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Corals Animal Themes

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Corals
Print Corals Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Corals Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.1

Vocabulary

challenging words:

asexual, fertilization, symmetry, radial, best, nematocysts, parrotfish, planula, sperm, large-scale, zooplankton, classify, organism, relationship, reproduce, uproot

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Corals

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¹     In the blue underwater world, there are many creatures that are not what they appear to be. One of the best examples of this is corals.
 
²     Corals come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Some resemble trees with leafless branches. Some look like mushrooms. Some remind us of human brains. The list goes on and on. Regardless of what they appear to be, they are usually fixtures on rocks. Their lack of mobility is like vegetation on land -- plants grow, but they do not uproot themselves to go somewhere else. So, just as we are ready to classify corals as underwater plants, we realize that they are actually animals!
 
³     "Coral" can mean one of two things. The first is the living marine invertebrate itself that we also refer to as a coral polyp or a polyp. The second is the limestone skeleton some coral species have and leave behind when they die. We call them "hard corals"; for those without a limestone skeleton, we call them "soft corals." The calcareous remains of hard corals become the framework of coral reefs.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

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Animal Themes

Animal Themes

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Invertebrates

Invertebrates

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Oceans

Oceans

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Animals

Amphibians         Birds         Deserts         Fish         Freshwater         Grasslands         Insects

Invertebrates         Mammals         Oceans         Polar Regions         Rain Forest         Reptiles

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