3 4 19 all about mice (science)

H O UG H T O N MIF F L IN


by Lisa C. Moran

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover Carolyn A. McKeone /Photo Researchers, Inc. 1 Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers, Inc.
2 Alvin E. Staffan/Photo Researchers, Inc. 3 Alvin E. Staffan/Photo Researchers, Inc. 4 © JUERGEN & CHRISTINE SOHNS/
Animals Animals-Earth Scenes. 5 © JUERGEN & CHRISTINE SOHNS/Animals Animals-Earth Scenes. 6 Tom McHugh/Photo
Researchers, Inc. 7 Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers, Inc. 8 STEPHEN DALTON/Minden Pictures. 9 Carolyn A. McKeone/
Photo Researchers, Inc. 10 © George Steinmetz/CORBIS.
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Introduction
Mice live all over the world. Mice
can live in the frozen cold of the Arctic.
They can live in the fiery heat of the
desert. Mice are tiny, but they are also

amazing. Let’s meet some mice.

Mice can live almost anywhere that has food
and water.

2


The House Mouse
The house mouse is a rodent. Rodent
is the scientific name for animals that
gnaw, or chew. Rodents gnaw with their
front teeth. Their front teeth are always
growing so they gnaw to keep them from
getting too big.

Mice sometimes gnaw on things like leather
and wood.

3


House mice are very small. They are
six to eight inches long from nose to tail.
They are about one inch tall. A mouse’s
small size helps it in an emergency. A
mouse can hide in a very small place.
Mice are very strong for their size.
They can climb. They can jump. They
can even swim.

Mice use their tails to
help them balance as
they climb.

Mice use their tails to help them balance
as they climb.

4


Mice use their paws to pick up food.

House mice use their senses to live.
Mice have very good senses of smell and
hearing. Mice use their big noses and
ears to find their way around. They use
their whiskers to feel. Whiskers tell a
mouse immediately if it can fit into a
hole or not.
5


The Life of a Mouse
Some mice get food from people.
House mice eat seeds and nuts. They
also like cereal and pasta. Mice love to
eat sweets.
Mice live inside and outside. They
live outside in warm weather. They

move inside when it is cold. Mice like to

Mice like to make their nests out of warm things,
like grasses and paper.

6


These pups will leave their mother after
four weeks.

A family of mice grows very quickly.
A baby mouse is called a pup. A pair of
mice may have forty pups in one year.
Mice live a short life. Wild mice live
between one and two years. A mouse is
an adult when it is only two months old.
Mice like to live near people.
7


In ancient times, mice may have lived
with humans. These prehistoric mice
lived in caves, too. People got rid of
mice then, too.
Mice face many dangers in the wild.
Many animals hunt mice for food. Owls
and snakes eat mice. Foxes and coyotes
also eat mice.

You can see a mouse panicking when it
sees a cat.

8


Pet mice can be
many colors.

Some people think mice are
horrifying. But others keep mice as pets.
Pet mice may live as long as six years.
They are fun to watch in their cages.
Scientists also use mice. They study
the mice in labs. They study mice to
learn about things that make us sick.
9


Conclusion
Maybe you like mice. Maybe you
don’t. You may find mice mysterious
and interesting. You may think
mice are pests. Either way, mice are
everywhere. It seems that mice are
here to stay.

How to Keep Pet Mice
• Have more than one mouse.
• Give your mice a large cage

and
plenty of food and water.
• Add wood shavings, grass,
• Add toys, too.
• Play with your mice!

10

or hay.


Responding
Word Builder
Make a word web around the word
mysterious. What other words mean the
same as mysterious? Copy the web and add
more words.
TARGET VOCABULARY

strange
mysterious

Write About It
Text to Self Do you find it mysterious that
people want mice as pets? Tell why or why
not. Compare having a mouse to having
another kind of pet. Use words from the
web in your writing.

11

TARGET VOCABULARY

ancient
emergency
fiery
horrifying
immediately

mysterious
panicking
prehistoric
scientific
within

Summarize Tell the
important parts of the text in your own words.
TARGET STRATEGY

Which word is the opposite of later?

12


Level: K
DRA: 20
Science
Strategy:
Summarize

Word Count: 549

3.4.19 Build Vocabulary

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

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ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02159-1
ISBN-10: 0-547-02159-3

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