Name Date Top Hat Graphic Organizer Differences 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. Similarities 1. 2. Name: Date: The Fungus Among Us Have you ever eaten a fungus? You might have and not even known it! Fungi are living organisms that are all around us. While some can be dangerous, many types of fungi have extraordinary abilities that we can use to produce our favorite foods and even life-saving medicines. If you love pizza, then you have fungi to thank. Bread and cheese are both made with fungi. Yeast, the fungus used to make bread, helps dough rise to make it fluffy. Penicillium roqueforti is one of the many types of fungi that is used to make cheese. Portobello mushrooms are another popular type of edible fungi. Fungi has also been used in medicine. In fact, the most commonly used antibiotic is made from a fungus called Penicillium. It was discovered by mistake when a scientist named Alexander Fleming left an experiment out in his lab while he was away on vacation. When he returned, he found a blue fungus growing on his petri dishes. The fungus, Penicillium, had stopped the bacteria in the petri dishes from growing. Now it is used all over the world to save lives. But fungus is not just useful to people. For billions of years, fungi has had an important job in nature. It breaks down dead plant material and turns it into soil. Without fungi, most dead matter wouldn’t be able to biodegrade, or break down, and we would be walking around in a big mess of leaves and other discarded plant material. Fungi is all around us and has many important jobs. In nature, it helps break down dead plants. We also use it to make food and medicine. Next time you take a bite of pizza, remember that fungi helped make it! Compare! How do people use fungi? What makes a fungus useful in nature? Nature People Use a dictionary to find the meaning of these key terms from the article: antibiotic biodegrade Both of the key terms above have the same root word, bio. What does bio mean? Copyright © 2018 Education.com LLC All Rights Reserved More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets Name: _______________________________ Date: _______________________ Comparing Two Nonfiction Texts: A Female Freedom Fighter Directions: Using two informational texts on the same topic, complete the graphic organizer. Text 1: Have you ever taken a risk? A risk is something that could be dangerous. It could cause harm or loss. Harriet Tubman took many risks for herself, her family, and other slaves. Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland around 1820. In 1849, she escaped to Pennsylvania, which was a free state, meaning slavery was not legal there. Te following year, she returned home in secret to help family members escape slavery. By 1857, she had rescued her mother, her father and one of her brothers. After that, she helped as many as 70 slaves escape to free states, risking her own life to save others. In 1863, she led a raid that freed 750 South Carolina slaves. Te Underground Railroad was a network, or group, of people who worked together to bring slaves to freedom. It was not an actual railroad that you could see. Instead, it was a secret route, or path, that slaves could follow. Tey would have safe houses and places to stay as they traveled. Te people who guided the slaves from place to place were called “conductors.” Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. Text 2: Harriet Tubman was born as a slave on a plantation in Maryland around 1820. No one, not even Harriet, knew what day she was born – slave families often weren’t allowed to celebrate birthdays. She worked in her owner’s house and in their felds for her entire childhood. When she was older, she married a man named John Tubman. A few years later, she heard news that the slaves on the plantation she lived on were going to be sold. She did not want to go to another owner, so she decided to run away. Running away was dangerous for slaves in the 1800s. If a runaway slave was found, their owners would often hurt them and punish them. Once she escaped, she met a friendly woman who helped her hide. At night, she went north, toward states where slaves could be free. She made it all the way to Philadelphia, where she was able to fnd work. Once she had saved up some money, she went back to Maryland to help her family and friends escape, too. Pretty soon, she was taking slaves of all kinds through the Underground Railroad. Te Underground Railroad was a network of houses owned by people who did not agree with slavery and had promised to hide slaves and keep them safe as they tried to escape north. Slaves traveling on the railroad hid during the day and traveled to the next house at night, until they reached a free state. By 1860, she had made 19 trips from the South to the North and had helped over 70 slaves and their families escape slavery. Soon afterward, she worked for the Union Army as a cook, a nurse, and even a spy. When the war was over, she spoke about injustice toward African-Americans and opened a home for elderly people. She cared for others her entire life. Copyright © 2018 Education.com LLC All Rights Reserved More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets Name: _______________________________ Date: _______________________ Comparing Two Nonfiction Texts: A Female Freedom Fighter ext 1 Similarities ext 2ces T ces Tferen ces eren Di eren2 Diff DiffStory Topic What topic is being explored in these two texts? How are the topics diferent? Main Idea What is the main idea or main focus of each of the texts? Supporting Details List at least two details that the texts have in common. List at least two details that are diferent in the texts. Written Response: Which text would be better to fnd information about Harriet Tubman’s escape? How do you know? Copyright © 2018 Education.com LLC All Rights Reserved More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets Name Date T-Chart with Three Columns A. B. C. Compare and Contrast Nonfiction Stories: Extinct Birds The Dodo Bird: A Symbol of Extinction The dodo bird lived on the island of Mauritius, off the southeast coast of Africa. Because the bird went extinct in the 17th century, there are no photos available. Drawings, paintings, written accounts, and a handful of specimens give us a rough understanding of its appearance and be- havior. What we do know about the dodo bird is that it stood more than three feet tall, weighed about 40 lbs., and was flightless. It most likely lost this trait because it didn’t need to fly: There were no predators on the island, and fruit and seeds provided abundant food sources. Things started to change for the dodo bird in 1505 when the Portuguese arrived on the island. After that, the bird, which weighed about 50 lbs, became a welcome source of food for sailors. Along with humans came pigs, monkeys and rats, which made meals of the dodo bird eggs. Since the species had never seen humans before, none of the dodo birds on the island were afraid of humans, yet another reason they became such easy prey. The last reported sighting of a dodo bird was in 1688, in the hunting records of Isaac Johannes Lamotius, who was the governor of Mauritius. All that remains of the dodo bird today are a dried head and foot at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and skeletal remains. In recent decades, sev- eral excavations on the island have allowed scientists to as- semble complete skeletons of the dodo bird. Because it took so little time after human contact for this animal to go extinct, the dodo bird has become a symbol of the role of humans in protecting endan- Illustration of a Dodo bird by Louis Figuier from 1873 gered animals. 1 Find worksheets, games, lessons & more at education.com/resources © 2007 - 2019 Education.com Find worksheets, games, lessons & more at education.com/resources © 2007 - 2019 Education.com Compare and Contrast Nonfiction Stories: Extinct Birds The Last of the Great Auks The Great Auk is an extinct species of bird that covered a large range of the North Atlantic coast, from Iceland to northern Spain. Though it was flightless, it was a powerful swimmer and used its skills in the water to hunt crustaceans, one of the staples of its diet. It stood a little under 3 feet tall and weighed about 11 pounds. It nested along the coast in colonies consisting of thousands of birds. The colonies were so dense that sailors reported being able to spot the shore based on the sight of the black and white birds. The Great Auk was hunted by sailors and fisherman for more than 100,000 years. Because they were flightless and rather clumsy on land, they were easy to catch. The bird’s eggs and feathers were also in high demand in Europe, further reducing the bird’s population. By the early-1800’s, the population of Gr eat Auk colonies had dwindled significantly. Iceland was the home of the last known colony of Auks, who were killed for their skins in 1835. One of the very last birds was caught on St. Kilda island in Scotland in 1844 by three sailors.