The Baby Swans Written by Marilyn Woolley Illustrated by Susy Boyer
The Baby Swans Text type: Narrative Level: J (18) Word count: 586 Content vocabulary attack beak clean eggs feathers fox/es hatched nests protect reeds roots summer water water plants wetland wing winter
The Baby Swans
Curriculum link • Science: Habitats, life cycles Key concept • An animal’s habitat has everything required to meet its needs. Reading strategy • Summarizing the plot Paired book Cleaning Up Our Wetland
Written by Marilyn Woolley © 2010-2015 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. This work is protected by US copyright law, and under international copyright conventions, applicable in the jurisdictions in which it is published. All rights reserved. The trademark “Flying Start to Literacy” and Star device is a registered trademark of EC Licensing Pty Ltd in the US. Purchasers of this book may have certain rights under applicable copyright law to copy parts of this book. Purchasers must make the necessary enquiries to ascertain whether and to what extent they have any such right in the jurisdiction in which they will be using the book.
Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing Designed by Derek Schneider Printed and bound in China through Colorcraft Ltd, Hong Kong Distributed in the USA by Okapi Educational Publishing Inc. Phone: 866-652-7436 Fax: 800-481-5499 Email: info@myokapi.com www.myokapi.com www.flying-start-to-literacy.com ISBN: 978-1-74234-599-4 7 8 9 10 11 15 16 17 18 19
okapi educational publishing
Illustrated by Susy Boyer
Contents Chapter 1: The swans’ new home
4
Chapter 2: Danger lurks
8
Chapter 3: Keeping safe
12
Chapter 4: Attack!
17
Chapter 5: Leaving the wetlands
20
A note from the author
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Chapter 1: The swans’ new home One day at the end of winter, two large, white swans came to the clean, clear waters of the wetland. The swans were looking for a good place to lay their eggs. They needed a place with lots of food to eat. They needed a place where they could protect their babies from foxes.
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5
As the swans swam around the wetland, they saw that many reeds grew in the water. The swans needed the reeds to make a nest. There were many water plants for the swans to eat. In the long grass, the fox was waiting. The fox could only get the swans if they came onto the land.
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Chapter 2: Danger lurks The swans worked hard to make a safe nest for their eggs in the middle of the wetland. The father swan pulled up long reeds and plants from the water. The mother swan used her beak and her long, thin neck to lay these reeds on top of each other. It took the swans two weeks to finish their large nest on top of the water.
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9
When the nest was finished the mother swan laid five large green eggs in the nest.
The fox sat and watched the swans. He could not attack a fully grown swan, but swan eggs and baby swans
She covered these eggs with her warm
were his favorite food. The fox licked
feathers. She tucked her long neck
his lips and slipped away.
under her wing and rested.
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11
Chapter 3: Keeping safe While the mother swan kept the eggs warm, the father swan fed on water plants. Sometimes he would dive to the bottom of the water to get the roots of the plants to eat.
When he came back to the nest, he put more reeds on the nest and took his turn sitting on the eggs. The mother swan left the nest to feed on water plants. Hiding in the reeds, the fox watched the swans.
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13
After about six weeks, there were cracks in the eggs and pieces of shell slowly began to fall off them. At last, five little swans hatched from the eggs. The mother and father swan took turns bringing food to the babies, but they never left them alone. They knew that the babies could not protect themselves.
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Chapter 4: Attack! The next day, the baby swans left the nest. The fox was hidden in the reeds, watching and waiting. The baby swans could already swim. They followed their parents around the wetland. But the littlest baby could not keep up. He cheeped and cheeped, but his mother and father did not hear him.
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Just as the fox was about to spring out and snatch the baby swan with his sharp teeth, the mother swan turned and saw the fox in the reeds. She flapped her wings and clacked her beak. She swam straight at the fox, hissing and hissing. The mother swan was too big for the fox to fight. He turned and ran. The baby swan was safe. 18
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Chapter 5: Leaving the wetlands During the summer the baby swans grew new white feathers and their beaks turned dark orange. When winter came, the swans stood tall and flapped their wings just like their mother and father did. With a spray of water, the swans flew away from the wetland. The mother and father swans left the wetland, too. As they flew away they made a deep trumpet-like call.
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The swans would return to the same clean wetland to begin a new family the next year.
Hidden in the reeds, the fox watched them go. 22
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A note from the author Every day when I walked my dog along the path near our wetland, I would watch as the swans made a nest from
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the reeds in the middle of the wetland.
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When the baby swans hatched out,
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I used to enjoy watching them grow
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Ruby in the Middle
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Angus Cleans Up
as they ate plants in the water.
Sticky and Dangerous Plants
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As they grew bigger they would flap their wings to make them stronger
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and stay safe from the foxes. I was
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sad when they learned to fly by
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How Moose Learned to Swim
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You Can Make a Difference!
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there would hopefully be another
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group of new baby swans.
Deep in the Sea
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Cleaning Up Our Wetland
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24
Flying Start to Literacy: Level J (18)
okapi educational publishing