Unit 1. Chad and the Cat

One day, Chad was jogging through the park with his dog. P

He saw his dog barking at some bushes. P

Chad ran over to the bushes. Chad looked in the bushes. P

He saw a small cat with bushy fur. P

It seemed sick and hungry. It didn't run away. P

Chad said, "Oh no! Someone has left their cat behind." P

Chad took the cat home. First he gave it some milk and washed it. P

Next, Chad and his mom took the cat to the vet. P

The vet gave it medicine. P

The vet said, "Now he will get better." P

Chad liked the cat. P

He asked, "Can we keep it?" P

His mom answered, "Yes, if you take care of it." P

Chad promised, "I will." P

Chad said, "Your fur is bushy and I found you in a bush. P

So I will call you Bushy. P

Unit 2. Too Many Abandoned Pets

Many people in the United States abandon pets. P

Every year, they abandon 4 million dogs. P

The dogs get lonely and hungry. They often get sick and die. P

Other people take their pets to an animal shelter. P

They think, "Now my pet is okay. They will find new homes for pets." P

But in the United States, dogs in shelters often die. P

Most dogs don't get new owners. This is sad. P

But there are things you can do to help. P

If you have a pet, take good care of it. P

If your family is moving to another city, take your pet. P

If you can't take it, find it a good home. P

Do you want a new pet? P

Look in an animal shelter before going to a pet shop. P

You may meet your new pet there. P

It will make you and an abandoned pet happy. P

Unit 3. Dustin in the Desert

Dustin and his family visited the desert. P

Dustin got out of the car. He looked around. P

Then he asked, "Why are we here? There is nothing to do." P

His dad laughed. "Oh yes, there is!" P

First, they climbed to the top of a hill of sand. P

Dad said, "Dustin, sit on this sled. Now slide down the sand." P

Dustin slid very fast. P

He laughed and said, "Wow! This is fun!" He slid many times. P

Then Dustin and his family rode mules in a deep canyon. P

There were walls of stone on one side. P

There was a river on the other side. P

Dustin said, "This is so cool!" P

They saw a fox running through the desert. P

The fox chased a kangaroo rat. P

The kangaroo rat ran very fast. P

He got away. Dustin said, "What a fun day! I don't want to go home. P

Unit 4. Interesting Desert Animals

You may think, "There are no animals in the desert." P

But there are. There are kangaroo rats in the desert. P

They are rats, but they hop like a kangaroo. P

They go out at night to make their body temperature cool. P

They can live in the dry desert and eat juicy insects and seeds. P

There are rattlesnakes in the desert. P

They also go around at night. Their color is light brown. P

It can protect them from enemies. P

They eat juicy lizards and moist kangaroo rats. P

They get most of their water from the animals they eat. P

Fennec foxes live in the desert too. P

They have large ears. It helps to keep them cool. P

They sleep under the ground during the hot day. P

When it is dark, they come out to find food. P

Come visit the desert at night. P

You can see lots of fun animals in the desert. P

Unit 5. The Cave Painting

Jenny and her friend Wendy like to explore. P

One day, they went to explore a deep forest. P

They found a huge cave. It was very dark inside the cave. P

Wendy took flashlights out of her bag. P

The girls walked around in the cave. P

It was very big. Jenny went to the back of the cave. P

"Look," she said. "There is a painting on the wall!" P

Wendy said, "It's a painting of a horse." P

She looked again. There were also paintings of other animals. P

There was a painting of two men with a bow and a spear. P

They were running after a cow. P

Wendy asked, "What are they doing?" P

Jenny answered, "They are hunting the cow." P

Wendy said, "Oh! They are cavemen!" P

"Yes," Jenny said. "It's wonderful that we found this cave! P

These paintings are very old and valuable!" P

"We are amazing explorers!" Wendy said and smiled. P

Unit 6. Cave Art in Europe

A long, long time ago in Europe, people lived in large caves. P

So they were called cavemen. They hunted animals for food. P

These animals were bison, horses, wild cattle, and deer. P

Deep inside their caves, they painted pictures of these animals. P

They used colorful paints. P

The paints were made of things from nature, like rocks and trees. P

The paintings were not in their rooms. The paintings were way in the back of the cave. P

They were hard to get to. Why did they paint in these places? P

There are no clear answers. P

But many people guess that the paintings were the cavemen's wishes. P

They believed that paintings made wishes come true. P

So they may have painted them in these places. P

They hoped to hunt the animals that they drew. P

If you go to Europe, you can visit these caves. P

You can see the cavemen's lives and their hopes. P

Unit 7. Sherry and the Strawberry Festival

Sherry lives in Poteet, Texas. P

Lots and lots of yummy strawberries grow around the town. P

Every spring the people of Poteet have a strawberry festival. P

Sherry's family grows strawberries. P

Sherry helps to sell them at the festival. P

Over 100,000 visitors come to Poteet. P

So Sherry is very busy during the festival. P

There are clowns at the festival. P

This year Sherry wants to dress up as a clown. P

She wants to make children laugh. P

But the people of Poteet have a different idea. P

Every spring they ask a young man to be king of the festival. P

They also ask a young woman to be queen. P

They ask Sherry, "Will you be our Strawberry Queen?" P

Sherry says, "Yes!" She wears a long red dress. P

She holds some red roses and some strawberries. P

Then she puts a red ball on her nose. P

She asks, "Can I be a clown at the same time?" P

Unit 8. Famous Food Festivals

There are many food festivals around the world. P

Here are some of the biggest ones: P

Hatch Valley in New Mexico grows very hot chilies. P

The chili festival in Hatch Valley is famous. P

There are many contests during the festival. P

There are contests to cook the best chili, and contests to eat the most chili. P

Anyone can take part in them. Gilroy, California has a garlic festival every year. P

There are lots of activities about garlic. P

Go to Gilroy to taste all kinds of food with garlic. P

You can even eat garlic ice cream. Bunol is a city in Spain. P

It has a tomato festival every year. They bring many, many tomatoes into the city. P

Then all the people throw the tomatoes at each other. P

Soon all the streets are red. All the people are red too. P

Don't these food festivals sound fun? P

Which food festival do you want to go to? P

Unit 9. The Country Town

In school, there is an art contest every year. P

Harold and Joan want to win the contest. P

They make fun things out of food. Joan bakes a cake. P

Then Harold cuts it into small pieces. P

They make three houses on a tray. P

Joan puts white icing on the walls of the houses. P

Harold puts red icing on the roofs. P

Joan puts green icing on the tray. P

She says, "This is grass." Harold puts candy sprinkles beside the houses. P

He says, "And these are flowers." P

The sprinkles are red, purple, and yellow. P

Joan asks, "What should we make trees from?" P

Harold answers, "I know!" He cuts off some broccoli. P

He stands it in the icing. P

"This is a tree." Joan puts some red sprinkles on the broccoli. P

She laughs. "It's an apple tree." P

Harold and Joan make a small country town. P

It is brilliant. They win first prize for food art. Yay! P

Unit 10. Fun Chocolate Art

Have you ever made Halloween treats? P

It is hard to make caramel apples and pumpkin pie. P

But here is something fun and easy to make. P

Buy some cherries, almond slices, a package of chocolate buds, and two cups of chocolate. P

Choose round almond slices all the same size. P

Chop up the chocolate and put it in a pot on the stove. P

Melt the chocolate. Dip a cherry in the chocolate. P

It makes a body with a tail. Set it on wax paper. P

Put warm chocolate on the bottom of a chocolate bud. P

It will be a head. Then stick the chocolate bud on to the chocolate cherry. P

Put two almond slices between the body and head. P

They are the ears. Look! Now you are finished. P

What does it look like? Yes, it is a chocolate mouse. P

Now make more mice. Then put them near some cheese. P

Unit 11. Flying with Amelia Earhart

Tanya loves to fly. She wants to be a pilot. P

One night Tanya had a dream. P

She dreamed she was in an airplane with Amelia Earhart. P

Amelia was the most famous woman pilot of all. P

They were flying across the Pacific Ocean. P

Amelia said, "We are just about out of fuel." Tanya was afraid. P

She said, "Where will we land?" Amelia smiled at Tanya. P

She said, "Here, sit in the pilot's seat. Fly the plane. I'll look for land." P

Amelia looked and looked but she only saw water. P

Soon Tanya said, "Oh no! The airplane is out of fuel." P

Just then Amelia said, "There! I see an island!" Tanya cheered. P

The airplane flew to land. But there was not enough fuel. P

The airplane started to crash. "Nooooooo!" Tanya yelled. P

Tanya sat up in bed. "Oh!" she said. P

"It was only a dream!" Then she sighed. P

"I wonder if Amelia is really okay. P

Unit 12. The Most Famous Pilots

Many years ago, people only dreamed about flying. P

The first person to fly was a Frenchman named Jean-Francois. P

In 1783, he rode in a basket under a giant balloon. P

The balloon was full of hot air. He sailed over the city of Paris, France. P

The Englishman, George Cayley, was a great inventor. He made gliders. P

Some time before 1849, a boy flew one of Cayley's gliders. P

He was only ten years old. No one knows his name. P

Wilbur and Orville Wright were brothers. P

In 1903, they flew at Kitty Hawk, in the United States. P

They were the first people to fly an airplane with a motor. P

Their airplane flew for 12 seconds and went 3 meters. P

In the early days, most people thought only birds could fly. P

They thought, "People can't fly." So the first pilots were very brave. P

Thanks to them, people can fly all around the world today. P

Unit 13. The Chubby Chihuahua

Sometimes animals get chubby. Let me tell you a story: P

Billy has a pet Chihuahua named Chico. P

A Chihuahua is a little dog. Yes, Chico is little. But he is also very chubby. P

Billy likes to play video games. He plays all day long. P

He doesn't take Chico out for walks, ever. Chico gets no exercise. P

Also, Billy doesn't know how much to feed his pet. P

Chico's bowl is always full. So he gets chubby. P

The vet tells Billy, "Your dog needs to lose weight. P

Do you take him for a walk every day?" P

Billy answers, "Um… not every day." P

The vet says, "You must help him exercise or he may get sick." P

Since the visit to the vet, Billy takes Chico out every day. P

They go for runs in the park. Chico is losing weight. P

Billy is too. They both have become healthy now. P

Look at your pet. Does it need exercise? P

Unit 14. "Let`s Move!"

One in five kids in America are overweight. P

Michelle Obama is the First Lady of the United States. P

She wants to see kids lose weight. P

She has a program called "Let's Move!" P

She says that kids need to exercise more. P

They need to move, not just sit and play video games. P

Michelle Obama also talks about the importance of food. P

Fruits and vegetables are healthy foods. P

Some kids in America don't eat many of those. P

They eat foods with lots of sugar and fat. They get fat. P

When kids are overweight, they are not healthy. P

She tells stores, "Don't sell so many foods with sugar and fat." P

She tells schools, "Give students healthy food to eat and have more exercise classes." P

They listen to Michelle. There are less overweight kids every year. P

People are not just overweight in America. P

It may be your problem too. So let's move! P

Unit 15. Good Fossil Hunters

Stephen and Lynn are young scientists. They look at pictures of fossils in books. P

They want to find fossils. Stephen says, "Let's dig behind your house." P

They dig for a long time in the yard. They find only an old shoe. P

They don't find any fossils. The books about fossils say to look on the beach. P

So they go to the beach with Lynn's dad. They look in the sand. P

They find shells, but no fossils. There are rock cliffs by the beach. P

Stephen looks up at the cliffs. He says, "I can see a fossil in the cliff. P

It's dangerous to climb up there. What can we do?" P

"Look through the rocks below the cliff," dad says. P

Then Stephen says, "Look! Is it a fossil of a fish?" P

Lynn says, "Dad! It looks like the fossils from the book." P

Dad tells them, "Yes, it is the fossil. You are good fossil hunters!" P

Unit 16. Make Your Own Fossil

Do you want to feel just like an explorer? Try to make your own fossil. P

Here is how to make a fossil: Put 4 cups of flour in a bowl. P

Mix in 1 1/2 cups of water. Mix it until it becomes dough. P

Pat the dough into a flat round shape. P

Get a toy insect or a toy lizard. You can also use a shell. P

Push it into the dough. Take the toy or shell out. P

It will leave a hole in the dough. Put the dough on a cookie sheet. P

Bake it in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius for one hour. P

Now the dough is hard. Paint it a fun color. Let the paint dry. P

Then spray it with varnish to make it last. P

Now you have a fossil! You can put it in your bedroom, or in your garden. P

You can also put it under the dirt. Then let little kids dig for it. P

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