TIME for Kids G2 Student Reader

Dinosaur Hunters

Many important fossils have been found This is a model of
the little dinosaur
in the Gobi Desert in China. Paleontologist found inside the
Meng Jin found a fossil of a mammal in the mammal fossil.
Gobi Desert. It was about the size of a cat. These dinosaurs
ate plants. →
The big surprise was what else Meng and
his team found. They found the bones of a AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
young dinosaur inside the
mammal fossil. This discovery
changed how people think of
dinosaurs and mammals.

Scientists used to think
ancient mammals were
not hunters. They thought
these mammals ate
insects and seeds. These
mammals, scientists believed,
were hunted by dinosaurs.
Meng’s discovery showed
that these mammals hunted
dinosaurs and ate them!

A scientist points to dinosaur
bones in the mammal fossil. →

48 • Time For Kids

Mammals that lived 130 million years ago
were not very big. The cat-sized mammal from
China is bigger than other ancient mammals.
The dinosaur found inside the mammal was not
full-grown. As an adult, that dinosaur would be
much bigger than the mammal that ate it!

Grant Delin/Corbis

How Big?

48

36

Height in Inches 24

12

0 Mammal Adult Dinosaur Mike Maydak
8 inches tall 48 inches tall
Young Dinosaur 18 inches long 72 inches long Issue 8 • 49
3 inches tall
5 inches long

Why are so many kids in the United States

learning Chinese?

Jessica Bucknam shouts, “Tiao Rick Bowmer/Wide World Photos/AP Images

(tee•ow)!” Her fourth-grade

students jump. “Dun (dew•wen),”

she says. The kids move down.

These words are a type of Chinese

called Mandarin. Millions of

people in China speak this ↑ Fourth-grade students study
language. Mandarin in math class at
Woodstock Elementary School.
The kids go to Woodstock

Elementary School in Portland, Oregon. Children here

read stories and learn math and science in Mandarin

Chinese. Their teacher, Jessica Bucknam, is from

China. She teaches the kids more than 100 Chinese

words each year.

← This girl writes
Chinese letters.

Frederic Larson/The San Francisco
Chronicle/Corbis

50 • Time For Kids

← This boy is studying
Chinese at his school
in San Jose, California.

Eugene Louie/San Jose Mercury News/Newscom

Countries with the Most People

More people speak Chinese than any other
language. That is because more people live in
China than in any other country. More than one
billion people live there. The graph below shows
the five countries with the most people.

People (in billions) 2

1.5
(1,315,000,000)
(1,100,000,000)

1

0.5 (300,000,000)
0 (245,000,000)
(190,000,000)

China India United States Indonesia Brazil

Country

Source: About Geography, November 2006—the above numbers are computer estimates for the end of 2006

Issue 8 • 51

Say It in Chinese

Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more than
one billion people. The words in this chart are
written using the English alphabet. Chinese
uses a different alphabet. See if you can chat
in this 6,000-year-old language.

English Chinese How You Say It

Hello. Ni hao. nee how
Thank you. Xie xie. sye sye
My name is ____. Wo jiao ____. hwo jee•ow ____
What is your name? Nin gui xing? neen gway sing
School is fun. Xue xiao hao wan. shwe see•ow how wan
Good-bye! Zai jian! dzay jee•an
Wow! Hao bang! how bong

52 Durga Bernhard

Far Flung

scorpion Scorpion

cockroach Robot V
lobster
Scientists are studying
creatures to build robots.

RoboLobster

(bl) Fred Bavendam/Minden Pictures; (cl) Holt Studios International Ltd/Alamy; (tl) Ingram Publishing/Alamy; (br) Jodi Hilton for the New York Times/Redux Pictures;
(cr) Daniel Kingsley, Roger Quinn and Roy Ritzmann/Case Western Reserve University; (tr) Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center; Flap Photo: Diomedia/Alamy

These Are

These robots look strange.
But one day, they may work for you!

By Kathryn R. Satterfield

Most people hate cockroaches. Not Roy Ritzmann.

He thinks they are great. “They’re fast,” he says. Ritzmann
is a scientist. He is helping other scientists to build robots.
They are using bugs as models!

Acting Like Animals

Scientists are looking closely at insects, lobsters, and
scorpions. Why? Because they have all the right moves!
Their bodies let them live in different places. Their many
legs help the animals travel easily over bumpy ground.
An insect has antennas and little hairs. These help it
sense changes around it.

↓ Scientists look at Robot V. It moves like a roach.

2000 Peter Menzel/Robosapiens/www.menzelphoto.com

54 • Time For Kids

2000 Peter Menzel/Robosapiens/www.menzelphoto.com ← Scientists studied
real lobsters to build
a RoboLobster.

Scientists are working to build robots with animal-
like parts. The parts would make the robots more
useful. These robots could find people who are trapped
in a building. They could climb, crawl, or swim into
dangerous places.

Creepy, crawly robots may one day help the U.S.
military and NASA. The RoboLobster will search for
underwater weapons called mines. Robots may also
go into space. A robot based on scorpions and roaches
will explore Mars. These ’bots will rock!

Robot Roach Real Roach

Daniel Kingsley, Roger Quinn and Roy Ritzmann/Case Western Reserve University Six legs help Uses sensors to feel.
it move easily.

Moves 5 body lengths in a second. Holt Studios International Ltd/Alamy

Issue 9 • 55

Monarchs on the Move

Monarch butterflies fly far for
warm weather.

Bob Sciarrino/Star Ledger/Corbis Danny Lehman/Corbis Have you ever seen butterflies

56 • Time For Kids like these fluttering through
the air? Every August, millions
of monarch butterflies begin
a long trip. They fly from the
cold north to spend the winter
in the warm south.

Some monarchs travel as
far as 3,000 miles to reach
their winter home. They head
for the mountains of central
Mexico. There, they gather
in large groups in trees called
Oyamel firs.

In the spring the monarchs
fly north again. When they
reach the north, the females lay
eggs. Late in the summer
the butterflies from those eggs
head south.

Flying thousands of miles is dangerous. But the
monarchs face another danger. People are cutting
down trees in the Oyamel forests of Mexico. Only
10 percent of the Oyamel forest is left.

The good news is that people are working
to save the forests. Most people agree that
protecting the winter home of the monarchs is
important. That is very good news for butterfly
fans. They will be able to enjoy the colorful
monarchs for years to come!

A Monarch Is Born (bkgd) Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre/Minden Pictures/Getty Images

This diagram shows the butterfly life cycle. When a

monarch butterfly egg hatches, a caterpillar comes

out. It eats and grows. Later, it forms a hard shell

or pupa. Inside, it changes caterpillar
into a butterfly. One day,

it will lay eggs.

egg pupa

Michael Hood/Alamy

Papilio/Alamy butterfly John T. Fowler/Alamy
Diomedia/Alamy

Issue 9 • 57

Who Has a

Backbone?

Some animals have a backbone. Some animals
don’t. Animals with a backbone are called
vertebrates. Animals without a backbone are
called invertebrates.

Do these animals
have backbones?

Animal Yes No

Bird

Butterfly

Fish

Jellyfish

Lobster

Rabbit

Snake

Worm

What are you:
vertebrate or invertebrate?

58 (PFchr)aoinStkotod&cisJkcop/yhGcoeettotBy/uaIrnmeakaf/cgGseoesut; tsiymaIa;mg(caewg10ef0sro/Pmuntlc)hUS.tSo.cFki;sihStaoncdkpWhioldtoli/feViSoerrikvaic; eP/hDoatvoediMsce/nGkeettpyhoImtoaggreasp; hImera; gCereSaotuasrc/eP/uPnucnhcShtoSctokc; k;

(c) Stuart Westmorland/The Image Bank/Getty Images; (tr) Aqua Image/Alamy Animals
From Eggs

Safe in
the Sea

Dolphins are underwater heroes.

Turtles hatch on beaches around the world.

A big animal crawls out of the sea to lay her

eggs on this beach. Then she uses her two back
flippers to bury the eggs in the sand. This will
hide the eggs and keep them from getting too
warm or too cool. The mother crawls back to
the sea and swims away. She will not be here
when her eggs hatch.

A turtle makes tracks in the sand. →

Huey, George H.H./Animals Animals - Earth Scenes

60 • Time For Kids

Aqua Image/Alamy B Jones & M Shimlock/NHPA

(t to b) Purestock/Alamy, Papilio/Alamy, Thomas Villegas/pumilio.com, Aqua Image/Alamy The eggs hatch. Little turtles crawl to the sea.
For many years they will swim, eat, and grow.
Some will come back to this beach to lay eggs.

Many Kinds of Eggs

Turtles hatch from eggs, and so do lots of other animals. Look
at these eggs. Would you know what kind of animal laid them?

Egg Animal

Robin

Robin parents make nests for their eggs.
They warm the eggs until they hatch.
Then, they feed the baby birds.

Monarch butterfly

Female butterflies lay eggs on leaves and
fly away. Caterpillars hatch from the eggs.
Later, they become butterflies.

Poison dart frog

Female frogs lay eggs. The males watch the
eggs. Tadpoles hatch from the eggs. They
crawl to their mother’s back. She puts each
one in a small pool of water. Each tadpole
will grow into a frog.

Green Turtle

Female turtles lay eggs on the beach.
They bury them in sand and crawl away.
Baby turtles hatch and crawl to the sea.

Issue 10 • 61

Rob Howes, his daughter, and her George Fetting Photography
friends were saved by dolphins.
Matt Fleet saw the rescue. ↓

Thank You, Flipper

Dolphins saved these swimmers from a shark!

Rob Howes wanted to spend a day at the beach. He brought

his 15-year-old daughter, Nicky, along. She brought two friends:
Helen Slade, 16, and Karina Cooper, 15. They all went to Ocean
Beach in New Zealand, where Howes was a lifeguard.

The group swam and body surfed. Then they saw something
strange. “Suddenly, there were these fins,” says Howes.

The swimmers saw seven dolphins moving toward them.
The dolphins seemed upset. They hit the water with their
tails. They kept moving in a circle
around the swimmers. Then one
large dolphin swam toward Howes
and Helen. Next, it dove down
underwater. That’s when Howes saw
something gray moving in the water.

Dolphins are known to help
humans in trouble in the sea. →

Stuart Westmorland/Getty Images

62 • Time For Kids

A great white shark waited underwater. It Tim Davis/Corbis
wasn’t far from the people. The shark headed
straight toward Nicky and Karina. Now a shark is ↑ Sharks can’t change
not slow. It moves fast! So the dolphins used their direction quickly like
tails to swim even faster. Each one splashed its tail dolphins.
even more. Then Howes knew why. The dolphins
didn’t want to harm him and the girls. These sea
mammals wanted to keep them safe.

The dolphins stayed close to the group until
the shark left. When Howes and the kids were safe,
the dolphins swam away.

“You wanted to say thank you and shake their flippers,”
Howes says. This isn’t a fishy tale! These dolphins are heroes.

John Kanzler

The killer whale is the largest dolphin. The whale
shark is the largest shark. Which is longer?

Sea Animal Size

Killer Whale 32 feet

Whale Shark 46 feet

Issue 10 • 63

By Constance Levy

There’s a horn sound
from the blowhole
and a high-speed spout
when a whale at sea
blasts the old air out.
It breathes up a geyser,
a flare of fizz,
a white cloud that shows you
where it is
in the endless waves
of the great green sea.
Oh, whales exhale
magnificently!

(b) Royalty-Free/Corbis

64

(c) WILDLIFE/Peter Arnold Inc.; (tr) OSF/Kemp, R. & J.-Survival/Animals Animals - Earth Scenes

Lost
Lynx!

Nature
Matters

Why do living things need
places to live in nature?

Losing the Lynx

Scientists are working to save these wild cats.

By Andrea DelBanco

Twelve Iberian lynx cubs were born in Doñana National

Park in Spain. The cubs are part of a program to help save

these big cats. Iberian lynx are in danger of disappearing.

In 1900, there were about 100,000 Iberian lynx in Spain
and Portugal. Today, there are fewer than 200. These wild
cats are the most endangered cat in the world.

Joe LeMonnier

Spain

Doñana National Park

Scientists hope this female
lynx will have cubs.

Jose B. Ruiz/Nature Picture Library

66 • Time For Kids

What’s Wrong? OSF/Kemp, R. & J.-Survival/Animals Animals - Earth Scenes

Why are the lynx in danger? They are losing This rare lynx lives in Spain.
their homes. People have built houses, farms,
and roads where the lynx live. The large cats also
can’t find enough food. Lynx eat rabbits. But
most of the rabbits where the lynx stay are gone.
Many lynx began to starve, or go hungry.

Scientists hope more cubs will be born. So
far, about 24 lynx live in Doñana National Park.
People are trying to protect the babies and their
parents. Roads around the park will be closed.
This will keep lynx safe from passing cars.

Big Cats

There are 37 types of wild cats in the world. Many of them
may soon disappear. Here are facts about some of these cats.

Cat Habitat Number in (t to b) Millard H. Sharp/Photo Researchers;
the World Westend61/Alamy; Thomas & Pat Leeson/Photo
Researchers
Jaguar Mexico, Central and 292
South America

Lion Africa 15,000

Siberian tiger Russia, Asia 500

James Gritz/Photodisc/Getty Images

Issue 11 • 67

Surfing the Sand s

A new sport lets boarders land in the sand.

Josh Tenge has his head in the sand. Lars Topelmann Photography Ltd

Tenge isn’t an ostrich. He’s a sandboarder.

Tenge spends lots of time riding sand

dunes in Nevada and Oregon.

Dunes are landforms. Landforms are
different shapes of Earth’s land. Hills
and cliffs are landforms, too.

Dunes are hills of sand. They change ↑ Josh Tenge is a champion
shape and size as the wind blows. Many sandboarder. He teaches
places around the world have dunes. others how to sand surf.
There are many in the United States.

The largest area of sand dunes in the United States is
in Oregon. It is the Oregon Dunes National Recreation
Area. The highest sand dunes in North America are in
Colorado. They are in Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The largest area of sand dunes in
the United States is in the Oregon
Dunes National Recreation Area.

Oregon

Joe Lemonnier

68 • Time For Kids

No Snow? No Problem! (bkgd) Comstock/PunchStock

This new sport is like snowboarding. Snowboarding

is popular in many states that have snow in the

winter. People who live in warm states don’t have

snow. Now they can feel the thrill of snowboarding.

Instead of sliding on snow, sandboarders glide

down sand. They can sandboard all year round!

Sandboarders work hard at their sport. They
show their skills in competitions around the world.
Tenge is the master of sandboarding. He has won
the world championship four times!

Sand Master Park in Oregon is a great place for
sandboarding. The park has ramps on the sand.
Riders use the ramps to lift into the air. Boarders
practice flips and turns. Tenge teaches new riders
how to sandboard. More than 8,000 visitors go to
the park each year!

M. Dillon/Corbis

Watch Those Dunes! ↑ The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado are
protected. They are in a national park.
Sand dunes on beaches are
important. They protect the land. Issue 11 • 69
They stop huge ocean waves
from washing over the land.
Sandboarders ride dunes that are
away from beaches. They don’t
want to harm beach dunes. Many
sand dunes are protected by law.

THE SUN

By Leland B. Jacobs

Although it is gold,
It isn’t a locket;

Though shaped like a coin,
It fits no pocket.

It hasn’t a ladder,
But it can climb.

It’s much like a clock
For telling the time.

It gives itself, free,
To child and man,

But nobody touches it.
Nobody can.

(bkgd) DAJ/Getty Images

70

(c) Luiz C. Marigo/Peter Arnold, Inc.; (tr) Tim Davis/Corbis Animal
Families

Scientists fight to save
these sea creatures.

New laws are helping Luiz C. Marigo/Peter Arnold, Inc.
to protect sea turtles in Mexico.
↑ Some sea
Thousands of female sea turtles crawl out turtles are safer
in the water.
of the water on La Escobilla Beach in Mexico.
Each one digs a nest in the sand to lay its eggs.
Then it covers the eggs with sand and returns
to the ocean. In 45 days, the babies hatch and
crawl into the water.

These types of sea turtles are called olive
ridleys. Around the world, the number of sea
turtles is decreasing. But the number of olive
ridleys on La Escobilla Beach has gone up. Why?
The turtles can thank a program in Mexico.

Sea turtles are in danger of Olive ridley sea turtles crawl
disappearing. Some have been out of the water to lay eggs. ↓
hurt by pollution. Others have
been caught in fishing nets Adriana Zehbrauskas/Polaris Images
by hunters.

72 • Time For Kids

Adriana Zehbrauskas/Polaris Images Turtle Trouble

↑ Soldiers ask children to be These four types of sea
careful around sea turtle eggs. turtles are in danger of
dying out.
In 1990, Mexico passed a law to
stop sea turtle hunting. Soldiers Leatherbacks are the
watch the beaches to protect sea largest sea turtles.
turtles. People are taught how to One third of them die
help save sea turtles. Now there are every year.↓
about one million olive ridley nests
at La Escobilla Beach. That’s four Jany Sauvanet/Photo Researchers
times as many as there were in 1990.
Hawksbill turtles
This map shows La Escobilla Beach in are hunted for their
Mexico. Can you find it on the map? beautiful shells to
What is the capital city of Mexico? ↓ make jewelry.↓

Charles V. Angelo/
Photo Researchers

Green turtles and
their eggs are eaten
in many areas.↓

Joe LeMonnier Joyce & Frank Burek/Animals
Animals/Earth Scenes

Fewer than 1,000
loggerheads now nest
on Japan’s beaches.↓

Porterfield/Chickering/Photo
Researchers

Issue 12 • 73

Daddy Day Care

Baby animals need help to meet their needs. Animal parents
give babies food, water, and shelter. They keep babies safe.

Baboon Fathers Male baboons can be fierce
fighters. “But they can be sweet
Scientists learned something with infants,” says scientist
surprising about baboons. Joan Silk. The fathers rush in if
Some baboon fathers help one of their babies is in danger.
mother baboons care for
their babies. The scientists think baboon
fathers know their babies by
Scientists learned that male sight and by smell. “It’s always
baboons can tell which babies fun to find out that animals are
are theirs. They used tests to smarter than you thought!”
match 75 baboon babies with says Silk. — Elizabeth Winchester
their fathers. Half of these
fathers spent time with their Courtesy Dr. Joan Silk
babies until the babies were
three years old.

A baboon father cares for his babies.

74 • Time For Kids

Tim Davis/Corbis

Good Dads

Baboons aren’t the only proud
fathers in the animal world. Here
are some other animal dads that
care for their kids.

Michael & Patricia Fogden/Minden Pictures/Getty Images

Darwin’s Frog This frog Emperor Penguin A penguin
father carries up to 15 eggs pop holds the mother’s egg
inside a special part of on his feet. He uses his skin
his throat. After the eggs and feathers to keep the
hatch and the tadpoles egg warm. He does this for
have turned into frogs, nine weeks, without eating,
they hop out. until the egg is ready to
hatch.

Lezczynski; Zigmund/Animals Animals - Earth Scenes

Sea Horse A female sea horse lays
eggs in the male’s pouch. It is in
the front of the male’s stomach.
He carries the eggs until they
hatch. When the babies are big
enough, they swim away.

Issue 12 • 75

(bkgd) Siede Preis/Getty Images; By Douglas Florian
(br) PhotoDisc/Getty Images
I wear a helmet
On my back.
It’s hard
And guards
Me from attack.
And if I wheeze,

Or sneeze,
Or cough,

The shell I dwell in
Won’t fall off.
It’s glued without
A screw or mortise.
I’m born with it,
For I’m a tortoise.

76

(c) Digital Vision/Getty Images; (tr) Diane Macdonald/Stockbyte/Getty Images How Can
You Help?

Taking Care

of Earth

If we treat resources with care,
there will be enough for everyone.
This girl takes water used to rinse
dishes and reuses it to water plants.

Grant Faint/Getty Images It’s Getting
Vario Images/GmbH & Co. KG/Alamy Crowded
Around Here!
78 • Time For Kids
A lot of people have to share
Earth’s resources.

Blink your eyes. In that time, three people

were born. Blink again. That’s another three
people! Every minute there are 184 more
people. Every hour there are 11,040 more.
Every day 264,960 people are added to the
total. That makes 97 million more people
on Earth every year.

By 2007 the total number of people on
Earth was six and a half billion. A stack of
6 billion pennies would be 5,000 miles high!

Growing Pains

Earth has a limited amount of natural
resources. People need these resources to live.
Water covers most of Earth. But less than 1
percent of it can be used for drinking and
washing. One of every 13 people around the
world does not have enough clean water.

Food is a problem too. One Making Sure
of every 7 people in the world There’s Enough
does not get enough to eat. to Go Around
Why? As cities grow bigger,
farmland vanishes. Buildings Can six and a half billion people
and roads take its place. There figure out how to share and
is less room to grow food, and save Earth’s resources? Bill Ryan
there are more people to feed. of the United Nations thinks so.
He believes young people
Every person alive uses will change the world.
Earth’s resources. Some use “There are more
more than others. Using less young people alive
and wasting less are ways to now than at any
conserve resources. other time,”
he says.

Diane Macdonald/Stockbyte/Getty Images

The U.S. Population Over Time

This time line shows the population, or number of people,
in the United States from 1800 to 2000. What happened
to the population?

5,308,483 people 76,212,168 people 281,421,906 people

23,191,876 people 151,325,798 people

1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
Issue 13 • 79

Pecans:

A Nutty Resource

Pecan trees are natural resources.
Natural resources are materials
from Earth that people use.

People use pecan trees in many

ways. The wood can be used to

make furniture or to burn for heat.

But most people use pecan nuts.

They are good to eat! Garcia/photocuisine/Corbis

A Year in the Life of a Pecan Tree

Pecan trees take a whole year to make the nuts
we like to eat. Look at this time line to learn how
the tree changes through the year.

January February March April May June

In January, The tree begins
growing leaves and
some farmers blossoms in March.
Each flower will
grow special plants become a nut later.
The tree needs
around the trees. water from the
spring rains to grow.
These plants add

nutrients to the

soil. The tree needs

nutrients to grow.

Noam Armonn/Alamy Ray Hendley/Index Stock Imagery/
Jupiterimages
80 • Time For Kids

Saving Water for the Trees Grant Heilman Photography/Alamy

Water is a natural resource too. Pecan
trees need lots of water to live. If there
is enough rain, there is a good pecan
crop. But a drought can cause big
problems. A drought happens when
there is little or no rain.

Rain fills reservoirs, places
where water is stored. Canals
carry reservoir water to
farms and cities. Reservoirs
don’t fill up during droughts.
Saving water is important
for everyone, including
pecan farmers.

July August September October November December

In July, the The husks turn
tree grows brown. They open
green husks. in October and
There is a nut the nuts fall out.
growing inside People can eat
each husk. plain nuts, or use
them to make
Goss Images/Alamy Inga Spence/Getty Images cookies and pies.

Issue 13 • 81

From Cotton Field
to T-Shirt

How does cotton from a plant in a farm field
become a T-shirt? There are four steps.

Step 1 Plant & Grow

Cotton seeds are planted in
warm soil in the spring.

Step 2 Harvest

After 4 to 5 months, the cotton
bolls, or pods, are picked.

Step 3 Clean & Gin A machine called a cotton gin (t to b) David Frazier/Corbis Premium RF/Alamy; Philip Quirk/Alamy; Daniel Pepper/Getty Images; Sie Productions/zefa/Corbis
Step 4 Manufacture takes seedpods and seeds out
82 of the fluffy cotton. The cotton
is cleaned. Then it is packed in
bales and sent to a mill.

At the mill, the raw cotton is
spun into thread. The thread is
woven into fabric. The fabric is
dyed. Then the fabric is cut to a
pattern and sewn together.

(c) LWA-Dann Tardif/Corbis; (tr) Michael Szoenyi/Photo Researchers From
Rock
to Sand

Here Comes the

Wind

You can fly a kite
on a windy day.
What else happens
in windy weather?

Windy Weather

You can’t see air, but when the
wind blows you can feel it.
Wind is air on the move!

When the wind starts blowing ↑ It’s hard to hold an umbrella Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images
in a windy rainstorm.Colin Braley/Reuters America
hard, it often means the weather is
changing. A summer rainstorm can
bring fast winds. A hurricane is a
dangerous kind of summer storm.
Its fast winds can uproot trees and
destroy houses. Hurricane winds
move 75 to 155 miles per hour.
This is faster than a speeding car!

← Hurricane winds
can bend trees.
These storms can
bring heavy rains
that cause floods.

84 • Time For Kids

A winter storm with Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis
heavy snow and strong
winds is called a blizzard. ↑ Blowing snow makes it hard
Blizzard winds move to see in a blizzard.
25 miles an hour or more.
A tornado can pick up trees and cars.
A tornado is another It can tear the roof off of a house. ↓
kind of dangerous
windstorm. The funnel
of spinning wind acts like a
vacuum cleaner. Tornado
winds can blow between
40 and 379 miles an hour.

C.Lloyd/Weatherstock

Issue 14 • 85

Solid as a

Rock

People, plants, and animals are living
things. They eat, drink, and breathe.
Living things also grow.

Rocks do not need food, water, or air.

They don’t grow, but they can change.
How can a nonliving thing change if
it does not grow?

Rocks are objects.
They do not live.

Panoramic Images/Getty Images

86 • Time For Kids

This fine sand comes Connie Coleman/Getty Images
from big rocks.

Michael Szoenyi/Photo Researchers

Rocky Weather Water that turns to ice
can crack rocks.
Wind and rain wear down rocks.
Water gets into cracks in rocks.
When cold weather makes water
become ice, it breaks the rocks
apart. The rocks chip and break
into smaller pieces.

Strong winds lift fine sand Jim Lundgren/Alamy
and blow it against rocks.
The moving sand rubs against
rocks. Over time, rocks get
smaller and smaller. Some rocks
end up as minute grains of sand!

A river can carry sand all the
way to the sea. As river water
moves sand, the sand rubs
against river rocks. These rocks
get smoother and smaller.

Moving water rubs sand against
rocks. This makes the rocks
smooth.

Issue 14 • 87

Raindrops on
the Willow Tree

By Margaret Wise Brown

The diamonds on the tree twigs
Are all the diamonds that I’ve got
So bright
So unexpected
So soon gone
And yet
Alive as rain
Alive as time
Shining like diamonds
Raindrops
They shine and glow
Brighter than snow
They shine
And they are mine.

88

(c) Bob Winsett/Corbis; (tr) Jupiterimages Spanish
Moss

Long ago people told
stories to explain
how things happen.
Today we still enjoy
those stories.

TTeallinlges

Florence Stratton liked to hear people’s The Gilbert Papers, MS 159/Tyrrell Historical Library

stories. She wrote down stories told by
pioneers and Native Americans. These folk
tales tell us what people thought long ago.

The Tejas were among the first people of ↑ Florence Stratton was a
Texas. Stratton published their stories in a journalist. Few women
book, When The Storm God Rides. People worked for newspapers or
wrote books at the time.

liked the book so much, it became a school Berniece Burrough/Courtesy The
book for children in Texas! Internet Sacred Texts Archive

Time Line of a Story Teller 1936 When The
Storm God Rides
was published.

1883 Florence Stratton
was born.

1850 1875 1900 1925 1950

1907 She became 1938 Stratton died.
a reporter at the
Beaumont Journal.

© 2008/The Beaumont Enterprise 1928 She began writing
a weekly column for the
Beaumont Enterprise.

90 • Time For Kids

Folk tales were often used to explain
how things happen. Stratton wrote down
this Tejas tale about Spanish moss.

How the North Wind Nancy Tripp/Dreamstime.com
Lost His Hair

The South Wind was a young man. He lived with the

Tejas by the Gulf of Mexico. He blew warm air.

The North Wind was an old man with long, gray
hair. He blew cold air. He visited the Gulf in winter.
Sometimes he brought snow.

One spring, the old North Wind would not leave
the Gulf. He kept South Wind away. It was cold.

The South Wind was tired of being kept Berniece Burrough/Courtesy The Internet Sacred Texts Archive
away. He fought with the North Wind.
The South Wind pulled out some of North
Wind’s long, gray hair during the fight.
The North Wind flew away.

The South Wind was so happy he had
won, he began dancing. As he danced, the
North Wind’s hair fell on trees. Today,
we call it Spanish moss. It still grows on
many trees in the Gulf.

Issue 15 • 91

Why is the south wind warm and the north wind

cold? To answer this, you have to know about two
things: how the sun heats Earth and how air moves.

Heating Earth’s Air

Sunlight heats Earth’s land, water, and air. The sun’s
rays strike Earth differently in different places.

In some places, the sun’s rays strike Earth nearly
straight on. These direct rays make those places very
warm. Places near the equator tend to be very warm.

In some places, Earth does not get direct rays from
the sun. These places are cooler. The North Pole and
the South Pole are the coldest places on Earth.

The Sun’s Rays North Pole
Earth
direct rays
Equator
Sun

iStockphoto/Raycat South Pole

92 • Time For Kids

Blue arrows show cold air moving
from the north. Red arrows show
warm air moving from the south. →

Earth’s Moving Air

In the United States, warm
air moves up from the south.
Winds that blow from the
south are warm. Cold air
moves down from the north.
Winds that blow from the
north are cold.

Warm south winds keep Joe LeMonnier
the southern states warm. But
sometimes, north winds blow
across the southern United
States. Then it can be cold.

Cold Air in the United States

This time line shows some of the lowest temperatures
recorded in the United States. Which state had the
temperature 70 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-70°F)?

1933 Riverside, Wyoming 1985 Maybell, Colorado, and Peter’s Sink, Utah
66°F below zero 61°F below zero

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

1954 Rogers Pass, Montana 1971 Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska
70°F below zero 80°F below zero

Issue 15 • 93

Who Has Seen the

Wind?
by Christina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

Red Hansen

94