Article
Katherine Feng/Minden Pictures
Paired Texts,

Panda Kindergarten

What is cuter than a baby panda? A lot of baby pandas! That is what you will see at panda kindergarten. Read two stories about this amazing place!

From the March/April 2023 Issue
Lexiles: 470L
Guided Reading Level: I
Featured Skill: Comparing Texts,
Vocabulary: bamboo, cubs, endangered, protected, Wolong Reserve
Common Core Standards
  • RF.1.3 Decoding RI.1.1 Key details RI.1.2 Main idea RI.1.3 Connecting information RI.1.4 Vocabulary RI.1.5 Text features RI.1.6 Distinguish between information from words and images RI.1.7 Use visuals RI.1.9 Compare two texts RI.1.10 Read grade-1 nonfiction texts SL.1.1 Discuss grade-1 texts L.1.4.a Use sentence-level context as a clue to a word’s meaning
TEKS Standards
  • Science
    (9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that the living environment is composed of relationships between organisms and the life cycles that occur. The student is expected to: (C) gather evidence of interdependence among living organisms such as energy transfer through food chains or animals using plants for shelter. (10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and processes that help them survive within their environments. The student is expected to: (A) investigate how the external characteristics of an animal are related to where it lives, how it moves, and what it eats.

Magazine View
See Student View

A Place for Pandas

Jim McMahon/Mapman® 

Panda kindergarten is in China.

It sounds too cute to be true. But it is a real place. Panda kindergarten is part of the Wolong Reserve. People made this place to help pandas. Why do they need help?


A Problem for Pandas

Keren Su/China Span

Wild pandas live in bamboo forests in China. Over the years, people cut down some of them to build homes and roads.  

Pandas became endangered. There are not many of them left.


Helping Pandas

LIU JIN/AFP via Getty Images 

The cubs get checkups!

Wolong is a safe place for panda moms to raise cubs. People help care for the cubs. The cubs even go to panda kindergarten. They learn how to live in a forest. Then they can go back to the wild. 


More and More Pandas

Katherine Feng/Minden Pictures

Now there are more pandas. The forests around Wolong are protected. No one is allowed to cut them down. 

Yay for pandas!


A Day in Panda Kindergarten

The cubs learn what they need to live in the wild.


Snack Time

Shutterstock.com

They need to eat. Pandas eat bamboo.


Choice Time

Imaginechina Limited/Alamy Stock Photo

They need to play. As they play, they get strong and have fun.


Climb Time

WENN Rights Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

They need to climb. Pandas climb trees in the forest.


Nap Time

Shutterstock.com

They need to rest. All that fun makes a cub sleepy.


video (1)
Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
video (1)
Activities (2) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)

More About the Article

English Language Arts Focus

Opinions

Comparing

Science Focus

Animal behaviors

Vocabulary

bamboo, cubs, endangered, protected, Wolong Reserve

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONS

Read-Aloud

  • Storyworks 1 provides a variety of text types and levels that you can use in different ways. One suggestion is to read “Panda Kindergarten” during a whole-class read-aloud.

Partner Read

  • After reading the two articles as a whole class, pair a stronger reader with a striving reader to practice fluency and comprehension. The stronger reader can whisper read the longer article, “A Place for Pandas.” The striving reader can whisper read “A Day in Panda Kindergarten.” Then they can each discuss something they enjoyed learning.

1. BEFORE READING

Preview Vocabulary (3-5 minutes)

  • Play the online vocabulary slideshow. This article’s featured words are bamboo, cubs, endangered, protected, and Wolong Reserve.

Set a Purpose for Reading and Preview the Article (7-10 minutes)

  • Turn to the opener. Children will be excited by the photo of panda cubs! Read the text and tell students they are going to read two nonfiction articles about the same topic, “Panda Kindergarten.”
  • Turn the page and preview the structure of the two articles. Read the headlines together and review the photos. What do children notice about these two articles? How are they alike (They both have pictures of panda cubs; they both have headlines and headings.) and how are they different? (One has more text; the headlines are different.)

2. READ THE PAIRED TEXTS (15-30 MINUTES)

  • Read the first story, stopping to check comprehension after each section and article.
  • Guide children to find the main idea. There is a place that helps pandas. It has a panda kindergarten.
  • Read the second article. Guide children to see the main idea of this piece. It tells us what happens during a day in panda kindergarten. Now they know that readers can get information from reading more than one text on a topic!

3. AFTER READING: FOCUS ON SKILLS

ELA Focus: Compare and Contrast (20 minutes)

  • The Panda Kindergarten printable helps kids compare and contrast their own schedules with the pandas’ at Wolong Reserve.

ELA Focus: Compare and Contrast (15 minutes)

  • The All About Pandas skills page provides the opportunity for children to compare nonfiction texts at a lower level.

Text-to-Speech