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Caribou on the Move: Developing a Report with Details worksheet preview

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Caribou on the Move: Developing a Report with Details

Read a student report about caribou, sort the kinds of information it uses, and choose and write details that develop each point.

Grade 5ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toW.5.2.b

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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 5
Subject
ELA
Question types
Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

  • Students identify facts, definitions, comparisons, and quotations that develop a topic.
  • Students choose details that support a point in an informative paragraph.
  • Students write a sentence that develops a paragraph with a definition, comparison, or quotation.

How to use

Read Priya's report together and point out one definition and one quotation. Students then answer the questions and add their own detail to paragraph 4.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

W.5.2.b

Develop a topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

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Name Date

Caribou on the Move: Developing a Report with Details

Find the definitions, comparisons, quotations, and facts that build a report.

Read the report

Priya wrote this report. For it, she emailed a park ranger named Ms. Olsen, who works where caribou live.

On the Move: Caribou of the North

1Many animals stay in one area all year, but caribou are almost always on the move. Caribou are large deer that live in the far north, in places such as Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. In Europe and Asia, the same kind of animal is called a reindeer. This report shows how caribou are built for cold places and how they travel to find food.

2Caribou are built for the cold. Their thick coats have two layers. The hairs in the outer layer are hollow, which means they have empty space inside. The air in these hairs helps hold in a caribou's body heat, and it even helps the animal float when it swims across a river.

3A caribou's hooves are another great tool. Each hoof is wide and spreads out when the caribou steps down, a lot like a snowshoe. This keeps the animal from sinking deep into soft snow. When a caribou swims, its big hooves work like paddles that push it through the water.

4One thing that makes caribou unusual is their antlers. In most kinds of deer, only the males grow antlers. Caribou are different: both males and most females grow them. Every year, caribou shed their antlers and grow a new set.

5In winter, caribou eat mostly lichen. Lichen is a living thing made of a fungus and an alga growing together. It grows on rocks and on the ground, and it can survive cold, dry weather where few plants grow. Ms. Olsen told me, "A caribou can sniff out lichen under the snow and dig right down to it with its hooves."

6To find enough food, many caribou herds migrate, which means they travel from one area to another as the seasons change. In spring, herds walk north to the tundra, a cold, flat land with no trees. There, the females give birth to their calves. A calf can stand and walk soon after it is born, so it can keep up with the herd. In fall, many herds head back south to forests, where trees give some shelter from winter storms. Ms. Olsen wrote, "When a big herd crosses a river, the water seems full of antlers from one bank to the other."

7From their hollow hairs to their snowshoe hooves, caribou have just what they need to live and travel in the far north.

How Priya develops her topic

Use Priya's report to answer each question.

1.
Priya uses different kinds of information. Sort each part of her report by the kind of information it gives.
"its big hooves work like paddles that push it through the water""Lichen is a living thing made of a fungus and an alga growing together.""the water seems full of antlers from one bank to the other""hollow, which means they have empty space inside""A caribou can sniff out lichen under the snow and dig right down to it with its hooves.""Each hoof is wide and spreads out when the caribou steps down, a lot like a snowshoe."
Defines a wordCompares to something familiarQuotes an expert
2.
In paragraph 6, Priya defines two words. Which two words does she define?
  • A. herds and calves
  • B. tundra and shelter
  • C. migrate and calves
  • D. migrate and tundra
3.
Read paragraph 4 again. Underline the sentence that tells which caribou grow antlers.

One thing that makes caribou unusual is their antlers.In most kinds of deer, only the males grow antlers.Caribou are different: both males and most females grow them.Every year, caribou shed their antlers and grow a new set.

4.
Match each point to the detail from the report that supports it.
  1. Caribou can walk on soft snow.
  2. Caribou can find food in winter.
  3. Caribou stay afloat in rivers.
  4. Young calves can travel with the herd.
  1. A. The air in their hollow hairs helps them float.
  2. B. They can stand and walk soon after they are born.
  3. C. Their wide hooves keep them from sinking in.
  4. D. They sniff out lichen and dig down to it.
5.
Why does Priya end paragraph 6 with Ms. Olsen's words about the river?
  • A. To explain what the word tundra means
  • B. To show, in an expert's words, how big a herd is
  • C. To tell where caribou herds go in winter
  • D. To prove that caribou can smell lichen

Add more details

Help Priya make her report even stronger.

6.
Priya wants to add a concrete detail to paragraph 2 that shows how caribou are built for the cold. Which detail fits best?
  • A. Caribou have short tails and furry ears that lose little heat.
  • B. Caribou calves are born on the tundra in late spring.
  • C. Some caribou herds travel very long distances each year.
  • D. Caribou antlers are covered in soft fuzz while they grow.
7.
Which fact would develop paragraph 4 best?
  • A. Caribou eat lichen that grows on rocks.
  • B. Caribou herds walk north in the spring.
  • C. Caribou hooves spread out on the snow.
  • D. Males often lose their antlers first.
8.
Paragraph 4 has facts but no definition, comparison, or quotation. Write one sentence Priya could add to paragraph 4 that uses one of these. Use only information from the report.
9.
Pick one quotation or definition in Priya's report. Explain how it helps a reader understand caribou better.

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