Your Skeleton
Your skeleton is made up of many bones. Your skeleton gives the body its basic
shape. It will determine whether you are tall or short. The shape of your body is made
up of the skeleton and the things that cover it – organs, muscles, fat, skin.
There are 206 bones in your skeleton. There are 64 bones in your two hands and
arms. Some of your bones are big and some are small. The bones in your skeleton are
hard because they are made by a chemical called calcium. Some hard bones are
hollow. The hollow part is filled with bone marrow. Bone marrow is important
because it helps make red blood cells
Some parts of your body, like your nose and your ears are made of cartilage. They
bend when you press them and do not form part of your skeleton.
Some bones in your skeleton protect important organs. Your skull protects your
brain; your rib cage protects your heart and lungs
The bones in your skeleton fit together at joints. It is these joints that let you
move and bend. Knees, ankles and elbows are joints. There are 200 joints in your
skeleton and 28 joints in each of your hands. Joints are held together by ligaments.
They hold the bones together in their correct place. Ligaments are like strong elastic
bands.
Your backbone protects your spinal cord and has 34 bones in int. There are 33
separate joints in your backbone and these joints allow you to twist and bend almost
any way you want. If you had one solid bone for a backbone, you could not do these
things.
Test Your Understanding
1) Excluding your two hands and arms, how many bones are there in your
skeleton?
__________
2) What can you do to your cartilage which you can’t do to your bones?
____________
3) How many joints altogether in both hands?
___________
4) What important organ runs through your backbone?
_____________
5) Our bones are made of bone marrow. True or false?
____________
6) Calcium makes white blood cells. True or false?
___________
7) What holds bones together?
_____________
8) How many joints are in your backbone?
___________
9) Find words from the passage which means the same as :
a. empty_____________
c. look after ___________
b. decide _______________
d. string ___________
Write it in one word
___________________________________________________________________________
Bonus
harass
verdict
fatal
Leisure
bow
docile
mongrel
regal
Hearth
annually
relish
cower
ambition
___________________________________________________________________________
1. Enjoy the taste ___________
2. Free time from work ___________
3. Every year ____________
4. Floor of a fireplace _________
5. An extra payment ________
6. Desire for success ___________
7. Dog of mixed breed ____________
8. Annoy and worry ___________
9. Front of a ship ___________
10. Crouch in fear ___________
11. Causing death____________
12. Easily managed___________
13. Fit for a king or queen _____________
14. Decision of a jury
______________
The Story of a March
Try rubbing the tip of your finger backwards and forwards very quickly on your
coat or a blanket. It should become hot. In cold weather we sometimes rub our hands
together to make them warm. The rubbing of two things together which causes heat is
called “friction”. In the same way, people who lived in caves rubbed a piece of wood
shaped like a pencil on another piece of wood with dried leaves or grass packed
nearby. The heat set the leaves or grass alight. This was a difficult way of making fire.
Better ways were found by using flint stones, but it was not until 1827 that the first
matches were made in England.
Chemists made up a mixture and put it on the end of a stick or match. The
mixture contained a small amount of phosphorous, a chemical that bursts into flames
when heated slightly. The other chemicals then caught fire and burnt less fiercely until
the wood was alight. By rubbing the end of the match as it was called, on sandpaper,
the friction easily set the phosphorous alight. These first matches could also be struck
on other rough surfaces, including the leather sole of a shoe.
At the time, everyone thought this was a wonderful invention. Unfortunately
accidents happened. A whole box of matches would suddenly catch fire if it was
heated. Imagine this happening to someone warming themselves by a fire with a box
of matches in his or her pocket! Even loose matches in a handbag or pocket could rub
together and catch fire.
What was needed was a match that would only light if struck on a special surface.
Then in 1852, the safety match was invented in Sweden. No phosphorous was used in
the head but it was put on the outside of the matchbox instead. This made it
impossible for the match to light unless it was rubbed along the box on the special
surface which contained sandpaper mixed with a little phosphorous.
Use words from the story to fill the blank spaces.
1. To make fire, cave
___________together.
men
and
women
rubbed
two
pieces
of
2. Later, sparks were made by using two ______________ stones.
3. The first matches that could be struck were made in ______________
Answer the questions:
4. What chemical was first used on the match head to cause a flame?
__________
5. What would the first match boxes have on their sides to cause
friction?__________
The Hippopotamus
Write the missing word from the box.
huge
able
elephant’s
animal
smooth
words
parts
noses
mouth
large
front
keep
river
visit
water
The hippopotamus is nearly as 1 ____________as a rhinoceros and only the elephant
is larger still. This 2 _______________gets its name from two 3_________which
mean “ river” and “ horse”.
Hippopotamuses live in several 4_________ of Africa where the weather is hot. They
5 ________ cool by staying under the water in rivers with only their 6 ________ and
ears poking out.
During the night this animal emerges from the 7 ___________and walks on the 8
_____________banks searching for grass to eat. No wonder its mouth is 9 ________,
as it must take very large bites to fill up with food. Inside its 10 ______________-, a
hippopotamus has long, curved 11_________ teeth which act like tusks and are, like
the 12 ______________, made of ivory.
Have a look at one of these animals when you 13 ____________ the zoo. They may
look slow but they are 14 ____________to run quite fast even though they are fat!
Look at the skin of a hippopotamus. See how 15___________- it is , with only one
few bristles on the head and tails.
Where’s my ticket?
All that week Penny caught the train. By Friday, she was feeling very grown up and happy
and not at all shy or scared.
The next Monday, Penny was a little nervous. She wanted Mum to drive her again. But once
she was on the train, Penny remembered how easy it was and how much she liked feeling grownup.
Sometimes Penny met her friends on the train and at other times she travelled alone. Penny
soon became used to the trip and stopped wanting her Mum to drive her to school.
Then one Tuesday afternoon, everything went wrong.
Penny left school and got to the station at 3:45. That gave her the usual five minutes to spare
before the train arrived.
Her bag was heavy, so Penny dropped it on the platform while she looked for her ticket.
She felt in her pocket, there was nothing there. She felt in her right pocket. Nothing there. Penny
turned her pockets inside out. Nothing! She tipped everything out of her bag. No ticket!
1) On what day of the week did Penny:
A) feel grown- up? ________________
B) Lose her ticket?________________
C) Become nervous again?__________________
2) Write true or false for the following questions.
A) Penny had 45 minutes to find her ticket. ________________
B) Penny checked her pockets twice for her ticket. _______________
C) Penny was always nervous traveling by train. _____________
D) Penny left home to go to school on Tuesday. _______________
3) Circle the word from the bracket.
Penny started to (panic relax laugh cry) when she discovered she had lost her ticket.
Same Spelling – Different Meaning
Rose rose fence fence hide hide calf calf store store grave grave
1. the player sprained his _________
2. Squirrels _________ nuts.
3. A _________ is a flower.
4. Two can __________ with swords.
5. She ________ at six o” clock
6. The yard has a back _________
7. He had a __________ accident.
8. I like to ________ under the bed
9. We shop at the local ____________
10. The cow had a fine ___________
11. Leather is animal ____________
12. He is buried in a _____________________
Match match round round jar jar pass pass bat bat post post
13. the jam was in a _______
14. We saw the cricket_________________
15. A tennis ball is __________
16. Try not to ______ your sore arm.
17. I want to _________ my test.
18. He lit a fire with a __________
19. We drove along a mountain __________
20. Mum played a ___________ of golf
21. Please __________ the letter.
22. Tim hit the ball with his __________
23. The ____________ held up the gate.
24. A _________ flies at nigh.
Well well race race drill drill shed shed duck duck hail hail
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
Healthy people feel ______
we ran in a _________
The Chinese are a ________ of people
A _____ is a water bird.
Oil comes from deep _______
Frozen rain is ________
We keep hay in the _________
The dentist uses a _______
some trees _______ their leaves
To _________ is to call loudly
Soldier __________ in the hall.
I will _______ under the wire