Read & Explore 61: Arctic Tern

Arctic terns look like small seagulls. They have long, swept-back wings and tails, with black caps and bright red beaks. They weigh no more than a lime. Like many birds, they are migrating, moving south to escape the coming winter. Every year, these tiny birds will fly across the world, all the way from the Arctic to Antarctica.

In September, cold winds start to blow. The Arctic summer is ending. Soon the snow and ice will return, and there will be little food to eat. The terns leave their Arctic nesting grounds, departing at sunset. Under the stars, they fly over the dark sea.

The terns swoop low over the waves and dive for fish. In some places, the ocean is filled with food. In others, there is little to eat, so they keep flying south. Their light bodies, largely all feathers, allow them to travel without much need for rest. On and on they fly, across the wide, wide Atlantic Ocean.

One day the terns encounter a flock of gulls. The larger gulls chase young terns and steal their food. Later a storm blows the terns off course. But if the weather is calm, then the wind helps the colony travel fast and far.

In October and November, the Arctic terns arrive in Antarctica, just in time for the southern summer. The sun shines day and night. In May most of the colony will return north for the Arctic summer.

The Arctic terns complete the longest migration of any animal on earth. The scientists learned that the birds flew 44,000 miles each year, much farther than anyone had thought. Since terns can live to be over thirty years old, that’s a lot of frequent flier miles. “If you add that up over the course of their lifetime, that’s like flying to the moon and back three times,” said Iain Stenhouse, a marine bird expert with the Biodiversity Research Institute in Maine. The Arctic tern, a tiny bird, makes extraordinary migration!

Activities:

1. According to this selection, when do the Arctic terns start and finish their journey? Do you think what might help their long-distance migration?

2. Suppose the Arctic terns live about thirty-four years. They don’t migrate until they are two years old. Please estimate the total distance each Arctic tern flew during its lifetime.

3. The Arctic terns are beautiful tiny birds. Can you draw several flying Arctic terns? Watch the videos to learn more about them.

 

Read & Explore 60: How to Harvest Cranberries

It is fall harvest time down on the cranberry bog. The cranberries are dark red. It's time to harvest! There are two ways to harvest cranberries.

Wet harvesting is when part of the bog is purposely flooded. A machine called a water reel beats the vines. It helps cranberries pull away from the vines and float to the surface of the water. The floating cranberries are collected. Then the fruit is loaded onto trucks. Next, cranberries have to be washed to remove leaves and dirt. The good berries are pulled out from the bad berries. Good berries bounce along a separator. Bad berries do not bounce and get thrown out. Finally, the wet harvested cranberries reach your supermarket. You'll find these berries as canned cranberries, cranberry sauce, and cranberry juice.

Dry harvesting is another way to harvest cranberries. The bogs are not flooded. Instead a machine picks cranberries off the vines. This machine looks like a giant lawnmower! As the machine picks cranberries, it lifts the fruit into a container.

The dry harvested cranberries are also washed. Good berries are separated from bad berries. Soft brushes polish the fruit. Dry harvested cranberries are sold at your supermarket as fresh cranberries. They are often packaged in bags and found in the produce section of the supermarket.

No matter how cranberries are harvested, they are tasty to drink or eat as part of a Thanksgiving feast. They can also be found in yummy holiday goodies!

Activities:

1. In your own words please retell how cranberries are harvested. What kind of harvesting do you think is more difficult? Why?

2. Cranberries are rich in antioxidants and excellent sources of vitamin C. They are a superfood. What can you make with cranberries? How do cranberries grow? Discuss with your partners and watch the following video.

Read & Explore 59: The Dog in the Manger

There was once a dog who liked to nap on hot days in the cool barn. He liked to sleep in the manger, the long wooden box where hay was put for the farm animals to eat. One hot day after a long afternoon pulling the plow, the oxen returned to the barn, hungry for their dinner. But they couldn’t get to their food because the dog was lying in the manger taking a nap on the hay.

“Excuse me,” said one of the tired oxen, “would you please move so that I can eat my hay?” The dog, angry at being awakened from his nap, growled and barked at the ox.

“Please,” said the tired, hungry ox, “I’ve had a hard day, and I’m very hungry.” But the dog, who did not even eat hay, but only enjoyed it for its comfort, barked and snapped in response, and refused to budge. At last the poor oxen had to give up, and went away tired and hungry.

Activities:

1. Do you think the dog in this fable had a good reason to be angry at the ox? Why or why not? What should the ox do to get its food in the manger? Discuss with your partners in plain English.

2. The manger in the fable was a long wooden box. Suppose it was rectangular-shaped and eight meters long. Its width was half of its length. Find the manger’s width and perimeter in meters. Was this manger big enough that could be shared between the dog and the oxen?

3. What is the moral of this fable? Write several sentences and draw pictures to illustrate it. Then compare your illustrations with the following video.