Wild Turkeys A Reading A Z Shared Reading Book Word Count: 256 Home Connection: Segmenting phonemes Your reader is learning to listen for and count the individual sounds in words. After you read the book with your reader, help him or her identify and count the individual sounds of words from the section headings on pages 5, 7, 9, and 11. Have your reader close his or her eyes for this activity. Say the word turkey. Then have your reader say the word slowly and count how many different sounds he or she hears. Turkey has four sounds. (The number of sounds is often different from the number of letters.) Visit www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. Written by Fay Robinson www.readinga-z.com
Photo Credits: Front cover: Mark Raycroft/Minden Pictures; back cover, page 12 (background): Carmelka/iStock/Thinkstock; title page: Jared Hobbs/All Canada Photos/ Corbis; page 3: Erich Schlegel/Corbis; page 4: Kathy Willens/AP Images; page 5: Anne Connor/iStock/Thinkstock; pages 6, 9: George McCarthy/NPL/Minden Pictures; pages 7, 13 (top): Donald M. Jones/Minden Pictures; page 8: FogStock/ Alamy; page 10: Craig Coley/iStock/Thinkstock; page 11: Bettmann/Corbis; page 12 (bottom left): istock/natasa Tatarin; page 13 (bottom): Georgios Kollidas/ istock/thinkstock; page 14: Bruce Macqueen/Dreamstime.com Written by Fay Robinson www.readinga-z.com Wild Turkeys Shared Reading Book Level 2 Learning A Z Written by Fay Robinson All rights reserved. www.readinga-z.com
Table of Contents Introduction... 4 Turkey Size... 5 Turkey Speeds... 7 Turkey Colors... 9 Turkey Histor y... 11 Conclusion... 13 Glossary... 14 Introduction When we think of Thanksgiving, we think of turkeys. Did you know that wild turkeys live across most of the United States? Wild turkeys are amazing! 3 4
Male wild turkeys can puff up their feathers. They spread their tail feathers, making a fan that can be 4 feet (1.2 m) across. [Caption:] Wild turkeys have big feet. They use them to scratch for seeds and nuts to eat. Turkey Size Wild turkeys are huge. Some are 4 feet (1.2 m) tall. Some weigh more than 20 pounds (9 kg). Wild turkeys can be as tall as some seven-year-olds! That s pretty amazing, but that s not all... Male wild turkeys puff up their feathers to show off for females. Only male turkeys gobble. 5 6
Wild turkeys can fly at speeds of 55 miles (89 km) per hour as fast as a car on a highway. That s pretty amazing, but that s not all... Turkeys run or walk more often than they fly. Turkey Speeds Wild turkeys are fast. They can run 25 miles (40 km) per hour. If a person had a race with a wild turkey, the turkey would probably win. tree branches, where they rest at night. 7 8
A male wild turkey s head can be red, white, or blue. The color changes when the turkey is excited or upset. That s pretty amazing, but that s not all... Turkey Colors Wild turkeys are colorful. Their feathers can be black, brown, orange, or striped. Some feathers shine in shades of red, green, and gold. Five different kinds of wild turkeys live in the United States. They all look a little different. 9 10 Sometimes a wild turkey s head is red, white, and blue at the same time.
People worked to save wild turkeys. The number of wild turkeys grew. They made a great comeback! That s pretty amazing, but that s not all... Canada United States ATLANTIC OCEAN PACIFIC OCEAN Turkey History Mexico GULF OF MEXICO Wild turkeys live in many parts of North America, but not long ago, turkeys were in trouble. People had hunted them The purple parts of this map show where wild turkeys now live. until they were almost gone. 11 Wild Turkeys Shared Reading 12
Conclusion Ben Franklin thought the wild turkey should be our national bird. Wild turkeys are big, fast, colorful, and strong. amazing (adj.) colorful (adj.) feathers (n.) speeds (n.) Glossary causing great wonder or surprise (p. 4) full of color or having many colors (p. 9) the soft, fluffy parts of a bird that cover its body and make up its tail (p. 6) the rates at which something moves or happens (p. 8) striped (adj.) having bands of color (p. 9) strong (adj.) powerful (p. 13) tail (n.) turkeys (n.) wild (adj.) a body part that sticks out from the back end of an animal (p. 6) large birds with nearly bald heads that are often raised for their meat (p. 4) in a natural state; not controlled by humans (p. 4) Wild turkeys are amazing, and that s that! Ben Franklin 13 14