May/June 2024

Helping Ramphy

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Academic Standards

 

Reading Objective:

Students will identify ways that an injured pangolin was helped to heal, grow, learn his habitat, and hunt ants.

 

Reading Level:

Lexile: 520L; GRL: L

 

Next Generation Science Standards:

Practice 3: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

2-LS4-1: Observe Plants and Animals in Their Habitats

Vocabulary:

extinct, habitat, nocturnal, saliva

Use these questions to check students’ understanding and stimulate discussion:

 

1. An animal at risk of going extinct is in danger of  ________.
(dying out)

2. How did Ramphy behave when Natalie first opened his box?
(He trembled.)

3. Why did Natalie take Ramphy for walks at night?
(Answers will vary.)

4. Describe how pangolins eat ants.
(Answers will vary.)

Go online to print or project the Reading Checkpoint.

 

  • When they’re attacked, pangolins roll into a ball. Their scales protect them—they’re so hard that not even a lion can bite through!
  • Pangolins also squirt a smelly liquid to make attackers run away.
  • Pangolins like Ramphy are endangered. They have been hunted so much that there are not many left in the wild. People are working hard to protect them.

Materials: a soft surface for kids to roll up on, pencils, copies of the skill sheet

Overview:  When baby pangolins meet something that scares them, they roll into a ball. What makes kids want to roll up? A lion coming near? A trip to the dentist? Read the list. Let kids roll up or not and record their responses.

Directions:

  1. Tell kids that when there’s danger, pangolins roll into a ball to protect themselves. Their hard scales protect them. Even a hungry lion can’t bite through!
  2. Sometimes baby pangolins roll into a ball when they see something new—like ants!
  3. Ask students what would make them roll into a ball. It can be a real threat, like a lion. Or it can be something that just feels new and scary, like going to the dentist.
  4. Let kids spread out on a soft surface. Tell them they’re going to be scientists observing their own behavior.
  5. Pass out the skill sheets. Read out the items to the whole class, or have kids work in pairs, testing each other. Let kids add their own items to the list.
  6. Record results on the skill sheets.