Made to fit their home
Every plant and animal lives best in a certain place, its habitat. An adaptation is a body part or a way of behaving that helps a living thing live there. An acacia tree grows in dry places. Its roots can go very deep to find water, its small leaves lose little water, and its thorns make it harder for animals to eat it. A water lily grows in still water. Its roots hold in the mud, its long bendy stem lets the flat leaf float on top where there is light, and the top of the leaf stays dry because water runs off it. Old paintings, carvings and writings from Egypt show water lilies, so they are sources that tell us the flower mattered to people long ago. To write a story about an animal that adapts, plan the characters, the setting, and a beginning, a middle and an end.
| Acacia | Water lily | |
|---|---|---|
| Home | dry land | still water |
| Roots | go deep to find water | hold in the mud |
| Leaves | small, lose little water | flat, float on top |
| Part | Seif’s plan |
|---|---|
| Characters | Zaki the young fox |
| Setting | the desert at night |
| Beginning | The day is too hot to play. |
| Middle | Zaki rests in a cool burrow and goes out when it gets dark. |
| End | His big ears help him hear food and lose heat. |
Plan my story. Choose an animal and a habitat in Egypt, for example a camel in the desert or a fish in the Nile. Make a table with the rows: characters, setting, beginning, middle and end. In the middle, show one adaptation that helps your animal. Then tell your story to a partner. Ask your partner: “Which adaptation did you notice?” With a grown-up, look at a water lily in a picture book or online and say what you learn from it.