From: "PHYLLIS GOODFRIEND, READING SPECIALIST" <REAPRG@vaxc.hofstra.edu> Our third grade reading classes have been reading about humpback whales and monarch butterflies. We read books in the Sunshine Books series published by the Wright Group. HEre are the summaries that two of our students wrote: THE HUMPBACK WHALE The humpback whale is a mammal. A mammal is a warm blooded animal. A humpbsack whale does not eat big fish. It eats krill. Krill is a very small fish. Humpback whales are baleen whales. A baleen whale does not habve teeth. The humpback whale gives birth to live babies. The baby is blind when he or she is born. To breathe, the humpback whale puts its fin undr the baby's stomach. It brings it up to breathe. To have their babies they have to go to the warmer seas. The babies like to play hide and seek. They like to play in the sea weed. The humpback whale's tail and flipper are very powerful. They swim well. THE STORY OF THE BUTTERFLY The mother butterfly starts to lay an egg so it can hatch. When the egg is ready to hatch, it hatches. When it is already hatched, the caterpillar eats the egg. The caterpillr is hungry. So it eats leaves. The caterpillar is growing bigger. His skin changes into a new one. The skin changes three or four times. When that happens, it spins a cocoon. Inside of the cocoon, the caterpillar turns into a butterfly. The butterfly is opening its body slowly. Then the butterfly flies away. From Dr. Goodfriend's third grade reading classes at the East Hills School in Roslyn, NY. Phyllis R. Goodfriend, Ph.D. Reading Specialist East Hills School Locust Lane Roslyn Heights, NY 11577 E-Mail address: REAPRG@vaxc.hofstra.edu