Life in the Desert Night A Reading A Z Shared Reading Book Word Count: 669 Home Connection: Subjects and verbs Your reader is learning to recognize the subjects and verbs in sentences. As you read the book together, select one sentence on each page. Discuss the subject and verb in each sentence that you select. Life in the Desert ight Visit www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. Written by Fay Robinson www.readinga-z.com
Life in the Desert ight Photo Credits: Front cover: E. R. Degginger/Photo Researchers, Inc.; back cover: Rusty Dodson/123RF; title page (main), page 8: Jim Zipp/Photo Researchers, Inc.; title page (background), pages 13 (background), 18 (background): istockphoto.com/chris Pritchard; page 3 (main): Kevin Schafer/Alamy; page 3 (background), page 19: Philip Bird/123RF; page 4: Vanessagifford/Dreamstime.com; page 5 (top left): age fotostock/superstock; page 5 (top right): Anton Foltin/123RF; page 5 (center right): Juanita Shore/Dreamstime.com; page 5 (bottom): Paul Moore/Dreamstime.com; page 6 (top): Arco Images GmbH/Alamy; page 6 (bottom): Visions of America/Superstock; page 6 (background): Teresa Gueck/123RF; page 7: Thomas Hallstein/Alamy; page 9 (top): Scott Linstead/Foto Natura/Minden Pictures; page 9 (bottom): Thawat Tanhai/123RF; page 10: Stephen J. Krasemann/Photo Researchers, Inc.; page 11: Kevin Schafer/Corbis; page 12: John Cancalosi/Alamy; page 13 (main): Mike Theiss/National Geographic Stock; page 14: John Cancalosi/Alamy; page 15 (top): Animals Animals/Superstock; page 15 (bottom): Inigocia/Dreamstime.com; page 16 (main): Tom Uhlman/Alamy; page 16 (background): istockphoto.com/kevin Smith; page 17: Virginia P. Weinland/Photo Researchers, Inc.; page 18 (main): Galen Rowell/Corbis Written by Fay Robinson www.readinga-z.com Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading Book Level 3 Learning A Z Written by Fay Robinson All rights reserved. www.readinga-z.com
Life in the Desert Night is coming in the desert. The sun will set soon, but it is still hot. The air is more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the ground is hotter than that. In this desert, it hasn t rained in months. The earth is baked hard, little more than dust and sand. Contents Life in the Desert... 4 The Elf Owl... 8 The Kit Fox...10 The Tarantula...12 The Kangaroo Rat...14 Bats...16 Nighttime Ends...18 Glossary...20 Deserts are the driest places on earth. 3 4 Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading
A few creatures stir. A rattlesnake slithers across a large rock. A roadrunner dashes over the dusty soil. Grasshoppers hop between the cacti. ringtail cat However, the daytime heat is too much for many animals. If they were out in the hot sun, they could die. javelina Many animals have adapted to life in the desert by sleeping during the day. They rest in the shade of cacti, dens, burrows, tunnels, and caves. These animals are nocturnal. More than one cactus have more than one name: cacti, cactuses, or cactus. 5 Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading 6
The Elf Owl At last, the sun sets. The air cools quickly. Soon, the nocturnal animals will come out to find food. It is night in the desert, and an elf owl wakes up. This owl has been resting in a hole in a giant cactus. Inside the hole it is moist and dark. Now it is time for the owl to find food. North American Deserts Canada United States N W E S Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean An elf owl nests in a saguaro cactus. Desert Mexico The animals in this book live in North American deserts. 7 Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading 8
The tiny elf owl is about the same size as a sparrow. The Kit Fox It is night in the desert, and a kit fox wakes up. This fox has been resting in a den in a small hill. Now it is time for the fox to find food. Elf owls have big eyes that help them see at night. They fly silently with the help of special wing feathers. They dive to the ground to pick up scorpions with claws on their feet called talons. They scoop up flying insects and pick moths out of flowers. Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading 9 10
The Tarantula It is night in the desert, and a tarantula wakes up. This spider has been resting in a burrow lined with a silky web. Now it is time for the tarantula to find food. Kit foxes are about the size of house cats. Their large ears give off heat to help them stay cool. They dash swiftly across the desert in search of mice, rabbits, insects, and other animals. Kit foxes can go many days without drinking. They get the liquid they need from their prey. Life In the Desert Night Shared Reading 11 12
The Kangaroo Rat It is night in the desert, and a kangaroo rat wakes up. This rodent has been resting in a nest within a set of deep, connected tunnels. The tunnels are plugged with dirt to keep out the heat. Now it is time for the rodent to find food. In search of prey, a tarantula prowls the Arizona desert at night. Tarantulas walk softly on the desert earth with eight furry legs. They can feel small movements in the ground that tell them when dinner is near. They grab their prey with two feelers near their mouth. They inject their prey with venom, and then they eat. Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading 13 14
Bats It is night in the desert, and thousands of bats wake up. They have been sleeping upside down in a cool, dark cave. Now it is time to fly out of the cave to find food. Kangaroo rats jump like kangaroos, leaping off their big back feet. Their large eyes help them see well in the dark. They fill fur-lined pouches in their cheeks with seeds. They will store the seeds inside their tunnels. Kangaroo rats make water within their bodies from the seeds. They don t have to drink at all. Many kinds of bats live in deserts. These are Mexican free tailed bats. - 15 16 Life In the Desert Night Shared Reading
Nighttime Ends Night in the desert is almost over. Soon the sun will rise, and the air will get hot again. The nocturnal animals are full and tired. The elf owl flies back to its hole in the cactus. The kit fox dashes back to its shady den. The tarantula crawls back to its silky burrow. The kangaroo rat hops back into a tunnel. The bats fly back to their cave. Bats leave the cave in a group, filling the night sky. They listen for echoes to find their way through the dark. They catch insects in the sky with their tail or wings, and pop them into their mouths. Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading 17 18
Now, it is daytime again in the desert. The nocturnal animals sleep, out of the sun, safe and cool inside their homes. adapted (v) burrows (n) cacti (n) Glossary changed to fit a new or specific situation or environment (p. 6) holes dug in the ground by an animal for use as a home (p. 6) desert plants that usually have spines instead of leaves; more than one cactus (p. 5) dens (n) homes of wild animals (p. 6) Life in the Desert Night Shared Reading 19 desert (n) nocturnal (adj) prey (n) rodent (n) venom (n) 20 an area of land that does not usually get much rain (p. 4) active at night rather than during the day (p. 6) an animal that is hunted and eaten by a predator (p. 11) a small mammal, such as a mouse or rat, that has large front teeth for gnawing (p. 14) a poisonous fluid that some animals use to kill prey and defend themselves, usually delivered by biting or stinging (p. 13)