English Term 2:
Week 4: Reading
Read the following passage for the day.
Remember…read out loud, try your best and enjoy!
After reading the passage, explain at least one thing about the insect that you
have read about to someone in your household.
Monday’s reading:
Honeybees
Honeybees are social (so-shul) insects that live in a colony. They can
flap their wings 11,000 times per minute, making the “buzzing”
sound. Honeybees make honey from the pollen and nectar that
they collect from flowers. They will sting to protect
themselves or their hive, but only if they feel threatened.
Honeybees can only sting once. Keep a safe distance from them so that we can
all ‘bee…’ friends.
Tuesday’s reading:
Dragonflies
Dragonflies are colourful and fast-moving insects. They live in
places all around the world, but you will mostly find them living
near water, like rivers, ponds and streams. They are friendly
insects as they do not bite or sting people. They like to eat other, smaller insects
like mosquitoes (mos-skee-tows) and tiny moths. Dragonflies need to be on the
watch for birds, spiders, frogs and other predators (pre-duh-turs) that like to
eat them.
Wednesday’s reading:
Dung beetles
Dung beetles are dark in colour, have six legs, a round
body and long wings. They use their antennae (an-teh-
nee) to track the smell of droppings. Can you guess
what Dung beetles eat? Yes, they eat animal dung! They may be small, but they
are strong! They can roll balls of dung up to 1141 times their own body weight.
They use the balls of dung for food and as a place to lay their eggs. There are
three types of Dung beetles: the dwellers, rollers and tunnellers. The dwellers sit
on the ball of droppings, while the rollers turn the dung into a ball, rolls it away and
then buries it or uses it as food for the future. The tunnellers dig through the
dung and bury parts of the dung underground to keep it fresh.
Thursday’s reading:
Grasshopper
Grasshoppers are well-known for being a jumping-insect, not only do they have
strong legs, but they also have wings to fly. They are
mostly green and brown and may have yellow or red
markings on them. Did you know that not only birds,
frogs and snakes eat grasshoppers? Some people do
too! Yes! They are a good form of protein (prow-teen) and can be fried, dried and
dipped in honey. Large swarms of grasshoppers can become pests to farmers as
they are able to destroy (duh-stroy) their crops.
Friday’s reading:
Stick insect
Stick insects are sometimes difficult to spot as they hide and camouflage (kam-
uh-flazh) very well. They can easily look like sticks,
twigs or leaves. In South Africa, the stick
insects are almost 30cm long, when their legs
are stretched out. Female stick insects have
longer bodies than the male stick insects. At
night, they mostly feed on leaves and other plants, while they move slowly in
treetops during the day. When baby stick insects hatch from their eggs, they
are called nymphs (n-imfs).
“The more that you READ, the more things you will KNOW.
The more that you LEARN, the more places you’ll GO.”
- Dr. Seuss