Can you find out?

T

he p

rayin

g m

an

tis is go

od

at

blen

din

g in

. It ha

s to b

e. Tha

t’s ho

w it g

ets fo

od

! These g

reen o

r bro

wn

insects ca

n ea

sily hid

e am

on

g p

lan

ts. They w

ait fo

r an

insect to

get clo

se. Then

they q

uickly a

ttack

with

their stro

ng

fron

t legs. Th

e legs h

ave

A p

rayin

g m

an

tis ca

n g

row u

p to 5

" in

len

gth

.

Wh

y is this in

sect called

a p

rayin

g m

an

tis?

sma

ll spikes o

n th

em, to

o. Th

e spikes

help

to h

old

do

wn

prey.

If th

e pra

ying

ma

ntis is in

da

ng

er, it sta

nd

s tall a

nd

sprea

ds o

ut its w

ing

s o

r fron

t legs. Th

is ma

kes it loo

k big

ger

an

d ca

n sca

re aw

ay en

emies.

H

ere’s an

oth

er interestin

g fa

ct a

bo

ut th

e pra

ying

ma

ntis. It ca

n ro

tate its h

ead

in a

lmo

st a fu

ll circle to

see its surro

un

din

gs. It is a

lso a

ble

to see very w

ell beca

use it h

as tw

o la

rge co

mp

ou

nd

eyes an

d th

ree mo

re sim

ple eyes in

betw

een. It ca

n see u

p to

60

feet aw

ay. It w

atch

es an

d sta

lks its p

rey un

til it is read

y to strike. N

ow

th

at’s keep

ing

an

eye on

thin

gs!

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©Lakeshore

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w.lakeshorelearning.com

Can you find out?

Wh

o sta

rted th

e Hersh

ey Co

mp

an

y, an

d in

wh

at yea

r?

I

t’s no

wo

nd

er tha

t Hersh

ey, Pen

nsylva

nia

, is a

lso ca

lled C

ho

cola

te Tow

n, U

.S.A. Th

e Hersh

ey C

om

pa

ny m

akes m

ore th

an

a b

illion

po

un

ds o

f ch

oco

late th

ere every year!

W

here d

oes th

e cho

cola

te com

e from

? It a

ll beg

ins w

ith th

e caca

o tree. Th

is tree gro

ws

in ju

ng

les aro

un

d th

e wo

rld, fro

m B

razil a

nd

Ind

on

esia to

the Ivo

ry Co

ast o

f Africa

. Ca

cao

trees gro

w a

melo

n-like fru

it tha

t con

tain

s co

coa

bea

ns. Th

ese bea

ns a

re used

to m

ake

cho

cola

te.

O

nce th

e bea

ns g

et to a

Hersh

ey Co

mp

an

y fa

ctory, th

ey are clea

ned

an

d sto

red u

ntil th

e w

orkers a

re read

y to u

se them

. Then

, the b

ean

s a

re roa

sted in

larg

e roa

sters at very h

igh

temp

eratu

res. A sp

ecial m

ach

ine ta

kes the

shells o

ff the d

ry, roa

sted b

ean

s.

It’s the in

side p

art o

f the b

ean

, called

the n

ib,

tha

t is used

to m

ake ch

oco

late.

N

ext, the n

ibs a

re milled

, or tu

rned

into

a liq

uid

. No

w, th

e real fu

n b

egin

s! To tu

rn th

e liq

uid

cho

cola

te into

a sw

eet treat, th

e fa

ctory w

orkers m

ix in co

coa

bu

tter, sug

ar, a

nd

milk. Th

is liqu

id g

ets po

ured

into

mo

lds. Th

e filled

mo

lds g

o o

n a

bu

mp

y ride to

remo

ve an

y a

ir bu

bb

les in th

e cho

cola

te. Then

, they g

o th

rou

gh

a lo

ng

tun

nel w

here th

ey are co

oled

into

a so

lid ca

nd

y ba

r. The m

old

ing

ma

chin

es ca

n fill a

lot o

f mo

lds—

mo

re tha

n 1,0

00

per

min

ute! Fin

ally, th

e b

ars a

re wra

pp

ed w

ith a

specia

l w

rap

per. Th

ey’re rea

dy to

go

to sto

res!

©Lakeshore

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w.lakeshorelearning.com

©Lakeshore

ww

w.lakeshorelearning.com

Y

ou

ha

ve pro

ba

bly b

een tickled

befo

re. Ma

ybe so

meo

ne in

you

r fam

ily snea

ked u

p a

nd

fou

nd

you

r ticklish sp

ot. M

an

y peo

ple h

ave th

ese ticklish sp

ots. H

ow

ever, if you

try to tickle yo

urself, yo

u w

on

’t be a

ble to

do

it. Wh

y can

’t you

tickle you

rself?

W

hen

you

are tickled

, you

r bo

dy rea

cts with

a d

efense m

echa

nism

. You

feel the tickle a

nd

pa

nic

beca

use yo

u feel like yo

u h

ave b

ug

s craw

ling

on

you

! The tickle m

akes yo

u la

ug

h. It’s yo

ur b

od

y’s w

ay o

f reactin

g to

som

ethin

g th

at it d

idn

’t expect to

ha

pp

en. Yo

u p

rob

ab

ly lau

gh

the h

ard

est wh

en yo

u a

re no

t expectin

g to

be tickled

.

Th

e nerves in

ou

r bo

dies a

re wh

at h

elp u

s to feel to

uch

, like the to

uch

of so

meo

ne ticklin

g yo

u.

Wh

at a

re nerves? A

lso ca

lled n

erve cells or n

euro

ns, n

erves are like little m

esseng

ers. We h

ave

nerves a

ll over o

ur b

od

ies. They sen

d sig

na

ls to a

nd

from

th

e bra

in, tellin

g u

s if som

ethin

g is h

ot, is co

ld, o

r in th

is ca

se, tickles.

W

hen

you

try to tickle yo

urself, th

ou

gh

, it’s differen

t. Yo

ur b

rain

tells you

r bo

dy to

expect to

be tickled

. You

kno

w w

ha

t it will feel like if yo

u tickle yo

urself. Let’s sa

y yo

u m

ove yo

ur h

an

d to

a ticklish

spo

t. You

r bra

in tells

you

r bo

dy to

get rea

dy fo

r it. So yo

ur b

od

y kno

ws yo

ur

ha

nd

is com

ing

. It’s no

t a su

rprise like it is w

hen

som

eon

e else tickles yo

u.

Can you find out?

Wh

at a

re you

r ticklish sp

ots? See if yo

u ca

n tickle yo

urself.

©Lakeshore

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w.lakeshorelearning.com

Use your cause-and-effect sheet to write a paragraph about why you can’t tickle yourself.

Begin your paragraph with this topic sentence: “It may sound strange, but even the most ticklish people can’t tickle themselves.”

Fill in the cause-and-effect boxes to show why you can’t tickle yourself.

©Lakeshore www.lakeshorelearning.com