Scott Foresman Reading Street

Science in Reading

	Examine features of an interview.
	Practice a test-taking strategy.
	Compare and contrast across texts.

PREVIEW/USE TEXT FEATURES

As students preview "Back to the Wild," have them identify the names of the interviewer and the expert answering the questions. After they preview, ask:

What do the initials MBB and MJC stand for? (the names of the interviewer, Melissa Blackwell Burke, and the expert, Molly Jean Carpenter)
Why are the names, initials, and questions in different colors of type? (It helps the reader follow the interview and identify who is speaking.)

Link to Science

Help students identify relevant key words to help them locate information about animal rescue programs. If possible, include a local program.

Whole Group Discuss the Question of the Day.

Group Time
Differentiated Instruction

"Back to the Wild." See
pp. 304f–304g for the small
group lesson plan.

Reading

Language Arts
Use pp. 331e–331h and
331k–331m.

Whole Group Use pp. 331a
and 331j.

Grouping Options

INTERVIEW

Use the sidebar on p. 328 to guide discussion.

In an interview, a person asks another person questions. The written interview provides the questions and the expert's responses.
Ask students to describe how the author chose to use different colored print. Lead them to recognize that the interviewer's and expert's names and initials appear in green and red print. The interviewer's questions appear in bold.
Discuss with students the best way to read an interview. Consider having two students read p. 329 orally. One person should read the interviewer's questions. The other person should read the expert's responses. Point out that you do not need to read the names of the people each time.

AudioText

Citizens rescue animals that are not being cared for by their own kind or that have been hurt.

Access Content Preview the text with students. Make sure they understand the definition and use of important terms, such as wild, wildlife, and clinic.

Molly Jean Carpenter

In an interview, an
expert shares his or
her knowledge about
a subject.

An interview is written
in a question-and-answer
format.

Genre

Interview

Animals in the wild are free.
They do what comes naturally
to them. They don’t have people
taking care of them. What
happens when a wild animal gets
sick or hurt? Sometimes people
bring such animals to a wildlife
clinic. The clinic takes care of
the animal until it can care for
itself again. The goal is to get
the animal back into the wild
as soon as possible.
The staff at the Wildlife
Medical Clinic at the University
of Illinois in Urbana work toward
that goal. We spoke to Molly Jean
Carpenter, a volunteer at the
clinic. She shared her thoughts
about working with wildlife and
described an amazing experience.

by Melissa Blackwell Burke

MJC: It’s important because
that is their home! It is very
stressful for a wild animal to
lose its freedom. They need
to do all the activities that
are natural for them, such as
running, hunting, or soaring.

MBB: Why is it so important
to return these animals to
the wild?

medicine and care that they
need. We do our best to help
the animal recover so that it
can go back into the wild.

The names of the
interviewer and the
expert answering
the questions usually
appear in dark
print. The names are
sometimes abbreviated.

Text Features

Wildlife rescue at work

Concerned citizens rescue
animals that have been hurt.
Or sometimes they bring in a
young animal that isn’t being
cared for by its kind. We
examine the animal from its
head to its tail. If the animal
can’t take care of itself in the
wild, we admit it to our clinic.
We feed the animals, clean
them, and give them any

MOLLY JEAN CARPENTER:

How do workers decide when
an animal needs care in your
clinic?

MELISSA BLACKWELL BURKE:

Learn more about animal
rescue programs. Use the
library or the Internet.
Create a brochure that
will encourage people
to use one program.

Link to Science

Photographs often
help the reader better
understand the subject.

What causes animals to be brought to the clinic?

Cause and Effect