Nonfiction Main Idea #1

Adelie penguins’ habitat is in Antarctica. They have a black head and back; however, their bellies are white. They have a longer tail than most penguins do. Their black tail is stiff and drags behind them when they walk. They have white rings around their eyes. Their bills are red, but black feathers growing around the bill usually keeps the red hidden. Adult Adelies grow to be about 28 inches tall and weigh from 8 to 12 pounds. They are actually one of the smallest kinds of penguins.

• What Adelie penguins look like

• Where Adelie penguins live

• How Adelie penguins compare to other penguins

Did you know that soil is made up of 4 different layers? The layers are named O, A, B, and C. The O layer is the top layer. This layer is where dead leaves and bugs break down. The A layer has roots, worms and other tiny living organisms. The B layer is hard, and has very few life forms in it. The C layer is the bottom layer. This layer has even fewer living things in it.

• The bottom layers of soil have few living things in it

• There are 4 layers of soil

• Soil is named after letters

The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. It is made up of thousands of different sized and shaped rocks. The largest asteroid is named Ceres. It was first spotted in 1801. Only the really large asteroids have names. Here is a fun fact for you: if you put all the asteroids in the asteroid belt together, you could create a small planet that is half the size of our planet, Earth.

• Ceres is a large asteroid

• The different sizes of asteroids

• Information about the asteroid belt

White blood cells have a job to try to keep you healthy. They fight germs as they enter your body. If you scrape your arm, a white blood cell will send a message to other white blood cells in your body to help fight the germs that are trying to enter your body. When you have the flu, your body needs more white blood cells to feel better. White blood cells can remember what the illness looks like, and the white blood cells can react to get rid of the germ before you feel sick.

• The job of white blood cells

• When you get a scrape, how white blood cells react

• How germs enter your body and make you sick

Yellowstone National Park is the first national park in the United States. It opened in 1872. It is located in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. At Yellowstone, you can see a lot of different kinds of wildlife. There is a geyser named Old Faithful that shoots water from a hole in the ground. Many people enjoy the hiking and biking trails that are there too.

• Old Faithful geyser

• Things you can do if you visit Idaho, Wyoming or Montana

• Facts about Yellowstone National Park

Dr. Seuss is known for his numerous children’s books he has written and illustrated. He was born on March 4, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Dr. Seuss’ real name is Theodore Seuss Geisel. He used to sign his middle name on pictures and writing he created, so this is where his pen name came from. His first book was And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street. He has written other famous books such as The Cat and The Hat, The Lorax, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Horton Hears a Who. Dr. Seuss passed away on September 24, 1991.

• The books that Dr. Seuss has written

• A mini-biography of Dr. Seuss’ life

• How Dr. Seuss got his pen name

The life cycle of a butterfly has four stages. The first stage is the egg. When the eggs hatch, there is a baby larva. Another name for the larva is a caterpillar. The caterpillar will eat leaves to grow. The caterpillar will molt, or shed its skin as it grows to its full size. When the caterpillar is full grown, it will attach itself to a branch and turns into a pupa. In this stage, it forms a case called a cocoon or chrysalis. The pupa does not eat at all. The caterpillar is busy going through a metamorphosis, or change, to become a butterfly.

• How a caterpillar molts, or sheds it skin

• How the butterfly eggs hatch

• The 4 stages in the life cycle of a butterfly

A lever is a type of simple machine. Using a lever can make work easier to do. A lever is a bar that balances on a point called a fulcrum. A fulcrum can be moved to help lift things up with less effort. Levers were first described by an ancient mathematician named Archimedes in 820 BC. In first class levers, the fulcrum is between the effort and load. See-saws, scissors and pliers are first class levers. In a second class lever, the load is between the fulcrum and effort seen in wheelbarrows and staplers. The third class lever has effort between the fulcrum and load. Examples of third class levers are tweezers and tongs.

• The fulcrum can be moved

• The fulcrum can be moved

• About Archimedes discovery of levers

Itch, itch! You have a mosquito bite. However, male mosquitoes are not the biting culprit. Female mosquitoes are responsible for your itchy bug bites. A female mosquito will land on you, and will insert her proboscis into your skin. The female mosquito will drink your blood. The mosquito’s saliva contains a special chemical that keeps your blood from clotting while she is drinking it. The female’s saliva is what causes that itchy bump on your skin. Your body works to break down the mosquito saliva. When it is broken down, the mosquito bite will no longer itch

• Why mosquito bites are itchy

• How long it takes for a bug bite to go away

• Female mosquitoes cause itchy mosquito bites because of their saliva

Paleontology is the study of prehistoric life. Scientists who study paleontology are called paleontologists. Fossils are what paleontologists examine. They try to find out three important things about fossils. First, they want to identify the origin of the fossil. They also inquire about the fossil’s environment, and what the fossil can help us learn about the history of the earth. Paleontologists love to study about all life on earth, so they inspect all kinds of fossils, not just dinosaur bones. Some paleontologists have a specialty area where they are experts in plant fossils, fossil fish, or fossil mammals in addition to dinosaurs.

• Information about paleontologists

• Dinosaur bones are types of fossils

• Plants, fish, mammals and dinosaurs all make fossils