
3. Articles will vary.
4. Students should describe how farming
destroys habitats by clearing land for crops.
EXTEND UNDERSTANDING

Tell students to look
at the photos and captions in the book. Talk
about what these images and words teach
and what questions they inspire. Then have
students use reference sources to help answer
these questions and provide more examples of
how photos and captions convey information.
Invite students to ask questions that
follow simple language patterns, such as,
“What is this?” and “What is happening here?”
while pointing to photos in the book. Have
other students answer the questions in detail.

RESPONSE OPTIONS

WRITING Invite students to create an oversized
postcard that features an animal habitat of their
choice. They should create an illustration of the

environment on one side and write a message
addressed to a friend on the other. The message
should describe why the habitat must be saved.

SCIENCE CONNECTION
Invite students to consult
reference materials for more
in-depth information on animal
habitats. Then have them use art
materials and model-making supplies to
re-create one of these habitats. Students must
be prepared to explain how their habitat’s
features help living things survive.

Skill Work
TEACH/REVIEW VOCABULARY
Help students decipher the meanings of
vocabulary words such as investigation (page
15) and conservation (page 23). Read aloud
the sentences that feature these words and
those that precede and/or follow them. Then
discuss how you would use contextual clues
to help define the words.

TARGET SKILL AND STRATEGY
FACT AND OPINION

A statement of fact
can be proven true or false by reading,
observing, or asking an expert. A statement

of opinion is a judgment or belief that
cannot be proven true or false but can
be supported or explained. Help students
make distinctions between the two types
by reading aloud statements from the book
about animal habitats. Challenge students to
identify what types of statements they are.
ASK QUESTIONS Asking questions properly
means asking good questions about
important text information. Skilled readers
ask questions before, during, and after
reading in order to activate prior knowledge,
clarify confusion, and reflect on learning. By
using this strategy, readers actively engage
with the text and remember important ideas.
Students who ask the right questions can
determine whether an author is making
statements of fact or opinion. As they read,
tell them to ask themselves if statements in
the text can be proven true or false.

ADDITIONAL SKILL INSTRUCTION

AUTHOR’S PURPOSE Tell students that the
author’s purpose is the reason or reasons
an author has for writing. Authors often have
more than one purpose for writing, such as
to persuade, inform, express, and entertain.
Ask students to share their judgments of the
author’s purpose(s) for this book by citing

the language and structure of the text.

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Habitats in Need of Help

Name

Fact and Opinion
• A statement of fact can be proven true or false by reading, observing, or asking an expert.
• A statement of opinion is a judgment or belief. It cannot be proven true or false but can be
supported or explained.

Directions Read the following passage. Decide which sentences are facts and which sentences
are opinions. Then complete the chart below by listing three statements of fact and two
statements of opinion.

The habitat of orangutans is at risk of disappearing. Orangutans are large, funny-looking
apes. They live on the island of Borneo and the neighboring Indonesian island of Sumatra.
An orangutan can weigh from sixty to three hundred pounds and requires large areas of forest
in which to roam. But today, due to humans having taken over land for mining, logging, and
various types of farming, less than 20 percent of the orangutans’ original habitat remains. Some
researchers estimate that there are fewer than thirty thousand orangutans on the islands today.

Losing even one of these amazing apes would be a big tragedy.

Statements of Opinion

© Pearson Education 5

Statements of Fact

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Habitats in Need of Help

Name

Vocabulary
Directions Choose a word from the box that belongs with each group of words below.

Check the Words You Know
conservation
environment

contribute
investigation

1. surroundings

background

setting

2. examination

exploration

probe

3. donate

add

enrich

4. interested

eager

excited

5. care

saving

guarding

enthusiastic

Directions Circle the word that has the opposite meaning of the vocabulary word.
6. contribute

add

harm

enrich

7. conservation

attention

guarding

destruction

8. enthusiastic

uncaring

interested

excited

Directions Write two sentences about the loss of endangered animals’ habitats. Use as many
vocabulary words as you can.

© Pearson Education 5

9.

10.

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