Influenza Reading

14. Topic: Influenza

From: http://mrnussbaum.com/influenza-reading-comprehension/

Date:    2014, September 30

               Have you ever had the flu? If you have, you know how miserable it can make you feel. Most kids will get the flu sometime during their school years. When you have the flu, you usually get a fever (which can be high), have a cough, feel very tired, and may have a sore throat as well. It can make you feel sick for a few days or for as long as a week. 

               Sometimes, it can be hard to tell if you have the flu or a cold, but with the flu, you'll usually have a higher fever and feel much worse. The flu is a type of virus, which means medicine will only help the symptoms such as the cough and fever. For most kids, the flu comes and goes, but for some, it can be a serious illness.

               Most kids get the flu in the winter because germs spread more easily when kids are inside in settings such as classrooms. The best way to prevent from getting the flu is to wash your hands often, keep your hands to yourself, and go to your doctor for the flu shot or mist.

Penguins

13. Topic: Penguins
From: http://mrnussbaum.com/penguins_young/

Date:    2014, September 23

               Penguins are among the most popular of all birds. They only live in and around the South Pole and the continent of Antarctica. No wild penguins live at the North Pole. There are many different kinds of penguins. 
              The largest penguin is called the Emperor Penguin and the smallest kind of penguin is the Little Blue Penguin. There are 17 different kinds of penguins in all and none of them can fly.

Penguins have to be able to survive in the some of the Earth's coldest and windiest conditions. 

              Penguins are great swimmers and have thick layers of fat to protect them from the bitter cold. Even in their freezing cold habitats, penguins still have to watch out for predators such as killer whales and seals.

Spiders

12. Topic: Spiders
From: http://mrnussbaum.com/spiderscomp/

Date:    2014, September 16

             Did you know that spiders are not insects? They are actually called arachnids, a group of animals related to insects that have eight legs and that have venom. There are many different kinds of spiders. They live all over the world and can be found in just about every habitat. Most like dark places, which may include your home, closets, or basement!   Spiders are very interesting. Some spin silk webs to catch and eat prey, while others attack their prey. Some spiders, like tarantulas, are large enough to eat lizards and mice! Many people are afraid of spiders because they bite. 

            Most spiders, however, will only bite if they think they are danger and most are harmless. Spiders are actually helpful to people because many eat insect pests like cockroaches and mosquitoes.
             I don't like spiders because it is dangerous and some spider can kill the humen. I hate them !

Butterflies

11. Topic:  Butterflies
From: http://mrnussbaum.com/readingcomp/butterflycomp/

Date:    2014, September 9

               Butterflies are some of the most interesting insects on the planet Earth. There are more than seventeen thousand different kinds of butterflies! Butterflies come in all shapes and sizes. 

               Butterflies go through four main stages of life. The first stage is the egg stage followed by the larva stage. As a larva, or caterpillar, the future butterfly eats as much as possible. As it grows, it sheds it outer skin, or exoskeleton. This may happen four or five times. After a few weeks, the caterpillar enters the next stage of its life, the chrysalis stage. In the chrysalis, the caterpillar will liquefy into a soup of living cells. Then, it will reorganize into a butterfly and the metamorphosis is complete. In later parts of the chrysalis stage, you can see the forming butterfly through the chrysalis. 
               When the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, it pumps its wings to send blood through them so that it can fly. Most butterflies only live a couple of weeks, just enough time to drink flower nectar and to mate. Some, like the Monarch Butterfly, however, may live many months.

The blue whale

10. Topic:  The blue whale
From: http://mrnussbaum.com/blue_whale_young/

Date:    2014, September 2

             

             The blue whale is the largest living animal to have ever lived on the planet Earth. Blue Whales are way larger than the largest dinosaur that ever lived.The largest Blue Whales can grow as large as 100 feet long, which is longer than three school buses put together! 

              Even though blue whales are huge, they eat tiny creatures known as krill. Krill are tiny shrimp-like animals. The whale simply opens its mouth, fills it with krill and salt water, and filters the water out of plates in its mouth called baleen. The blue whale may eat over 8,000 pounds of krill in a single day! 

              It is amazing animal in the ocean and I think that it is the king of the ocean.