Teacher Edition

Animals That StingWritten by Claire SaxbyPhotography by Gary Lewis

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Text highlights• Technical language: sting, poison, danger,

tentacles, stinging spines, poison sac

• Labelled photographs

Vocabularymany, some, all, others, most, sting, poison,

danger, tentacles, stinging spines, poison sac

How to use this bookBefore reading: TalkthroughTalk through the book with the children. Encouragethem to predict the text from the cover and thepictures, and to think about the information theyprovide. Direct the children’s attention to aspects ofthe text that may challenge them. Support the childrento deal with these challenges by asking theTalkthrough questions on each page.

During reading: Observe and supportObserve the children as they read. Encourage them tomonitor their own reading as they comprehend thetext. As needed, support children by assisting them todiscover and use reading strategies and cues to solveproblems and respond to reading challenges that arisein the text. Interruptions to the child’s reading shouldbe minimal and focused on a specified learning need.

After reading: Comprehension, returning tothe text, responding and writing linksTo further develop children’s understanding of thetext, select from activities found on page 12 and theinside back cover. These whole text, sentence and wordlevel activities reinforce the teaching focus of thisbook. Assessment ideas are provided to assist withplanning for further teaching.

Horwitz EducationA Division of HorwitzPublications Pty Ltd55 Chandos StreetSt Leonards NSW 2065Australia

Horwitz Gardner EducationUnit 53, CressexEnterprise ParkLincoln RoadHigh Wycombe, Bucks, HP12 3RL,United Kingdom

Published edition © Eleanor Curtain Publishing 2003

First published 2003

Apart from any fair dealing forthe purposes of study, research,criticism or review, aspermitted under the CopyrightAct of Australia, no part of thisbook may be reproduced byany process, or transmitted inany form, without permissionof the copyright owner. Wherecopies of part or the whole ofthis book are made under PartVB of the Copyright Act, thelaw requires that records ofsuch copying be kept and thecopyright owner is entitled toclaim payment.

Developed by Eleanor Curtain PublishingText: Jenny FeelyConsultant: Susan HillDesigned by Alexander StittProduction by Publishing Solutions

Printed in Hong Kong

ISBN 0 7253 2841 XPack ISBN 0 7253 2797 9(6 Student Books + 1 TeacherEdition)

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Setting the contextHave you ever been stungby something? What was itlike? How did you feelafterwards? Which animalssting? Why do animalssting?You may like to list thechildren’s ideas on a chartfor future reference.

Background informationAnimals have stings to getfood or protect themselves.Some use their stings forboth purposes. Stings injectpoison into the bloodstream,causing various reactionsranging from minor skinirritations to paralysis oreven death.

Introducing the bookThis book is called ‘AnimalsThat Sting’. It is aboutanimals that can sting. Ittells us which animals havestings and what they usethem for.

Front coverWhat is this mosquito doing? Can you see itssting? What is it stinging?Discuss with the children that thephotograph shows a mosquito feeding on ahuman arm.

Title pageThe title page tells us the name of the book,and the names of the author andphotographer.Look at the photograph of the caterpillar.Where are the stings on this animal? Whymight a caterpillar need stings?

Animals That StingWritten by Claire SaxbyPhotography by Gary Lewis

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Animals That Sting

Written by Claire Saxby

Photography by Gary Lewis

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2

Animals That Sting Pages 2–3

TalkthroughWhich animals can you see here?Ensure that the children can name each animal.Why do you think these animals have stings? Do they all usethem for the same reason? Which animals would use theirstings to get food? Which would use their stings to protectthemselves?

Observe and supportCan the child understand the literal meaning of the text?Why do animals use stings? Which part of the text tells youthat?

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3

3

Introduction

Many animals sting.

Some animals sting to get food.Others sting when they are in danger.

Some animals do both.

2

4

Animals That Sting Pages 4–7

TalkthroughLook at the photograph on pages 4–5 and read the text.Point out the label on the photograph.What does this label tell us about the mosquito? Where isthe mosquito’s sting? Why does a mosquito sting? The booktells us that mosquitoes don’t bite with teeth. How do theyeat?Now look at the caterpillars on the next page.Where are the stings on the caterpillar? How did you workthat out? What did you look at?

Observe and supportDoes the child use their knowledge of phonics to supporttheir reading?Point out the word ‘poison’. Does the child recognise that/oi/ represents a sound?Can you show me the part of this word that can make thesound /oi/?

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Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are looking for food when they sting you.

Mosquitoes don’t bite with teeth.They suck blood through their long,thin mouths.

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sting

7

Caterpillars

Some caterpillars have hairs that sting.Poison comes out when a hair is touched.

These hairs stop animals from eating thecaterpillars.

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sting

sting

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Animals That Sting Pages 8–9

TalkthroughWhat is this animal called? Where is its sting? What did youlook at to work that out? Scorpions bend their tails over theirheads when they are going to sting.

Observe and supportCan the child use the text to interpret the informationcontained in the photographs?Why does this scorpion have its tail bent over its head? Whatis it going to do? What part of the text tells you that?

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Scorpions

Scorpions have poison in the tips of their tails. They bend their tailsover their heads when they sting.

Scorpions use their sting to kill food.They also sting when they are indanger.

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sting

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Animals That Sting Pages 10–13

TalkthroughLook at the jellyfish on pages 10–11.Some sea animals have stings. Jellyfish have lots oftentacles. Where does a jellyfish have its stings?Turn to pages 12–13.Look at the stingray. Where is its sting?Jellyfish and stingrays use their stings for different reasons.Why does a stingray use its sting?

Observe and supportUse pages 10–11 to assess whether the child can useinformation in the photographs and text to understandnew vocabulary.What is a tentacle? What helped you to work that out?If the child is unable to explain what a tentacle is askthem to re-read the text.What does the text say about tentacles? Look at thephotograph. What does the label tell you about tentacles?What is a tentacle?

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Jellyfish

Jellyfish have tentacles with small,poisonous stings.

Jellyfish shoot these stings to kill their food.

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sting

sting

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Stingrays

Stingrays have long, thin tails with stinging spines.They have poison at the bottom of each spine.

Stingrays use their tails like a whip when they are attacked.

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sting

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Animals That Sting Pages 14–16

TalkthroughLook at pages 14–15.These pages tells us about bees and wasps. Which is thewasp? (p.14) Which is the bee? Where are their stings?Bees and wasps have a poison sac at the end of theirstings. Think about the word ‘poison’. Which letters makethe /oi/ sound in the word ‘poison’?Now look at page 16. Point to each photograph and see ifchildren can identify the animals.Can you guess the animal in each photograph?

Observe and supportCan the child read the text fluently?Can you read it all together? Try to make it sound as if youare talking to someone.

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15

Bees and wasps

Bees and wasps have a sting on the endof their bodies.A poison sac is at the end of the sting.

Bees sting once and then they die.Wasps can sting many times.

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sting

Conclusion

There are many ways that animals can sting.

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12

Animals That Sting

Being a meaning makerEncourage the children to supporttheir answers with evidence from thebook as they discuss these questions:Why do mosquitoes have stings?Which animals sting to get food? Whichanimals sting to protect themselves?How do jellyfish catch food?Why are animals with stingsdangerous?What should you do if you see ananimal that has a sting?

Being a code breakerChildren may like to explore thefollowing language features:• The blend ‘st’: sting, stop, stingray.• Collective nouns: mosquitoes,caterpillars, hairs, scorpions, tails,jellyfish, stingrays, bees, wasps.

Being a text userYou may like to refer to the list ofchildren’s ideas from the ‘Setting thecontext’ section on page 1.Which animals from our list did we findout about in this book? Which were notincluded?Why do animals use their stings?Point out the labels on thephotographs.What are these called? Why are theythere? What do they tell us?

Being a text criticWhat did the author need to know towrite this book?How did the author find out thisinformation?Which other animals could the authorhave included in the book?

Responding to textChildren could make a warningposter telling about dangerous

stinging animals. Encourage childrento include labels showing where thesting appears on each animal.

Children could make models ofthe animals featured in the

book. They could use their models togive a class talk explaining why theanimal is dangerous. Encourage themto use the same kind of language thatis in the book: sting, poisonous,tentacles, spines, danger, etc.

Children could browse throughother texts or CD-ROMs to

learn more about animals that sting.Information could be added to agroup chart.

Writing linksShared/guided writingHave children develop theirunderstanding of how labels are usedin texts. Provide a range of pictures ofanimals.What might we want someone to knowabout this animal? Which parts wouldwe label? How do we add a label?Encourage children to make labels toshow the different body parts of theanimal. Children can write theirlabels on small pieces of paper andthen paste them onto the picture.

Independent writingChildren could write about otheranimals, exploring how to use labelsto support their texts. This workcould be done on the computer usingimage banks and text boxes.

AssessmentCan the child:• Identify language that classifies number: many, some, all, others, most?• Explain given words from the text: sting, poison, danger, tentacles, stingingspines, poison sac?• Explain why some animals with stings are dangerous to people?

whole text activity sentence activity word activity

Animals That StingWritten by Claire SaxbyPhotography by Gary Lewis

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Topic: Living thingsCurriculum link: ScienceText type: ReportReading level: 16Word count: 183Vocabulary: many, some, all, others, most, sting,poison, danger, tentacles, stinging spines, poisonsac

Possible literacy focusUnderstanding the use of classifying language.Learning new words associated with animals thatsting.Inferring meaning from the text about how andwhy some animals sting.

SummaryThis book is about animals that have stings. Itprovides information about how these animals usetheir stings to protect themselves or to get food.

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