Animals of the African Grasslands

Animals of the African Grasslands Pages 4–7PredictThis is the introduction. This introduction says thatgrasslands cover large parts of Africa.Point out the map of Africa and the amount of grasslandsshaded.Look at the photos on this page. What do you thinkgrasslands are like? What types of animals will call thegrasslands their home?Turn to page 6.The next chapter is about plant-eaters. This page says thatthe grasslands of Africa feed millions of animals. How wouldthere be enough food for all the different types of animals?How would they share the plants?Read to the end of page 7.ReflectTell me in your own words something that you discoveredabout animals that live on the African grasslands?How do the many types of plant-eaters share the plants?Observe and supportDoes the child check what she or he read with thephonic information on the page?How did you know that word was ‘antelope’? What didyou check at the start of the word? What did you lookfor at the end of the word? What else did you check?4

Animals of the African Grasslands Pages 8–11PredictPlant-eaters that eat grass are called grazers. All parts ofthe grasses are grazed by different animals. What would bethe different parts of the grasses?Gazelles eat the new shoots of different grasses. Warthogsdig in the ground with their feet, tusks and mouths. Whatpart of the grasses do you think they eat?Turn to page 10.Large animals that eat the leaves and stems of bushes andtrees are called browsers.Look at the photos on this page. What do you think kudu,giraffes and elephants eat?Read to the end of page 11.ReflectWhat does ‘graze’ mean?What part of the grasses do gazelles, warthogs, wildebeestand buffalo eat?Do elephants and giraffes browse on the same part of thetrees? How do you know?Observe and supportAsk a child to read aloud to you while the otherchildren are reading silently.Can the child read the text fluently?Try to make it sound as if you were talking to someone.6

Animals of the African Grasslands Pages 12–15PredictMeat-eating animals eat plant-eating animals. These meateatersare either predators or scavengers. What do youthink a predator does? What do you think a scavengerdoes?Turn to page 14.This section is about predators. When leopards hunt theyhide in bushes and tall grass to watch their prey. Leopardsare very powerful and carry their prey into trees so otherpredators cannot reach them.Look at the photos of the cheetah. How do you think theycatch their prey?Read to the end of page 15.ReflectDo predators and scavengers hunt for food in the same way?Are they in competition with each other? How do you know?What is special about the cheetah? Why can it run so fast?Observe and supportCan the child explain the meaning of the scientificlanguage used in the book?What do you think prey means?What is the difference between a predator and ascavenger?8

Animals of the African Grasslands Pages 16–19PredictDiscuss the heading and subheading on this page.Look at the photo of the lion. Lions often hunt in a smallgroup called a pride. The pride shares the kill. Look at thephoto of the African hunting dogs. Do you think they hunt ingroups as well? Why?Turn to page 18.This section is about scavengers. Scavengers feed onanything they find on the grasslands. Look at the photos ofthe vultures. What can you see? How would they find theirfood? Hyenas have the most powerful jaws of all thescavengers. What would they use them for?Read to the end of page 19.ReflectTell me in your own words how African hunting dogs huntfor food?Tell me something interesting you discovered aboutscavengers?Observe and supportCan the child interpret the text?Why do some predators, like the lion and the Africanhunting dog, hunt their prey in groups?10

Animals of the African Grasslands Pages 20–23PredictDiscuss the heading and subheading on this page.Most large plant-eating animals live in big groups calledherds. Why do you think these animals live and travelin a herd?Look at the photo of the wildebeest and zebra. Why woulddifferent types of animals travel together?Turn to page 22.Look at the photo of the gazelle. What do you notice aboutits eyes? Why would big eyes on the side of their head helpthem keep safe from predators?Read to the end of page 23.ReflectWhy is it safer to live and travel in a herd? Why do differentanimal herds travel together?How do plant-eaters keep themselves safe from predatorswhile they are feeding?Observe and supportCan the child explain the use of headings andsubheadings in the text?Why does the author use headings and subheadings?What is their purpose?12

Animals of the African Grasslands Page 24PredictThis is the conclusion. It tells us that most of the animals ofthe African grasslands are plant-eaters. It also says thatthey eat different parts of nearly every kind of plant on thegrasslands. What do you think it will say about meat-eaters?Read to the end of page 24.ReflectAre there more plant-eaters or meat-eaters? How do youknow?Tell me something you have learned about animals of theAfrican grasslands.Observe and supportCan the child interpret what the author might mean?Why do all grassland animals depend on plants forfood?14

After readingBeing a meaning makerEncourage the children to supporttheir answers with evidence fromthe book as they discuss thesequestions:What is a plant-eater?How do plant-eaters work togetherto survive?What is a meat-eater?What is the difference betweenpredators and scavengers?Why do all the animals that live onthe African grasslands depend onplants to survive?Being a code breakerExplore the following languagefeatures:• Adjectives: big, coarse, flexible,great, long, powerful, short, tall,thick, top, wide• Plurals: animals, buffalo,cheetahs, elephants, grasslands,gazelles, kudu, leaves, leopards,shrubs, stems, trees, wildebeest,warthogsBeing a text userRefer back to the meat-eater/planteatersort that children did afterdiscussing the contents page. Invitechildren to change and addinformation.Are there other African animals wehave discovered from reading thisbook? Are they meat-eaters orplant-eaters?Do we need to make changes to ouroriginal animal sort? Why?Being a text criticTell me about the information inthe story that you were mostinterested in?Was there anything about this bookthat helped you to understand theinformation better? What was it?16

Responding to textThe children could complete aninformation retrieval chart basedon the book. Retrieval charts help tocategorise information and provide avisual summary of the text. The retrievalchart for this book could look like theone below.The children could complete apicture facts activity. Have thechildren re-read the conclusion togetherand draw a picture to represent eachpiece of information found in it. Thechildren could draw plants, a giraffeeating branches, a warthog eating roots, acheetah running after its prey and avulture eating a dead zebra.Animals of the African Grasslands byJames TaliaDiscuss what the children believean adjective to be. The childrencould work in pairs to find and highlightthe adjectives on a photocopied page ofthe book. Have the children share andjustify their choices with the class.What type of words are adjectives?What do adjectives do to a sentence?Writing linksLook at an enlarged photo of an Africananimal. Discuss its features and generatea list of adjectives to describe it. Thenmodel writing an interesting sentenceabout this animal using as manyadjectives as you can.Provide pictures of African animals. Thechildren could select one and write theirown sentences describing the uniquefeatures of that animal. Display thesentences with the picture.Animal Movement Food Meat/ plant eaters? What type ofmeat-eater/plant-eater?Gazelles Long muscular legs New shoots of Plant-eater GrazerCan travel long different plantsdistancesVulture Fly over the Dead animals Meat-eater ScavengergrasslandsPossible assessment focusCan the children:• explain the meaning of the scientific language used in the book?• provide examples of plant-eaters and meat-eaters?• identify adjectives used in the text?whole text activity sentence activity word activity

Animals of the AfricanGrasslandsTopic: Animal Kingdom/Plants/Relationships/EnvironmentCurriculum link: Natural ScienceText type: Report/DescriptionReading level: 24Word count: 1005Vocabulary: Africa, African hunting dogs,antelope, browsers, buffalo, cheetah, coarse,gazelles, grasslands, grazers, herds, hyenas,kudu, leopards, meat-eaters, plant-eaters,predators, prey, pride, scavengers,secretary birds, vultures, warning,warthogs, wildebeestPossible literacy focus:• Understanding scientific language: planteaters,predators, scavengers.• Discussing what the different animals of theAfrican grasslands eat.• Identifying adjectives: long, flexible, wide.SummaryThis book explains the ways in which animalson the African grasslands find food, anddescribes the relationships between theseanimals.ESL possibilities:• Clarifying the meaning of unfamiliarvocabulary: browser, grazer, herd, predator,pride, scavenger.• Discussing the functions of an introductionand a conclusion in a report.AlphaWorldISBN 0- 7253- 3129- 19 780725 331290