Explore Life Cycles! , livre ebook

Nomad Press - M. Reilly Kathleen

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

77 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Explore Life Cycles! takes kids on an amazing journey, where they'll learn about the changes plants and animals experience throughout their lives. Kids ages 6-9 will discover what happens inside those magical cocoons to transform a caterpillar into a butterfly. They'll explore how frogs breathe underwater as tadpoles, then use lungs as an adult. Explore Life Cycles! will examine how plants and animals are born, develop, and live their lives.Activities range from creating edible life cycles of insects to making a mealworm nursery. Using an eye-catching combination of cartoons, fun facts, and exciting projects, Explore Life Cycles! will bring the mysteries of life right into kids' hands.

Sujets

Reference

Informations

Publié par	Nomad Press
Date de parution	18 février 2011
Nombre de lectures	2
EAN13	9781619301009
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Nomad Press is committed to preserving ancient forests and natural resources. We elected to print Explore Life Cycles! on 96% post consumer recycled paper, processed chlorine free. As a result, for this printing, we have saved:

8 Trees, (equal to 0.4 American football fields) 11,014 Gallons of water, (equal to a shower of 2.3 days) 2,563 Pounds of air emissions, (equal to emissions of 0.2 cars per year)
Nomad Press made this paper choice because our printer, Transcontinental, is a member of Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit program dedicated to supporting authors, publishers, and suppliers in their efforts to reduce their use of fiber obtained from endangered forests.
For more information, visit www.greenpressinitiative.org
Nomad Press
A division of Nomad Communications
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © 2011 by Nomad Press
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. The trademark “Nomad Press” and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc.

This book was manufactured by Transcontinental Gagné,
Louiseville Québec, Canada
March 2011, Job #43197
ISBN: 978-1-934670-80-4
Illustrations by Bryan Stone
Questions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to
Independent Publishers Group
814 N. Franklin St.
Chicago, IL 60610
www.ipgbook.com
Nomad Press
2456 Christian St.
White River Junction, VT 05001
www.nomadpress.net
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One
An Endless Cycle
Chapter Two
Does It Have a Face?
Chapter Three
Here Comes Baby!
Chapter Four
Grow Baby, Grow!
Chapter Five
The Cycle Continues
Chapter Six
Threats to Life Cycles
Glossary
Resources
Index
Other titles from Nomad Press in the Explore Your World! Series
Introduction

H ave you ever planted a garden with your parents? You cover the seeds with soil and water them. A few days later a little green shoot pokes out of the ground. Within weeks, the little green shoot transforms into a flower, vegetable, or fruit.

Or maybe you once owned a kitten or puppy. It’s amazing how fast they grow from a tiny little fur ball into a young animal with tons of energy. Before you know it your kitten or puppy is a full-sized cat or dog. You might have also had the sad experience of losing a beloved pet who grew old and died.
These are all stages of life. Every living thing goes through them. Together, these stages are called the life cycle.

Stage: a single step in a process.
life Cycle: the full life of a living thing, from birth to death.
habitat: the natural area where a plant or an animal lives.
Different creatures go through different changes during their life cycle. For example, a toad begins life as a swimming tadpole before growing into an adult. A butterfly starts out as a caterpillar before transforming itself. A huge oak tree begins life as a tiny acorn that slowly grows over many years. And you start out as a tiny infant!

All living things may grow differently, but they all follow the same basic stages of the life cycle.

In this book, you’ll explore all these stages. You’ll see how plants and animals go through each stage. You’ll also find out what happens when something disrupts a life cycle—like acid rain or the destruction of habitat

But most of all, you’ll have fun as you tackle projects and activities that explore these ideas. So turn the page and let’s get started with the cycle of life!
An Endless Cycle

C an you remember what it was like when you were younger? You were smaller, sure. And you probably couldn’t do many things that you can do now. Maybe you couldn’t ride a two-wheeler yet, or write a thank-you card, or climb the monkey bars at the playground.

Now imagine what you’ll be like 20 years from now. You’ll be an adult. Maybe you’ll even have kids of your own!
Everyone goes through a lot of different stages in their lifetime. All organisms grow, change shape, create new life, and die. Then the life cycle begins all over again.

organism: a living thing, such as a plant or animal.
species: a group of plants or animals that are related and look the same.
HEY! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?
All organisms begin life in a certain way. But the ways they begin can be very different. Some organisms begin life inside their mothers. Others start inside seeds. And some begin inside eggs. It all depends on the species.

Did You Know?

Most animal species lay eggs! For every 100 animal species , 3 give birth to live young and 97 lay eggs.

It’s not just the start of their lives that can be different, either. An entire life cycle can also be very different. An adult mayfly may only live 30 minutes. But a quahog, which is a kind of clam, can live about 200 years. That means that a quahog that’s alive today was born long before the invention of electricity.

The length of individual life cycle stages can differ, too. Some organisms grow much faster than others. For example, a human mom grows her baby inside her for 9 months—but an elephant grows her baby for 22 months! A human baby takes about 18 years to reach adulthood. But a puppy takes about one year.

HERE I AM, WORLD!

It’s a special moment when new life comes into the world. It might be like when you were born, greeted with a big celebration. Or it might just be a new little blade of grass that no one notices. But all life is a truly amazing thing. It’s what makes our planet special in the entire solar system.

The name of the first stage of life depends on the species. For example, humans are babies, dogs are puppies, and plants are seedlings. Many new creatures are completely helpless, like human babies or kittens. Others can stand within an hour of being born, like a baby giraffe. Some newborn creatures are almost completely able to take care of themselves, like a newborn shark.

GAME ON!
The next stage of the life cycle is focused on growing and learning skills. Human babies learn how to control their own arms and legs. Wild animal babies learn how to forage for food and respond to danger. Plants aren’t really “learning” anything at this stage, but they grow stronger as their roots go deeper into the ground and they start getting larger.

forage: to search for food.
photosynthesis: how plants turn sunlight and water into food to grow.
BIG LEAGUES
Adulthood is the next stage of the life cycle. This is where most organisms spend most of their lives. They’re fully grown, and doing the things they need to do to live their lives.

For people, this is when they’ll most likely be working, pursuing hobbies, and meeting someone they want to marry. For animals, this is when they’ll be seeking food and shelter, finding a mate, and not getting eaten themselves! And most plants spend this time doing their job—something called photosynthesis This is the way they convert sunlight to food.
During this stage, organisms usually create new life, too. Birds lay eggs, horses have foals, and oak trees drop acorns that become new trees.
WRAPPING IT UP

The final stage of the life cycle is when the organism dies. For people, we think of this as something that’s really sad. But even though we don’t like to think about it, death is a very natural part of the life cycle. And the life cycle itself can never die or end.
MAKE YOUR OWN
Life Cycle Möbius Strip
The cycle of life keeps going on and on. You can play with this idea by using a clever invention called a Möbius strip. It was named after the person who created it.
1 You’ll need a long strip of paper, about 2 inches wide. To make it long enough, cut two strips of the same width from the long side of your paper and tape them together. Make sure you tape it all the way across the width of the paper.

2 Decorate both sides of your paper with pictures of an organism’s life cycle.

3 Lay the paper on the table. Mark the upper left corner of the paper “A.” Write “B” on the lower left corner. Label the upper right corner “C,” and the lower left corner “D.”
4 Pick the paper up with both hands. Give the paper a half-twist, and bring the “AB” side over to meet the “CD” side. You want the A to touch the D, and the B to touch the C.
5 Tape the paper together where the ends meet. You now have a Möbius strip.

6 Lay the strip on the table. Put your pen on the middle of the inside of the strip. Without picking up your pen, slowly pull the strip so that you make a line right down the middle. Keep going until you meet your starting point. You’ll not only go around the whole inside of the strip, but the outside, too—without picking up your pen!
7 Carefully cut along the line.

What’s happening?
You don’t get two strips—you get one even longer Möbius strip! That’s just like the cycle of life. It keeps going on and on. If your new strip is thick enough, you can draw another line down the middle and cut it again and again until it’s too thin.

Supplies paper (8½ x 11 is fine, but longer is even better) scissors tape pen, crayons, or markers
MAKE YOUR OWN
Life Cycle Viewing Strips
Some creatures have interesting life cycles. Make a life cycle viewing strip to show others how these organisms change over time.
1 Cut the egg cartons into strips so you have rows of three cups. Each cup will represent a different life stage.

2 To make a butterfly life cycle, cut a small leaf out of the green construction paper. It needs to fit in the egg cup. Carefully glue several dried peas or beads to the leaf. These are the butterfly’s eggs. For the second cup, roll three small balls of clay and attach them together. Snip off two pieces of pipe cleaner to stick into the head for antennae. This is your caterpillar stage.

Supplies egg cartons scissors green construction paper glue dried peas or very small, round beads clay pipe cleaners uncooked bowtie