Get Ready to Read

Readers use titles, pictures, and their own knowledge to predict what will be in a text. A good place to begin is to figure out the topic. The topic of a text is the person or thing that the text is written about. To find the topic, start by looking at the title of the text. Usually, the topic is in the title, but this strategy doesn’t always work. The title The Most Amazing Structure on Earth doesn’t tell us exactly what the most amazing structure on Earth is. Another way to find the topic is to look for words that get repeated, especially in the first sentence of each paragraph. 

Think about these questions or discuss them with a partner.

• Look quickly at the first reading. What do you think the “most amazing structure on Earth” is, according to the text?
• Without looking at the text, try to answer this question: Do scientists say there were always humans on Earth? What does science say about how we got here?
• In your opinion, what can a human brain do that makes it so special?
• What do you think is smarter: your brain or the best computer in the world? Why?

Reading Strategy

Readers check their understanding of a text while they read. In this book, you will practice strategies for checking whether you are really thinking about the words on a page. One strategy is to stop after each paragraph and ask yourself: Can I picture what the text is describing, like a movie playing in my mind? If you can’t picture it, then go back and try to visualize as you re-read the paragraph. If you like to draw, you can even doodle the pictures you see in your mind in the space beside the paragraph.

Try this strategy as you read The Most Amazing Structure on Earth.

Vocabulary

Find these words in the text. Use the context to choose the best meaning.

1. A large and very fast computer is called a ______________________________.

2. ______________________________ carry messages between your brain and your body.

3. ______________________________ means able to do something.

4. An animal of any type could be called a ______________________________.

5.  ______________________________ describes something that has many parts that go together in complicated ways.

6. A long, thin animal with a soft body and no arms or legs could be described as __________________________.

7. A ______________________________ is something that is built by putting parts together.

8. The number 1,000,000 is called one ______________________________.

9. The number 1,000,000,000 is called one ______________________________.

10. The number 1,000,000,000,000 is called one ______________________________.

11. ______________________________ means to take in something like information and use it.

Check Your Understanding

The main idea of a text is the point the writer is making about the topic. A text is usually written for one main purpose:

We can figure out the main idea of a text by looking for the point of each paragraph.

1. The text has four paragraphs. Find the paragraph that matches each of the main ideas below.

a. Scientists don’t know everything about the brain, but what they have learned so far can help us in daily life.

b. The cerebral cortex, which has four parts, is the part of our brain that makes us so smart.

c. The brain has cells called neurons that are faster than any computer. Neurons send and receive information throughout the body, allowing us to think, remember, feel, and move.

d. A creature slowly developed into a human over millions of years.

2. Put these events in the correct sequence. Sequence refers to the order that things happen in.

a. The creature grew a spinal cord.

b. The creature became a fish.

c. The creature became a human.

d. The creature was like a worm.

e. The creature became a monkey.

f. The creature grew arms and legs.

3. Are these details true or false?

a. The smartest part of our brain is its surface.

b. The front lobe of our brain processes images from the eyes.

c. The cerebral cortex has six parts.

d. Adults have about the same number of neurons as when they were babies, but now there are more connections between the neurons.

e. Computers are smarter than mice.

4. Fill in the blanks.

a. Our brains took about ____________________ million years to develop.

b. The four parts of the cerebral cortex are called ____________________.

c. The world’s best supercomputer is only about as fast as a ____________________ brain.

d. ____________________ is a word for a type of brain cell.

e. Information from the brain to the body travels along the ____________________.

5. In your opinion, is the human brain the most amazing structure on Earth? Why or why not?

Spelling

A suffix is the end part of a word. Study these words ending in -ture. Arrange a date to be tested on your ability to spell these words.

One way to learn to spell a new word is to break it into syllables. Try it. Remember that -ture is its own syllable.

1. structure = ____________________________________________

2. creature = _____________________________________________

3. mixture = _____________________________________________

4. nature = _____________________________________________

5. future = _____________________________________________

6. culture = _____________________________________________

7. signature = _____________________________________________

8. adventure = ____________________________________________

9. departure = _____________________________________________

10. furniture = _____________________________________________

End Punctuation

Punctuation refers to the marks we use in sentences to make our meaning clear. Punctuation marks that come at the end of sentences are called end punctuation.

Fill in all the periods, exclamation marks, and question marks needed in these sentences.

1. How big is your brain It is about the same size as your two fists pushed together

2. Wow You could fit 30,000 neurons on the head of a pin

3. Did you know the brain contains enough energy to power a light bulb

4. The outer part of the brain is a yellowish-grey colour

5. One neuron can have up to 10,000 connections Who knew

6. No way An American chicken named Mike survived for 18 months after his head was cut off and a small part of his brain was left behind

7. Our noses can detect between 4,000 and 10,000 smells

8. We spend one-third of our lives asleep That’s a lot of sleep

Simple Sentences: Identifying the Subject

One way to improve your writing is to use a variety of sentences. In this book, you will learn to write three sentence types: simple sentences, compound sentences, and complex sentences. A simple sentence is a complete sentence if it has:

• a subject
• a verb
• a complete thought

Look at these simple sentences. Underline the subjects.

1. You sleep for about 30% of your life.

2. Monks train their minds to focus on one thing for long periods of time.

3. Bill Reid created brilliant art.

4. The College of New Caledonia opened in 1969.

5. Denmark provides free a college and university education to the people who live there.

6. Lucknow, India, is home to the biggest school in the world.

7. Chess gives your brain a good workout.

8. The spinal cord acts like an information highway between the brain and the rest of the body.

Writing

During your time as a student, you will likely be asked to write many kinds of paragraphs. In this book, you will learn how to write paragraphs that describe things, explain how to do things, tell a story, or give an opinion. No matter what kind of writing task you are working on, there is a strategy you can use to stay on track. It’s called TOWER. The letters in TOWER stand for Think, Organize, Write, Edit, and Rewrite.

Attributions

Human brain
Image by johnhain is in the public domain.

Visualizing text
Image by geralt is in the public domain.

Human evolution
Image by ClkerFreeVectorImages is in the public domain.

Eiffel Tower
Image by Gaertringen is in the public domain.