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Tiny Bands, Big Clues: How Scientists Study Birds

Read an original science article about bird banding, then answer questions about the steps, key details, signal words and text evidence.

Grade 3ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRI.3.10

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 Common Core standard
Printable answer key
9 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: ELA
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students read a grade 3 science article on their own and answer questions about its key details.
Students follow the steps of a science process using signal words and text evidence.

How to use

Have students read the article on their own, then answer the questions. Talk about the last question together to check that they understand why each band matters.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RI.3.10

By the end of the year, read and understand informational texts in history, science, and technical subjects at the high end of grades 2-3, independently.

Preview

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Tiny Bands, Big Clues: How Scientists Study Birds

Read a science article and answer the questions.

Read the article

Read the science article carefully. Then answer the questions.

Tiny Bands, Big Clues

1Where does a little songbird go in winter? How long can it live? To find out, some scientists put tiny bands on the legs of wild birds. This work is called bird banding, and the people who do it are called banders.

2A bird band is a thin ring made of light metal. Each band has its own number, like a name tag. The band is so light that the bird can fly, eat, and sing just as it did before. Only people with special training and permission may band wild birds.

3First, banders catch the birds gently. They often use a mist net. A mist net is made of thread so thin that birds can hardly see it. When a bird flies into the net, it drops into a soft pocket. Banders check their nets often so that no bird has to wait long.

4Next, a bander slips a band around one of the bird's legs and gently closes it. Then the bander measures the bird's wing, weighs the bird, and writes everything down. Finally, the bander lets the bird fly away. The whole visit takes just a few minutes.

5The real clues come later. Sometimes a banded bird is caught again at another place far away. The banders there read the number on its band and look it up. They learn where the bird was first banded and how many years ago that was.

6People have banded birds for more than one hundred years. Their records helped show that many birds fly very long distances each spring and fall. One band holds just one number, but many bands together tell a big story about the lives of birds.

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