edHelper.com
Pets Theme Unit
 Life with a Hedgehog

Life with a Hedgehog
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.68

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    beatrix, hoglets, mealworms, popularity, pygmies, silky-smooth, Tiggy-winkle, fictional, porcupine, occasionally, rabies, beloved, croquet, behavior, distinctive, schedule
     content words:    Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit, In Alice, North America, Many Peter Rabbit, Amy Sticker, Hedgebert McPricklesworth, Prickly Poo

Print Life with a Hedgehog
     Print Life with a Hedgehog  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format
     Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
     Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format
     Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Life with a Hedgehog
     Leave your feedback on Life with a Hedgehog  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Life with a Hedgehog
By Colleen Messina 		  
1     Beatrix Potter knew all about life with a hedgehog. The author of the beloved Peter Rabbit stories once wrote about her pet and said, "Mrs. Tiggy-winkle is a great traveler...She enjoys going by train, she is always very hungry when she is on a journey. I think you must ask Mrs. Tiggy-winkle to tea, she will drink milk like anything out of a doll's cup!"
 
2     Hedgehogs are more than walking pincushions. They might not be cuddly, but they can be wonderful pets. In Alice in Wonderland, hedgehogs rolled themselves into balls and were used in the game of croquet. Being an object of a sport must not have been nice for those fictional characters, but real life hedgehogs have a good reason for rolling up. It is their way of defending themselves. When a hedgehog is nervous, its 5,000 prickly spines stand out. Then, the little animal becomes a ball. The spines are sharp, so no predator will try to eat the hedgehog. It would be like eating a piece of cactus!
 
3     Wild hedgehogs live in the forests and deserts of Africa, Europe, and Asia. They came to North America in the 1980s for zoos and private collections. Later, more people raised them as pets. Most pet hedgehogs are African pygmy hedgehogs. In 1993, hedgehogs became even more popular because of a comic strip called "Hazel the Hedgehog." Then, a hedgehog character named Sonic appeared on television and even in a video game. Hedgehogs were everywhere!
 
4     One reason for their popularity as pets is their small size. These mammals only grow to be 6 to 8 inches long, and they only weigh a pound. African pygmies come in many shades such as white, black, and cream. Many hedgehogs give the impression that they are covered with a mixture of salt and pepper. They waddle from side to side when they walk and entertain their owners.
 
5     Hedgehogs are active animals that are often up at night. If you have a pet, you might be able to put it on a day schedule by feeding it at certain times. They like to have lots of room in their cages, and they like exercise wheels. A 20-30 gallon aquarium or a rabbit cage makes a good hedgehog home. Hedgehogs are solitary creatures. It is best not to have more than one in a cage. They can learn to love people if they are handled a lot when they are little. If they are upset, they might scream, or puff or sniff. They make soft whistling sounds when they are content.

Paragraphs 6 to 11:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Weekly Reading Books

          Create Weekly Reading Books

Prepare for an entire week at once!

Pets Theme Unit
             Pets Theme Unit

More Activities, Lesson Plans, and Worksheets


Back to School
Graphic Organizers
Alphabet Worksheets
Sight Words
Math Worksheets
Mazes
50 States

Monthly Themes
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Fractions
Place Value
Time and Calendar
Money
Earth Day
Solar System
Analogies
Nouns
Following Directions
Listening
Capitalization
Cursive Writing
Patterns and Sequencing
Dinosaurs
All About Me

Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Sixth Grade
Multiplication
Division
Main Idea
Cause and Effect
Measurement
Decimals
Rounding
Order of Operations
Verbs
Community Helpers
Adjectives
Plants
Grammar
Addition and Subtraction
Contractions
Bulletin Board Ideas
Word Searches
Crossword Puzzles
Printable Puzzles

Reading Comprehension
Reading Skills
English Language Arts



Copyright © 2011 edHelper