Published by Collins

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W6 8JB

Browse the complete Collins catalogue at

www.collinseducation.comText and photographs © Nic Bishop 2005Design © HarperCollinsPublishers Limited 2005

Series editor: Cliff Moon

Original ISBN 978 0 00 718583 2

Nic Bishop asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd., 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA Catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Design manager: Nikki O’Reilly, www.together-design.comIdeas for reading author: Kelley Johnston

AcknowledgementsCollins would like to thank the teachers and children at the following schools who took part in the development of Collins Big Cat:

Get the latest Collins Big Cat news at

www.collinsbigcat.com/elt

Alfred Sutton Primary SchoolSt. Anne’s Fulshaw C of E PrimarySchoolAnthony Bek Primary SchoolBiddick Primary SchoolBritannia Primary SchoolChrist Church Charnock Richard C of E Primary SchoolCronton C of E Primary School Cuddington Community SchoolGlory Farm County Primary and Nursery School

St. John Fisher RC Primary School Killinghall Primary SchoolMalvern Link C of E Primary School Margaret Macmillan Primary School Minet Nursery and Infant SchoolNorbreck Primary SchoolOffley Endowed Primary School Portsdown Primary SchoolSt. Margaret’s RC Primary School Wadebridge Community PrimarySchool

The Fantastic Flying Squirrel

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BlueBand 4

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It is night in the forest. Many animals are asleep but some are waking up.

108

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A flying squirrel wakes up in her tree den.

109

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The flying squirrel is hungry and she’s looking for food.What can she see?

110

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The flying squirrel jumps.

The flying squirrel glides.

111

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She finds some acorns. Crunch, crunch.

112

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She’s still hungry and she wants more food.

Shhhh! What can she hear?

113

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A grasshopper is crunching on a leaf.

114

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A hungry owl hears the grasshopper too.

115

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The flying squirrel jumps.

The flying squirrel glides.

116

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She finds the grasshopper first!Crunch, crunch.

117

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The flying squirrel goes back to her den and climbs inside.

118

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She isn’t hungry any more.

119

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What does the flying squirrel do?

she climbs she looks

she listens

120

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she jumps

she glides she eats

121

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WorkbookG2_Volume_C.indb 122 27/07/13 10:51 PM

123

Before You Read

1. Circle the animals that can fl y.

2. Copy the title.

The Fantastic Flying Squirrel

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

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124

Key Story Words

1. Match each word to

the correct picture.

acorn

squirrel

grasshopper

leaf

owl

a1

b2

c3

d4

e5

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125

2. Label each picture with the correct

word from the box.

listens jumps glides eats looks climbs

1

________________

2

________________

3

________________

4

________________

5

________________

6

________________

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126

Key Story Sentences

1. Match the beginning of each sentence

from the text with its ending.

Many animals are

asleep but

The fl ying squirrel

is hungry and

She’s still

hungry and

She fi nds the

The fl ying squirrel

goes back

grasshopper

fi rst!

she wants

more food.

some are

waking up.

to her den and

climbs inside.

she’s looking

for food.

1 a

2 b

3 c

4 d

5 e

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127

2. Unscramble the sentences and

rewrite them to match the text.

1 hungry The looking fl ying she’s is for and

food. squirrel

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

2 is A on crunching leaf. grasshopper a

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

3 owl grasshopper A hears hungry too. the

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

4 fl ying her squirrel to The back goes and

inside. den climbs

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

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128

4 The fl ying squirrel

glides.

hops.

Reading Comprehension 1

1. Tick ( ) the correct ending to each

story sentence.

3 A grasshopper is crunching

some food.

a drink.

1 A fl ying squirrel sleeps ...

in a tree.

in a cave.

2 She’s hungry and she ...

cannot see any food.

can see some acorns.

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129

2. What does the fl ying squirrel do?

Tick ( ) the correct answers.

3. Where does a fl ying squirrel live?

Write a complete sentence.

She climbs.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

She glides.

She jumps. She sings.

She talks. She walks.

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130

Reading Comprehension 2

1. Number the sentences

in the correct order (1–6)

to match the text.

She isn’t hungry any more.

She fi nds some acorns. Crunch,

crunch.

It is night in the forest.

A hungry owl hears

the grasshopper too.

The fl ying squirrel goes

back to her den and

climbs inside.

A grasshopper is

crunching on a leaf.

1

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131

2. Write the answers to these

questions. Use complete sentences.

1 Name three ways a fl ying squirrel moves.

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

2 Name two things a fl ying squirrel eats.

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

3 What time of day does the fl ying

squirrel sleep?

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

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132

Have Fun with English!

1. Look at the words in the box.

Find and circle them in

the word square.

2. Find and circle six words

in the word snake.

sq

ui r r e l g

l ide

sju

mp s a c o r n g ra

ss

ho

pp e r o w

l cru

nc h

glide jump sing talk walk

c j g m p t

l q l e r y

i s i n g w

m p d a r a

b m e o t l

j u m p t k

m t a l k s

climb

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133

3. Help the squirrel fi nd the way

back to her den.

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134

Test Your English

2. True or False? Write “T” for True

or “F” for False.

1 Squirrels don’t like to eat acorns. ____

2 Grasshoppers like to eat leaves. ____

3 Squirrels like to eat owls. ____

1. Tick ( ) the correct sentence

in each pair.

1 a. All the forest animals wake

up at night.

b. Some forest animals wake up

at night.

2 a. The fl ying squirrel isn’t

hungry at night.

b. The fl ying squirrel is hungry

at night and she looks for food.

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135

Go to page 209 to get your

Reward Certificate.

You have completed

The Fantastic Flying Squirrel

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Learning objectives: Understand that a line of writing is not necessarily the same as a sentence; predict what a given book might be about from the covers; using awareness of grammar to decipher new or unfamiliar words; blend sounds to read words with consonant clusters in initial and fi nal position; speaking to describe incidents in an audible voice.

Curriculum links: Science: light and dark, sound and hearing

Interest words: fl ying, squirrel, forest, animals, hungry, glides, acorns, crunch, grasshopper, climbs, listens

High frequency words: but, some, up, her, and, looking, what, wants, too, any, more

Word count: 128

Getting started• Before showing the book, explain to the children that they are going to be

reading an information book. Tell them that you already know what the

book is about although you haven’t read it. Ask them how you know (from

the cover).

• Show the book and ask them to look at the cover and then each predict

one thing the book might tell them. Ensure that all the children can read

the title accurately.

• Turn to pp108–109 and discuss the pictures, drawing out key words night, forest, wakes. Which sentence tells them that the fl ying squirrel is awake?

• Walk through the book together up to p121, and discuss what is happening

in the pictures. Remind them to look at consonant clusters to help solve words

like glides and crunch.

Reading and responding• Ask the children, as they read, to write down on a whiteboard three or more

things a fl ying squirrel does. They could draw, write or remember these.

• Ask the children to read up to p119 independently and aloud. Observe or

prompt that they re-read for fl uency and to clarify meaning.

• Look at pp120–121 and ask the children, in pairs, to talk about the things a

fl ying squirrel does. Can the pairs remember all six actions?

Returning to the book• Return to the children’s earlier predictions about what the book might tell

them. Did the book’s cover help them to predict correctly?

• Ask the children to re-read selected pages and check that they phrase

sentences correctly, not pausing at the end of a line unless there is a full stop.

They could practise this afterwards.

Ideas for reading

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Checking and moving on• Ask the children to write down more words they know with consonant clusters

gl, cr at the beginning, or ch at the end.

• Ask them to draw a poster like pp120–121, but with other animals that do the

same actions as the fl ying squirrel, e.g. the frog jumps, the seagull glides.

• Ask the children to prepare a short talk using the book, to tell their classmates

what they found out about the fl ying squirrel.

The frog jumps.

The seagull glides.

Animal actions

137

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