Grade 2 Science Week 17 | Student Textbook

Grade 2 | SCIENCE

WEEK 17 • STUDENT TEXTBOOK • DAYS 81–85

Read each lesson with a parent or teacher and study the worked example. Then answer the questions for that day in the Week 17 Practice Workbook.

Week 17 Student Textbook | Week 17 Practice Workbook | Week 17 Teacher Guide | Week 16 Student Textbook | Grade 2 index

Day 81: Real Rabbits and Their Habitat

In stories, rabbits talk, brag and play tricks. Real rabbits do not talk, but their bodies and habits help them live. The Eastern cottontail is the most common rabbit in Alabama. It is found all over the state. It has long ears to hear danger, strong back legs to run, and a white tail that looks like a ball of cotton.

A habitat is the place where a living thing finds food, water and shelter. Cottontails live on land, in fields, pastures and the brushy edges of woods. They eat grass, clover and other plants. They hide in thick, thorny bushes and brush piles, where foxes and hawks have trouble reaching them. So a real rabbit really is safer in a briar patch.

Worked example: A real rabbit hears a hawk. Which body part helped it hear?

Rabbits use their long ears to hear danger.
The ears caught the sound of the hawk.

Worked answer: Its long ears.

Day 82: Turtles on Land and in Water

Turtles are reptiles with a hard shell. Different kinds of turtles live in different habitats. The Eastern box turtle lives mostly on land, in woods and fields all over Alabama. Some people call it a terrapin. It can pull in its head and legs and close its shell up tight, like a box.

The diamondback terrapin lives in water, in the salty marshes along Alabama’s coast near the Gulf of Mexico. The Alabama red-bellied turtle is Alabama’s state reptile. It lives in the rivers and bayous of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, where it eats plants that grow underwater. Its bottom shell can be red. It is endangered, which means very few are left.

Worked example: A turtle that lives in a salt marsh by the sea has a habitat on land or in water?

A salt marsh is wet and full of salty water.
So that habitat is in water.

Worked answer: In water.

Day 83: The Opossum: Story Fact and Real Fact

The Virginia opossum is a real animal that lives all over Alabama, and it shows up in many old stories. It is about the size of a house cat. It has a long, nearly bare tail that can wrap around branches, and it carries its babies in a pouch, like a kangaroo. It is the only animal with a pouch that is native to the United States.

Opossums live on land, mostly in woods near streams, but also in farmland and even towns. They eat almost anything: fruit, insects, snails, eggs and leftovers. When an opossum is badly frightened, it may fall over and lie still as if it were dead. People call this playing possum. Old stories give made-up reasons for why the opossum looks and acts as it does; scientists study the animal to find real reasons.

Worked example: Where does a mother opossum carry her babies?

The lesson tells about a special body part.
The babies ride in a pouch, like a kangaroo’s.

Worked answer: In a pouch.

Day 84: Signs of Animals in Land and Water Habitats

Many animals hide or come out mostly at night, so scientists often study them by looking for signs. A sign is something an animal leaves behind, such as tracks in mud, a nest, a hole in the ground, a feather or a chewed leaf.

Some signs are found on land, in grass, under trees or in a garden. Others are found in water or at its edge, such as tracks in the mud by a pond. Recording where each sign is found tells scientists which animals live in each habitat.

Worked example: You find small bird tracks in the mud at the edge of a pond. Should you record this sign as found on land or in water?

The mud is at the edge of the pond.
A pond edge is part of the water habitat.

Worked answer: Water (the edge of a pond).

Day 85: Independent Check: Habitats on Land and in Water

Today you will answer on your own.

Use what you learned this week: rabbits, turtles and opossums, their habitats on land and in water, and story facts versus real facts.

Worked example: What is a habitat?

Every living thing needs food, water and shelter.
The place where it finds them is its habitat.

Worked answer: The place where a living thing finds food, water and shelter.