Seasons of the WRITTEN BY Shirley Duke
Level: K Word Count: 418 Words 100th word: cold page 8 Teaching Focus: Adjectives Adjectives are words that describe people, places, or things. Look through the book and find the adjectives. What do the adjectives describe? Tips for Reading this Book with Children: 1. Read the title and make predictions about the story. Predictions after reading the title have students make predictions about the book. 2. Take a picture walk. Talk about the pictures in the book. Implant the vocabulary as you take the picture walk. Have children find one or two words they know as they do a picture walk. 3. Have students read the 1st page of text with you. 4. Have students read the remaining text aloud. 5. Strategy Talk use to assist students while reading. Get your mouth ready Look at the picture Think does it make sense Think does it look right Think does it sound right Chunk it by looking for a part you know 6. Read it again. 7. Complete the activities at the end of the book.
Seasons of the Written by Shirley Duke rourkeeducationalmedia.com Scan for Related Titles and Teacher Resources
2014 Rourke Educational Media All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. www.rourkeeducationalmedia.com PHOTO CREDITS: Cover photo sasha384; Title page Incredible Arctic; page 4 Matthew Jacques; map Christian Lopetz; notebook PixelEmbargo; page 5 Iakov Filimonov, pages 6 and 7 Pi-Lens; page 8 outdoorsman; page 9 Sergey Uryadnikov; page 10 Ryan DeBerardinis, page 10 inset photo Thomas W. Woodruff; page 11 Walter Quirtmair; page 12 Okhotnikova Ekaterina; page 13 Vladimir Melnik; page 14 by Alla; page 15 Knumina Studios; page 16 visceralimage; page 16 inset photo Howard Sandler;page 17 Jeff McGraw; page 18 Maslov Dmitry; page 19 Pim Leijen; page 20 Smileus; page 21 atbaker Edited by JIll Sherman Cover design by Renee Brady Interior design by Nicola Stratford bdpublishing.com Library of Congress PCN Data Seasons of the Tundra Biome / Shirley Duke (Biomes) ISBN 978-1-62169-897-5 (hard cover) ISBN 978-1-62169-792-3 (soft cover) ISBN 978-1-62717-004-8 (e-book) Library of Congress Control Number: 2013936813 Also Available as: Rourke Educational Media Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota rourkeeducationalmedia.com customerservice@rourkeeducationalmedia.com PO Box 643328 Vero Beach, Florida 32964
Table of Contents Windy and Cold 4 Changing Seasons 6 Adapting to Life 14 Future of the Tundra 18 Study Like a Scientist 22 Glossary 23 Index 24 Websites 24 About the Author 24
Windy and Cold Everywhere you look you see wide, open land. There are no trees. You feel the cold wind blowing and you shiver. Where are you? The tundra. 4 Most Tundras have: Long, dark winter days. Long, bright summer days. Very cold temperatures year-round. Little snow or rain. Underground ice that never thaws. Flat landforms. Ice stays just under the soil year-round. It does not thaw.
Tundra is found in the northern parts of the world. Alaska, Canada, and parts of Russia are tundra. The tundra may look bare and cold to you, but it is home to many animals and plants. The Snowy Owl is covered head-to-toe with thick feathers, which protect it from severe winter weather. 5
Changing Seasons When does it get really cold in the tundra? Fall brings the first freeze. 6
If you visit the tundra in fall, a rainbow of colors greets you. Plants turn red, yellow, and orange. Tundra plants grow close together. This helps hold their short roots in the ground in high winds. 7
Then, in winter, deep cold sinks in to stay. Would you like to live in the dark? In the tundra, winter darkness lasts 24 hours a day. Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. 8
Arctic foxes, wolves, and polar bears have thick fat and fur, which protect them from the cold. The polar bear s small ears cut down heat loss. 9
The short spring is a very active time. Birds return. They are busy building nests. Animal babies are born. Whistling swans stay in flocks except when breeding. 10
Caribou Many young tundra animals can walk soon after birth. They must be able to run to escape their predators. 11
During the short summer, the Sun never sets! The warm summer sunshine melts the ice. The water pools to make bogs and ponds. Summer sunshine melts the ice on top of the soil. The water sinks in and then stops. The ice under the soil keeps it from going deeper. 12 The tundra summer lasts just six to eight weeks.
If you look closely you will find moss, lichens, and short grass covering the ground in summer. Can you see the wildflowers that dot the carpet of plants? 13
Adapting to Life How do animals survive on the tundra year-round? Small, busy creatures live on the tundra. Hares, squirrels, and voles eat grasses and short plants like mosses and lichens. So do reindeer. But the small creatures must watch out for predators like foxes and wolves. 14 Arctic ground squirrels eat grasses, mushrooms, willows, roots, stalks, leaves, flowers, and seeds.
Birds are predators too. Snow buntings and ruddy turnstones dine on thick clouds of insects at the bogs. The Gyrfalcon is the largest falcon species with a wingspan reaching up to 64 inches (164 centimeters). 15
Did you know that some animals change colors? Arctic foxes and Arctic hares have brown fur in summer. Then their fur turns white in winter. Arctic fox Arctic hare Why do the animals change colors? They need to blend in with the land so they can hide from predators. 16
Animals with no furry coats or thick fat take action in winter. Some leave the tundra. Others build up a coat of fat and sleep away the winter. Brown bears gain weight by eating berries, fruits, and other food in the fall. Then, they retire to dens, where they stay until spring. 17
Even small changes hurt tundra life. The warming Earth is the big problem. Warm air is melting the ice under the soil. People hurt the land with drilling and pollution. Future of the Tundra Air pollution kills lichens, a source of food for many animals. 18
The tundra holds food for many creatures. Any change can keep plants from growing. This hurts all life on the tundra. The red fox moved north in search of food. It now roams where the Arctic fox lives. They must fight for the same food. 19
You can help the tundra. Use power from green sources to reduce pollution. Solar panels change the Sun s energy into electricity for homes and businesses. 20
The tundra is a beautiful and unique place. Let s work together to protect the tundra. National parks preserve the natural beauty of the land. They also protect wildlife and the environment from being harmed. You Can Help Protect the Tundra: Reduce air pollution. Reduce oil use. Don t drill on the tundra. Protect the land with parks. Teach people about why we need the tundra. 21
Study Like a Scientist Looking at Lichens 1. Find a lichen. 2. Remove the lichen. 3. With care, pull it apart. 4. Look at the two plants. Which part do you think makes the food? If you guessed the green part, you were right! 22
Glossary bogs (BAHGZ): sections of wet, soft land freeze (FREEZ): when water becomes solid at a cold temperature hares (HAIRZ): mammals like rabbits but with larger ears and stronger back legs lichens (LYE-kuhns): flat, gray-green plants formed of two plants that grow on rocks, trees, and walls pools (POOLZ): collects and comes together thaw (THAW): to melt tundra (TUHN-druh): a biome in the north with no trees and a layer of frozen soil underground voles (VOLZ): small mammals in the rat family that tunnel under the snow 23
Index animals 5, 14, 16, 17 ice 4, 12, 18 lichens 13, 14, 18 plants 5, 7,13, 14, 19 pollution 18, 20, 21 rain 4 snow 4, 15 soil 4, 12, 18 Websites www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/tundra/tundra.shtml www.kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/tundra.html#games animal.discovery.com/guides/mammals/habitat/map.html About the Author 24 Shirley Duke has enjoyed learning science all of her life and she s written many books about it. She lives in Texas and New Mexico and enjoys the different seasons in each place. Her favorite thing to do is visit places she s read and written about. One day she hopes to visit the tundra, in the summer! Meet The Author! www.meetremauthors.com
Comprehension & Extension: Summarize: What is the weather like in the tundra? What plants are found in the tundra? Text to Self Connection: Why are tundras important? How can we help protect tundras? Extension: Draw and Write Divide your paper into four sections. Label the sections spring, summer, fall, and winter. Draw what the tundra and its animals look like during each season. Sight Words I Used: bare cold dark freeze ice plants Sun tundra water wind Vocabulary Check: Use glossary words in a sentence.
Did you know that the Arctic tundra is the world s youngest biome? Located at latitudes 55 to 70 North, the tundra is a vast and treeless land that covers about 20 percent of the Earth s surface. The tundra is the world s coldest and driest biome. This title will allow students to obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world. Books In This Series Include: Seasons of the Estuary Biome Desert Biome Ocean Biome Boreal Forest Biome Tundra Biome Deciduous Forest Biome Freshwater Pond Biome Grassland Biome rourkeeducationalmedia.com