Reading Comprehension Science Grade 6
Reading Comprehension Science Grade 6
Reading Comprehension Science Grade 6
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GRADE6
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New Words
✲ anemone ✲ poisonous
✲ invertebrate ✲ paralyze
✲ tentacles ✲ immunity
✲ nematocysts ✲ predator
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A sea anemone’s tentacles may look pretty, but they are deadly to most fish.
This is because the tentacles contain nematocysts. Nematocysts are stinging
cells. If a fish swims around an anemone’s tentacles, it will get stung. The
poisonous stings will paralyze or kill the fish. When something is paralyzed, it
cannot move. The paralyzed or dead fish will then become the anemone’s meal.
The anemone will use its tentacles to carry its meal to its mouth.
The clown fish uses the sea anemone for safety. The fish hides among its
tentacles. Why doesn’t the clown fish die from the anemone’s poisonous stings?
The clown fish does not die because it gets stung on purpose! First, the clown
fish swims around the anemone’s tentacles. It does not touch them. Then, it
begins to touch them every so slightly.
As the clown fish carefully darts in and out of the tentacles, it slowly builds
up immunity to the anemone’s stings. The fish becomes protected from the
anemone’s poisons. A clown fish’s immunity does not last forever. If a clown
fish leaves its anemone for more than one hour, it will no longer be immune. It
will have to be stung all over again to build up its immunity.
1. How long can a clown fish stay 4. Why might it be good for a sea
away from its anemone before anemone to have a clown fish
losing its immunity? swimming among its tentacles?
a 15 minutes a The sea anemone can
b 30 minutes paralyze and eat the clown
fish.
c 45 minutes
b The clown fish can sting the
d 60 minutes sea anemone’s predators.
c The clown fish is protected by
2. Which animal is an invertebrate? the immunity it builds up.
a a slug d The predators that come to
b a mouse eat the clown fish are stung
and eaten by the anemone.
c a whale
d a person 5. Think about how the word immune
relates to protected. Which words
3. This story is mainly about relate in the same way?
a immunity from sea anemones. immune : protected
b sea anemones and predators.
a left : stay
c clown fish and sea anemones.
b alive : killed
d a sea anemone’s poisonous
tentacles. c wrong : mistaken
d move : paralyzed
Disease Detectives
✲ symptoms ✲ investigate
✲ notified ✲ source
✲ disease ✲ exhibiting
✲ epidemiologist ✲ toxins
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Disease Detectives
A group of people in Hawaii had gotten sick. All the people had the same
symptoms, or signs, of the same illness. The Center for Disease Control (CDC)
was notified, or informed. The CDC is a government organization. It was
founded in 1946. Its mission is to examine and fight disease throughout the
world. When the CDC was notified, it sent epidemiologists to investigate.
The epidemiologists found that everyone had attended the same picnic. They
had eaten the same dish. The dish was made with boiled seaweed. Further
questions showed that people who attended the picnic and did not exhibit
symptoms had not eaten the dish. The epidemiologists had tracked the disease
outbreak to the dish, but the investigation was far from over.
Disease Detectives