Tracking Monsters: Informational Text

Which text feature on page 334 best introduces the main idea of the text?

• photo

• side bar

• heading

• italicized words

On page 335, which detail helps the reader understand the relationship between the "trackers" and the "monsters"?

• The beeps are getting louder. That means she's nearby. It's a Gila monster.

• Being careful to avoid the prickly pear and fish hook cacti, he sets down his gear near a hump of granite.

• The beeping box and the antennae are radio telemetry instruments.

• The sun-hatted hikers circle the big rock and begin inspecting its crevices and cracks.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.1

CCSS.RI.5.3

On page 336, which detail develops a central idea presented earlier in the text?

• A large adult lizard may eat only a few times a year.

• They're nocturnal much of the year and spend a lot of their time in underground burrows.

• Gila monsters are big lizards, the only other remaining "monster lizard" species is the beaded lizard.

• Gila monsters make their homes in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.5.8

On page 338, which detail in the text supports the heading "Warning!"?

• They have venom glands in their lower jaw.

• While Gila monsters look tough, they aren't very aggressive and don't go after people.

• Gila monsters were the first protected reptile in Arizona.

• Theres's no antivenom treatment.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.8

After analyzing the photo on page 339, identify the details that help the reader understand the concept shown in the image.

• During spring and early summer, when males are out looking for mates, they will wander more than females, generally.

• Kevin's team has implanted tiny transmitters inside eight different Gilas.

• As she snoozes undisturbed in her burrow, they write down the lizard's GPS position.

• Is Gila #291 looking for a place to spend the winter?

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.1

CCSS.RI.5.2

Which detail supports the text features found on page 340?

• The rock that #291 is currently under gets a lot of sun on one side.

• The beeping radio inside the tracked Gila monster also estimates its body temperature. The warmer the body temperature, the faster the radio beeps.

• That way they know how much warmer or cooler the animal is in the various shelters it uses throughout the year.

• Gila monsters don't have permanent homes.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.1

CCSS.RI.5.8

What do the text features found on page 341 help the reader understand?

• Citizen science is important for involving the community.

• The key is to taking a photograph of the Gila monster that clearly shows its markings.

• The hikers are volunteers taking part in BioBlitz, a twenty-four-hour scientific inventory of every species in Saguaro National Park.

• They've posted colorful signs at kiosks near trails and. in visitor centers.

On page 342, which context clues help the reader define the word microchip?

• Sometimes a researcher receives a photo from a citizen scientist that matches a Gila monster they've tagged...

• ...looks like a metal grain of rice. It's the kind of ID...

• The Gila monster project has been tagging the large lizards with...

• Every new Gila monster that the field biologists come across gets a tag.

Tags

CCSS.L.5.4A

CCSS.RI.5.4

Which sentence from page 343 helps the reader understand how researchers collect data about Gila monsters?

• Kevin puts the softer end of the plastic tool on the lizard's closed mouth-- and gives it a nudge.

• The punishing desert sun is sinking toward the distant mountaintops, but it's still 85°F.

• The giant piled-up pink and beige boulders soak up heat like pizza stones.

• Kevin doesn't seem to break a sweat, however, even though he's got one hand firmly gripping a Gila monster.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.1

What is the author's purpose for writing this text?

• To explain how Gila monsters move about and where they live during the winter season.

• To persuade others that implanting a radio transmitter inside a Gila monster is the best way to protect them.

• To provide information about how citizens scientists have made an enormous impact on the process of tracking lizards in Arizona and Mexico.

• To give information about Gila monsters and to persuade others that they are worth studying and protecting.