HOUGHTON MIFFLIN Vocabulary Readers EClORSWord Count: 247 PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS Cover Corel Stock Photo Library. 1 © Michael Melford/Getty Images. 3 © Thomas Barwick/Getty Images. 5 © Corel Stock Photo Library. 6-7 © Peter Chadwick/Getty Images. 8 (t) © Michael Orton/Getty Images. 8 (b) © Ron & Patty Thomas/Getty Images. 9 © Owaki - Kulla/CORBIS. 10 © Jim Wehtje/Getty Images. 11 © Corel Stock Photo Library. 12 © Michael Melford/Getty Images. 13 © PhotoDise. 14-15 © Darrell Gulin/Getty Images. Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Alll rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Houghton Mifflin Company unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to School Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116. Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN: 0-618-64904-2 123456789 B 1413 12 1110090807 0605Changing Colors by Jesse David Lynch Strategy Focus — As you read, monitor your understanding of the book. Use the pictures to help clarify anything you don’t understand. 4%, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN BOSTONLea AX] lola autumn fall draft a flow of air etched made a design or letters by cutting lines; carved frost a very thin covering of ice mercury a liquid, silvery metal used in some thermometers peculiar unusual, odd thermometer an instrument that measures temperature timid shy \Nord Teaser. Some people call me quicksilver. Tam also a planet in our solar system. What am I?It’s the end of September. Summer is over. School has started. The weather is turning cooler. Autumn is here!tube mercury This thermometer shows how cold it’s getting outside. The thin glass tube holds a silver liquid called mercury. As the temperature drops, the level of mercury drops, too. It’s just 50 degrees outside. You should wear a jacket today!‘Trees are getting ready for the cold weather, too. How can you tell? Their leav tarting to change color.In the spring and summer, leaves get their green color from a chemical called chlorophyll (KLOR-a- fil). Trees need chlorophyll to grow. Chlorophyll uses sunlight to make food for trees.In the autumn, days are shorter. There is not as much light. Trees can’t make food anymore. Slowly, the green color goes away. Other colors appear. It is as if the colors had been timid. They were hiding inside the leaves all along!Maple Different kinds of trees turn different colors.Some trees look peculiar, or odd, in the autumn. Look at this tree, for example. Only some of its leaves have changed color. The rest are still green.Maple leaf V @ Sometimes the veins in a leaf stay green longer than the rest of the leaf. The green veins look like they are etched, or carved, into the leaf. 10A strong breeze or draft of wind can blow leaves off the trees. The ground begins to look like a colorful rug.People take trips to the country to see the bright autumn colors. 12It’s fun to collect beautiful autumn leaves. Gather some of your own. Here is a way to save them: 1. Place the leaves between two paper towels. 2. Put heavy books on top of the towels to keep the leaves flat. 3. Keep the leaves under the books for at least a week. 4. Glue the leaves into a photo album. 13The weather is turning colder. Soon, a frost may leave a thin layer of ice on leaves. The frost will kill the last leaves. 14But wait till spring. Then new leaves will start to grow!Responding Putting Words to Work 1. N wn Complete this sentence: The tiny mouse was timid, so it . What happens to the mercury in a thermometer when the weather gets hot? . Name two details about leaves in autumn. . Where might you find words etched into something? . ParTNER Activity: Think of a word you learned in the book. Explain its meaning to your partner and give an example. Answer to Word Teaser mercuryWord Builder Frost is a cold-weather word. What other cold-weather words can you think of? Copy this word web. Add as many words as you can. Write About It You have just read about autumn. Use words from your web to write a paragraph describing winter.i Ni Vocabulary Readers | AY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN