MCR-G3-A Trip to the Pond

7/27/2019 MCR-G3-A Trip to the Pond

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Math Concept Reader

A Trip to the Pond


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Copyright Gareth Stevens, Inc. All rights reserved.

Developed for Harcourt, Inc., by Gareth Stevens, Inc. This edition published by Harcourt, Inc., byagreement with Gareth Stevens, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or anyinformation storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed toPermissions Department, Gareth Stevens, Inc., 330 West Olive Street, Suite 100, Milwaukee,Wisconsin 53212. Fax: 414-332-3567.

HARCOURT and the Harcourt Logo are trademarks of Harcourt, Inc., registered in the United Statesof America and/or other jurisdictions.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 13: 978-0-15-360186-6ISBN 10: 0-15-360186-8

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by Linda Bussell

Math Concept Reader

A Trip to the Pond


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FIELDG

UIDE

HickoryHornedDevil

About10cmlong

Ms. Tosh holds up her eld guide or the class to see. This

eld guide is a book about insects that live near the pond, she

says. She opens the book and shows the class what it looks like

inside.

It has pictures and inormation about the insects and their

habitats. The eld guide includes measurements. It shows the

size o many insects and has inormation about the plants in

the area, too.

Ms. Tosh says students will work in pairs and use eld

guides to nd and identiy the insects.

Students will use eld guides tolearn about the insects they see ontheir eld trip.


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Today is the eld trip. The students brought their

science journals to record what they see.

Ms. Tosh has eld guides as well as colored pencils so

the students can draw pictures o insects they spot.

Ms. Tosh says the students will look or colors and

markings to help them identiy the insects. Markings are

patterns o color on an animal.

They will estimate the sizes o the insects and then

compare the estimates with the sizes in the eld guide.The bus arrives at the pond. Students put on gloves

beore starting their investigations.

Chapter 2:

At the Pond


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Milkweed and other wildfowers grow near the pond

and in the eld around the pond. These plants are an

important habitat or some insects. Their poisonous

sap is a source o ood or insects such as the Monarch

caterpillar. The poisonous sap does not harm the Monarch

caterpillar.

This milkweed is about 90 cm tall, which is more than

the length o an adult baseball bat!

The students notice many orange and black butterfiesfying around the milkweed.

At rst all the butterfies look the same. A ew are

dierent though. Adam and Rachel use their eld guide

to discover that there are two kinds o orange and black

butterfies.

Milkweed is a source o ood or many dierent insects.


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One o the

butterfies is

called the

Monarch while

the other is called

the Viceroy.

Adam notices

that the hind

wings o the

butterfies aredierent. The

Viceroy has a

black band

there, but the

Monarch does not.

They check the eldguide. It says that

wingspan is the distance

across the widest part o

the wings when they are

ully open.

The Monarchswingspan is about 10 cm,

and the Viceroys wingspan

is about 8 cm. Rachel

records the two butterfies

and their wingspans in the journal. Then

Rachel sees something green hanging rom a milkweed stem.

Monarch butterfy

Viceroy butterfy


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Adam nds a picture o the object in the eld guide

and learns that it is a Monarch chrysalis, or pupa. The

Monarch caterpillar turns into a chrysalis beore itbecomes an adult butterfy and remains in this stage or

10-12 days.

The process o changing rom a caterpillar to a pupa

to a butterfy is called metamorphosis. The chrysalis in

the eld guide measures more than 2 cm long. Rachel

estimates this chrysalis is almost the same size as the one

in the eld guide.

She notes this in their journal and then draws a

picture o the chrysalis.

A Monarch butterfy chrysalis, or pupa, is shown in dierent stages odevelopment.


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Daisy and Ruben are also exploring the milkweed.

They see yellow, black, and white caterpillars o dierent

sizes. Adam reads in the eld guide that they are all

Monarch caterpillars that will grow into Monarch

butterfies.

Caterpillars grow in stages called instars. Between

instars, the caterpillars shed their skin to keep growing.

There are ve instars in all.

Daisy and Ruben nd a table in their eld guide that

compares the sizes o the Monarch instars.

Daisy and Ruben compare the caterpillars they see

with the inormation in the table. They record their

observations in their journal.

Stage Approximate Length

First Instar About cm

Second Instar Almost 1 cm

Third Instar About 1 cm to 1 cm

Fourth Instar About 1 cm to 2 cm

Fith Instar About 2 cm to 4 cm

1

2

1 2

1

2

1

2

1

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2

Monarch butterfy instars


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Hickory trees near the pond are another insect habitat and

can grow to be 40 m tall. One meter equals 100 centimeters.

Forty meters is longer than three school buses parked end to

end.Sydney spots a large, green moth on a tree trunk. It is an

adult Luna moth. This is a lucky nd because Luna moths are

an endangered species in some areas.

This Luna moth is sitting high in the tree, more than a

meter above their heads. The eld guide says that some adult

Luna moths have a wingspan o more than 11 cm.

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Adult Luna moths can have a wingspan o more than 11 cm.


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Benjamin and Carl also are looking among the hickory

trees or insects. They are trying to nd a caterpillar

called the Hickory Horned Devil which is erce-looking,

but harmless to people.They nd several Hickory Horned Devil caterpillars in

the twigs o a hickory tree. They are eating hickory leaves.

The caterpillars are dierent sizes and have orange and

black spines behind their heads.

Carl reads the eld guide. It shows a Hickory Horned

Devil that is about 10 cm long. Benjamin records theinormation in their science journal. Then he draws a

picture o this insect.

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The Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar lookserce, but it is harmless to people.


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Carl reads in the eld guide that the Hickory Horned

Devil is the caterpillar stage o the adult Regal moth. Like

the Hickory Horned Devil, the Regal moth can grow very

large. Regal moths have a wingspan up to 10 cm long.

Carl and Benjamin look around, but they do not nd

any Regal moths. This is probably because Regal moths arenocturnal, or active at night.

Then they hear Ms. Tosh call the class together. Mrs. Tosh

collects the pencils, markers, and eld guides. She collects

their gloves. The students climb on board the bus.

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Regal moth


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The students settle on the bus. They are excited about

their day and talk all at once about the dierent insects

they saw at the pond.

Ms. Tosh asks them to name some o the insects they

saw. The students talk about some o the surprising things

they learned.

We saw lots o Monarch butterfies, says Rachel. We

read that some Monarchs fy more than 4,000 km!

Correct, says Ms. Tosh. Some Monarchs migraterom southern Canada, across the United States, to central

Mexico. That is a very long trip or such small insects.

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Chapter 3:

Going Home


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Think and Respond

1. The wingspan o an adult Viceroy buttery is

about 8 cm. Is this wingspan longer or shorter than

a decimeter? Tell how you know.

2. Some milkweed plants grow to be 110 cm tall. Are

these plants taller than 1 meter or shorter than 1

meter? Tell how you know.

3. A Luna moths wingspan is 11 cm. A Monarch

caterpillar is 4 cm long. The distance between a

Regal moths two wing tips is 10 cm. Order these

measurements rom smallest to largest.

4. Would you use centimeters, meters, or kilometers

to measure the length o your classroom? Explain

your choice.

Documents

MCR-G3-A Trip to the Pond