Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Life Science Plant and Animal Cells

Amoeba Life Science

---

Amoeba
Print Amoeba Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

Print Amoeba Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Amoeba Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.95

Vocabulary

challenging words:

amoeba, amoebic, fission, paramecium, protist, shape-shifters, unicellular, engulf, cytoplasm, nucleus, well-known, detection, dysentery, tactics, various, particularly

---

Amoeba By Cindy Grigg

---

¹     Living things are made of cells. Some things consist of only one cell. They are called unicellular organisms. One of the simplest living things, an amoeba, is made of only one cell. Amoebas (sometimes spelled amebas or amoebae) are too small to be seen without a microscope, but they are commonly found in ponds and lakes. They are "shape-shifters" that sometimes appear as a round blob, sometimes appear to have feet, and sometimes appear to have arms that can surround their food. Amoebas are characterized by their flowing movements, considered to be the most primitive form of animal locomotion, or movement. Some are well-known parasites of plants, animals, and humans. It should be noted that amoeba are not animals; however, they are classified in the protist kingdom.
 
²     An amoeba's single cell appears to be not much more than cytoplasm held together by a flexible cell membrane. Floating in this cytoplasm, several kinds of cell bodies can be found. The most easily identified is the nucleus. Some species have only one nucleus; others may have hundreds of nuclei. The nucleus or nuclei control the growth and reproduction of the amoeba. Amoebas reproduce by fission, or splitting in two. The "parent" cell divides into two smaller copies of itself. The nucleus also divides into two. The cell membrane allows oxygen from the water the amoeba lives in to come into the cell and carbon dioxide to pass out of the cell. In this way, the amoeba "breathes."
 
³     Amoebas are able to change their shapes. They can extend parts of themselves into what are called pseudopodia and then flow in the direction in which they wish to go. Pseudopodia means "false feet." If they find something to eat, they can engulf it with their pseudopodia and pull themselves around it to digest it. They can "ooze" and surround their food by making their cytoplasm more liquid and able to flow.

Paragraphs 4 to 7:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Amoeba

Leave your feedback on Amoeba   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Life Science

Life Science

---

Plant and Animal Cells

Plant and Animal Cells

---

Science

Science

Careers in Science         Caring for Earth         Clouds         Dinosaurs         Earth's Land         Earth         Earthquakes         Electricity         Energy         Erosion         Food Pyramid         Food Webs and Food Chain         Forces and Motion         Fossils         Health and Nutrition         How Things Work         Landforms         Life Science         Light         Magnets         Matter

Moon         Natural Disasters         Photosynthesis         Plant and Animal Cells         Plants         Rocks and Minerals         Science Process Skills         Scientific Notation         Seasons         Simple Machines         Soil         Solar System         Sound         Space and Stars         Sun         Tsunami         Volcanoes         Water Cycle         Water         Weather

Copyright © 2025 edHelper