Salamander Surprise!

Salamander Surprise!

Written by Jennifer Beck Illustrated by Ian Forss

Salamander Surprise!

Text type: Narrative Level: N (30) Word count: 1,585 Content vocabulary amphibians mucus predator salamanders species vivarium

Salamander Surprise!

Irregularly spelled words Earth gorgeous guilty jealous laughed neighbor weigh weirdest Key concepts • Salamanders are amphibians that have specific characteristics.

• Salamanders need specific conditions to survive.

Reading strategy Self-correcting to maintain the meaning of the text Paired book Amazing Salamanders

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Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing Designed by Derek Schneider Printed and bound in China through Colorcraft Ltd, Hong Kong Distributed in the USA by Okapi Educational Publishing Inc. Phone: 866-652-7436 Fax: 800-481-5499 Email: info@myokapi.com www.myokapi.com www.flying-start-to-literacy.com ISBN: 978-1-74320-097-1 6 7 8 9 10 11 15 16 17 18 19

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Written by Jennifer Beck Illustrated by Ian Forss

Contents Chapter 1: Pet Day

4

Chapter 2: What a disaster!

10

Chapter 3: Missing salamander

16

Chapter 4: Pet rescue

22

A note from the author

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Chapter 1

Pet Day

“You’re gorgeous,” I whispered as I brushed Goldie’s gleaming coat. I wanted Goldie to look his best for Pet Day. “Everyone at school will be so jealous of

I could hardly wait to get to school that

my pet!” I whispered to him.

morning. Ever since our class had been given the notice about Pet Day, I’d been looking forward to showing Goldie to my friends.

Dad hadn’t really wanted to buy me a dog, especially a labrador. He said they eat a lot, and sometimes they wander off in search of food. But I kept asking, and in the end Dad said I could have a dog.

Luckily we’ve got a big yard with plenty of room for a dog to run around. I just have to be careful to keep the gate shut so Goldie doesn’t get out onto the road.

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5

On the way to school, I met Isabella, coming

“I’d love to!” said Isabella, bending down

out of the apartment building where she

and carefully placing the plastic box she’d

lives. Isabella’s in my class, but we never

been carrying on the path.

see each other after school.

You should have seen Isabella’s face when she saw Goldie. She was really excited.

“He’s beautiful,” she whispered, gently stroking Goldie’s head.

I told her that when Goldie’s older I’ll be

“I didn’t know you had a dog! What’s his

taking him to shows, and he’s sure to win

name?” she said.

a lot of prizes.

“Goldie. He’s a pure bred labrador. Want to pet him?”

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7

I thought I’d better ask about Isabella’s pet.

“What have you got in that box?” I said.

Isabella smiled. “I call him Sam.” She lifted the lid. Lying in some weeds was the weirdest-looking creature I’ve ever seen!

It was yellow and black with big eyes and a long tail.

“Yuck!” I screamed, jumping back and nearly tripping over Goldie’s lead. “What is it?

A lizard?”

Isabella laughed. “No, Sam’s a salamander.

I’ll take him out when we get to school, then you can have a better look at him!”

I didn’t know what to say – I really didn’t want to touch an ugly creature like that.

I was glad when we got to school and I could leave Isabella and show Goldie to my friends.

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Chapter 2

What a disaster!

Afterward, back in class, things got worse.

Everyone took turns talking about their pets.

While I was telling the class about Goldie’s father winning Grand Champion at the

As it turned out, Pet Day was a disaster.

Goldie got excited during the Grand Parade

National Dog Show, I noticed some kids laughing and pointing at Goldie.

and had a fight with Andy Shaw’s dog.

His scruffy little dog started it of course, then Andy told me I needed to take Goldie to obedience classes!

I turned around and saw that he had my pencil case in his mouth and was shaking it around, making pencils fly everywhere.

When I tried to take it from him, he started running around the classroom!

Everyone was laughing!

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11

When Miss Fisher had finally settled the class down, I had to listen to everyone else talk about boring pets like birds and hamsters.

Then Isabella stood up to talk about her salamander.

Great, I thought. Now everyone will be really bored!

But they weren’t bored. They seemed to find her talk interesting!

Isabella said that salamanders had been on

“Some salamanders are smaller than my

Earth since the time of the dinosaurs. She’s

little finger,” Isabella said, holding up her

got a few of the weird creatures, and keeps

hand. “Others, like the Japanese giant

them at home in a glass tank called a

salamander, can weigh as much as a man –

vivarium. (I only remember that because

but I haven’t got one of those.”

Miss Fisher wrote the word on a chart.)

That made the class laugh. But it was a good sort of laughing – not the way they had laughed at me and Goldie.

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13

Isabella went on and on, holding up a picture

Oh, no! Why did we have to hear more

of some salamander from Mexico that’s

about ugly lizards – my Goldie was much

a protected species. How boring!

more beautiful and interesting.

“Who’d want one of those for a pet?”

I was glad when Pet Day was over and I

I whispered.

could play ball with Goldie in our yard.

But the other kids seemed fascinated.

“Why is it that whitish color?”

Afterward she curled up next to me while I watched my favorite TV show.

You couldn’t do that with a salamander!

“What are those pink frilly things around its neck?”

Finally Isabella finished talking. But then Miss Fisher said, “For science next week we’re going to study amphibians. Isabella, could you bring some of your salamanders to school? Then the class could observe them, and you could tell us even more about them.”

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Chapter 3

Missing salamander The next week, Isabella’s vivarium became the center of attention. And Isabella got to give us another talk. She told the class about all the different tricks salamanders have learned to help them survive.

“Some can survive fires by running through the flames,” she said. “They produce a kind of foam or mucus that protects their skin

“And some salamanders drop their tails

from the heat.”

when they are in danger,” Isabella went on.

“Wow!” said the kids in the front row.

“Yeah, and when it dries, they scrape it off with their feet,” said Isabella.

“Eww!” I said loudly. “That’s disgusting!”

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“When they do this, their tails keep wriggling, which distracts a predator and allows the salamander to escape.”

“Cool!” shouted Andy Shaw and his friends.

“Ugh!” I muttered.

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The next day we got a big shock when we arrived at school. Our classroom had been broken into overnight. Some of our class computers were stolen. Nothing else was missing, but some water had been tipped out of the vivarium and stones and plants had been thrown around the room. It was a mess.

Isabella rushed over to check on her salamanders. She found one was missing.

“It’s Sam!” she cried. “He’s gone! Maybe he’s hiding somewhere. He could starve!

Miss Fisher said that we all had to help look

Please help me find him!”

for Sam. It was disgusting. We had to crawl around under the desks, and check behind the shelves and inside the cupboards.

The class searched everywhere, but nobody could find Sam. Isabella looked very upset at the end of the day when it was time to go home without him.

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The truth was, I was feeling a bit guilty.

I’d looked in the hallway outside our classroom, behind the drinking fountain.

It was next to some lockers so I had to crouch down to see behind it. Right at the back where a pipe was leaking, I’d glimpsed a quick movement like a flick of a tail.

I was pretty sure it was Sam, but I hadn’t said anything.

I was still annoyed that Isabella and her silly salamander had gotten all the attention on Pet Day instead of Goldie and me.

Isabella can suffer a bit longer, I thought.

Tomorrow I would pretend to discover Sam, and everyone would be proud of me.

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Chapter 4

Pet rescue

I turned around and my heart almost stopped. There was Goldie, running loose down the sidewalk across the street!

I’d been in a grumpy mood when I left

In the morning I was still feeling guilty, so

home that morning – had I forgotten to shut

I decided to walk to school with Isabella.

the gate? Our neighbor had just put out his

I waited outside her apartment building.

garbage can. Maybe Goldie smelled

When I saw her, she looked worried.

something and ran out of the yard.

I thought she was still sad about Sam, but then she suddenly pointed behind me.

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I looked down the street. At the end there was a main road, with trucks zooming past.

Goldie was headed right for that road.

“Goldie! Come back!” I shouted, but Isabella was faster. Before I could move she’d crossed the street, raced after Goldie, and grabbed him by the collar.

Goldie could have been killed!

When I tried to thank Isabella, she just shrugged it off and gave Goldie a hug.

“I didn’t want you to lose your lovely pet,” she said.

You can just imagine how I felt then. I’d been mean to Isabella and now she’d saved my pet’s life!

I burst into tears.

“I’m so sorry about Sam!” I blurted out.

“I was jealous of all the attention you and your salamanders were getting. I think I might know where Sam could be. I’ll just put Goldie back in our yard, then let’s get to school.”

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Sure enough, the little salamander was hiding in the damp space behind the water fountain. Isabella didn’t ask any questions.

She was just so happy to find Sam alive and unharmed. That day after school I helped her carry the vivarium back home, and we’ve been good friends ever since.

On sunny days Isabella and I take Goldie for a walk together, and on wet days I sometimes go to Isabella’s place and help her look after her salamanders. Sometimes we catch worms and insects for them to eat.

Now I think that salamanders are amazing creatures, but I haven’t actually picked one up yet – I’m scared it might drop its wriggling tail!

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A note from the author

FLYING START TO LITERACY Early Emergent Stage

The idea of a salamander as a pet goes back to my first year as a teacher. A child in my class brought a Mexican axolotl to

Early Stage

transitional Early Fluent Stage Stage CHapter books

Fluent Stage CHapter books

Level N (30) Paired books Salamander Surprise!

Corn Crazy

The Great Corn Invention

Food Rescue: Making Food Go Further

The King of Waste

and that’s when I first learned a little about

Saving Wild Wolves

Wolf Secret

them. Through researching this story I now

Level O (34) Paired books

know a lot more about these amazing and

Riding the Waves

Wipe-out!

adaptable creatures.

Deadly Venom: Killer or Cure?

The Stubborn Princess

The Question of Water

Ming Saves the Day

Seasons in the Kelp Forest

Thunder Cave

School Pet Days are fun, but the combination of excited children and a variety of pets

Fluent plus Stage chapter books

Level A Level B Level C Level D Level E Level F Level G Level H Level I Level J Level K Level L Level M Level N Level O Level P (1) (2) (3–4) (6) (8) (10) (12) (14) (16) (18) (20) (24) (28) (30) (34) (38)

Amazing Salamanders

school. I’d never seen a salamander before,

Level P (38) Paired books Incredible Underground Homes

The Wild Caves

can also lead to trouble. Some children can

Wildfires

A Hard Choice

become jealous if someone else’s pet gets

We Must Protect Old-Growth Forests

Dan’s Trees

Under the Ice

Professor Valdor and the Giant Laser

all the attention. However, pets can also help create friendships as children can share the joy of looking after a pet.

28

Emergent Stage

Flying Start to Literacy: Level N (30)

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