STAAR Text Organization

Wild chimpanzees are rapidly disappearing. Some people are trying to solve this problem. Otherwise, chimpanzees may one day exist only in zoos. People are trying to save the rain forests and woodlands where the chimps live from being cut down. It will take many people working together to solve this problem.

• Summarizing why chimpanzees are disappearing rapidly.
• Describing the environment that chimpanzees thrive in.
• Stating opinions about chimpanzees and their habitats.
• Explaining that chimpanzees are going extinct, and how people can stop their extinction.

Chimpanzees and humans are alike in many ways. A baby chimp laughs when its mother tickles it. After chimpanzees fight, they kiss and make up. When one chimpanzee comforts another, it gives it a hug or pat on the back. There are, of course, many ways that chimpanzees and humans are different. Chimpanzees are smaller and stronger than humans. An adult male chimpanzee stands three or four feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds. But a chimpanzee can lift more weight than a man who is six feet tall.

• Comparing and contrasting humans and chimpanzees
• Describing how strong chimpanzees are.
• Explaining that chimpanzees feel emotions just like humans do.
• Describing how tall chimpanzees grow.

Chimps live in groups and like each other a lot, but sometimes they fight. Because they don’t want to stay angry at each other after a fight, they make up by holding a hand out to the other and kissing. They show they are sorry with pats and hugs. Then the anger goes away.

• Discussing the different emotions that chimpanzees show.
• Describing how chimpanzees show emotion.
• Explaining how chimpanzees work through their anger.
• Stating that chimpanzees get angry at each other just like humans.

A chimpanzee’s body is made for climbing and swinging in the trees. First, it uses its long arms to reach a branch. Next, with its flexible hands and feet, it grabs and hooks on to the branch. Finally, it swings from that branch to another branch of tree.

• Discussing how a chimpanzee moves through the trees.
• Comparing the chimpanzees mode of transportation to other animals.
• Stating, in order, how the chimpanzee moves from tree to tree.
• Describing how chimpanzees use their arms.

It is fun to read about chimpanzees. All wild chimpanzees live in Africa. They live mostly in thick rain forests and in woodlands. There are two types, or species, of chimpanzees—the common chimpanzee and the bonobo, also known as the pygmy chimpanzee.

• Describing where chimpanzees live and the common types of chimps.
• Explaining where chimpanzees live.
• Stating the different types of chimpanzees
• Summarizing information about chimps.

All crocodilians are reptiles with long snouts, long tails, four short legs, tough skin, and sharp teeth. Members of the crocodilian family include alligators, crocodiles, caimans, and gavials. Crocodilians live in warm weather throughout the year and they spend part of their time in the water and part of their time on land. Almost all crocodilians grow to be very large, with the largest more than twenty feet long. There are two kinds of alligators, 14 kinds of crocodiles, eight kinds of caimans, and one kind of gavial.

• Comparing crocodiles and different reptiles.
• Summarizing how big crocodiles can get.
• Describing crocodiles and where they live.
• Explaining where crocodiles live.

On the river banks of the Nile River, home to some crocodiles, there are many kinds of birds, sometimes called crocodile birds because they are always hopping around crocodiles. The big crocodiles and the birds are useful to each other for several reasons. The birds eat flies and leeches that they find on the crocodiles’ skin and mouths. In this way, the birds get a good meal and the crocodiles get rid of the leeches and flies. Sometimes an enemy frightens the birds who scream and fly away. As a result of the noise, the birds give the crocodiles a warning of danger.

• Summarizing the relationship of the birds and crocodiles.
• Explaining how the birds and crocodiles help one another.
• Relating the experience the birds have with the crocodiles.
• Stating facts about the birds.

Alligators and crocodiles, along with their relatives the caimans and the gavials, are very much alike. These crocodilians are reptiles with long snouts, long tails, four short legs, tough skin, and sharp teeth. There are some differences, however. Gavials have the longest snout and the most teeth. Some people say that alligators and crocodiles differ in the shape of their snouts and the positioning of their teeth. Zookeepers say that crocodiles move faster than alligators and have nastier dispositions.

• Summarizing how reptiles look.
• Describing different types of reptiles.
• Summarizing the life of different reptiles.
• Comparing crocodiles to other reptiles.