1. What Do You Know About Sharks?
By Sharon Guynup

2. Summary
The article presents facts about the importance of sharks to the environment, their size, the threat they pose to people, the way they hunt and eat, their physiology, and their relationship to other aquatic creatures.

3. Can Appearances Deceive?
Cute doesn’t always mean cuddly, and frightening doesn’t always mean vicious. Appearances can deceive, as you will find out when you read “What Do You Know About Sharks?”
What are some sayings that suggest that appearances can deceive?
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Beauty is only skin deep.
What are some of the consequences of trusting appearances?
Keep these ideas in mind as you complete the DISCUSS activity.

4. Can Appearances Deceive?
How much do you really know about sharks?
Copy the chart shown here, and decide whether each statement is true or false.
Then gather with others in a small group and share your answers.
Does everyone agree on the “facts”?

5. Meet the Author Sharon Guynup, born 1958 Animal Lover
Sharon Guynup has found a way to combine her two loves, writing and the environment. She completed a master’s degree in journalism from New York University’s Science and Environmental Reporting program and continues to write articles about animals and the environment. Her work has appeared in national science magazines, in newspapers, and on the Web. Guynup also produces State of the Wild, a yearly review of the condition of the world’s wildlife and lands.

6. Background to the Article
An Ocean of Knowledge
How do we know so much about sharks?
People who study fish and how they live and grow in their environment are called ichthyologists.
Their work in laboratories, in museums, at universities, and on research ships provides information about over 300 species of sharks.
“What Do You Know About Sharks?” gives information about sharks in general, as well as facts about specific species.

7. Text Analysis: Text Features
Writers often organize text and highlight key ideas with design elements called text features. Common text features include
• titles • sidebars • captions • subheadings • graphic aids • bulleted lists
As you read the article, identify the text features. Ask yourself how each one helps you understand expository text.
Model the Skill: Text Features
Review the function of each text feature listed. Explain where it might be found and describe what kind of information it might contain.
Identify an example of each text feature on pages 906–907.

8. Reading Skill: Outline
To find and remember the main or central ideas in a text, you can create an outline, a summary of an article’s most important information. Begin by looking at the text features and topic sentences in a text. In “What Do You Know About Sharks?” each subhead introduces a new main idea.
Another guide to main ideas is a text’s organizational pattern. For example, if a text presents a main idea as a cause and its effect, look for other causes and effects. Take notes in your outline on each main idea and label it with a Roman numeral. Place supporting details under each main idea and label each one with a capital letter.

9. Reading Skill: Outline
Model the Skill: Outline
Complete this outline based on the Background paragraph:
Learning About Sharks
I. Ichthyologists
A. They study how fish live and grow in their environment. B.
II. “What Do You Know About Sharks?”
B. They work in laboratories, in museums, at universities, and on research ships.

10. Vocabulary in Context
The boldfaced words helped Sharon Guynup share her knowledge of sharks and the sea. Use context clues to figure out what each word means.
Fish and whales are aquatic creatures. (from the water)
The ocean is one kind of ecosystem. (system for life)
A terrible disease can decimate a species. (destroy)
The carcass of a half-eaten sea lion washed ashore. (dead body)
Light will diffuse as it enters the water. (spread out)
A life jacket increases a swimmer’s buoyancy. (ability to float)

11. Vocabulary Definitions
Vocabulary in Context
Vocabulary Definitions
aquatic (adj): growing or living in the water
buoyancy (n): the ability to remain afloat in liquid
carcass (n): the dead body of an animal
decimate (v): to kill or destroy a large part of
diffuse (v): to spread out or through
ecosystem (n): a physical environment, such as an ocean, and the community of things that live in it

12. Read With a Purpose
As you read “What Do You Know About Sharks?,” consider whether the facts you learn change your ideas about sharks.

13. Text Analysis: Text Features
Pg. 908
Text Analysis: Text Features
The title often helps readers identify an article’s main idea.
What kind of information do you think this article will present?
This article will give factual information about sharks.
What is the effect of phrasing the title as a question?

14. Background: Food Chains
Pg. 908: Line 5
Background: Food Chains
A food chain, as mentioned in line 5, shows how energy moves from one living thing to another in the form of food. Most food chains have only four or five levels.

15. Own the Word Aquatic The Latin root for aquatic means “water.”
Pg. 908: Line 5
Own the Word
Aquatic
The Latin root for aquatic means “water.”
List some things that would be considered aquatic.
fish, seaweed, crabs, lobsters, lily pads

16. Own the Word forest, jungle, pond, desert Ecosystem
Pg. 908: Line 7
Own the Word
forest, jungle, pond, desert
Ecosystem
The prefix eco means “environment or habitat.”
Suggest some other ecosystems.

17. Own the Word Decimate Provide examples of “decimate”.
Pg. 908: Line 9
Own the Word
Decimate
Provide examples of “decimate”.
A country can be decimated by war.
A lake can be decimated by pollution.
A town can be decimated by disease.

18. Pg. 908: Lines 1-10
1: Targetted Passage
This passage presents a main idea of the article: sharks are vital members of the ocean’s food chain and must be protected.
What is happening to the number of sharks in the ocean? (lines 2–3)
They are decreasing in number.
Where are sharks in the food chain? (lines 4–6)
They are predators at the top of the food chain.
What would happen if sharks could not fill their role in the food chain? (lines 7–10)
Other aquatic species would become overpopulated, decimating other species.

19. Grammar in Context Appositive Phrases
Pg. 908
Grammar in Context
Appositive Phrases
Read the description under the wobbegong shark photograph.
The writer uses an appositive phrase to explain the noun barbels.
Notice that the phrase is set off by commas.
An appositive phrase is used to explain a word or reference that a reader might not understand.
Fill in an appositive phrase in the following sentence:
Our school, __________, is one of the best around.
Colegio Real Panama

20. Reading Skill: Outline
Pg. 909: Line 12
Reading Skill: Outline
Each orange question is a subheading that introduces a new main idea.
The answer to a question that begins with “What is” or “What are” is a definition.
State each main idea as a phrase and add it to your outline.
II. Definition of Sharks

21. Reading Skill: Outline
Pg. 909: Line 12-17
Reading Skill: Outline
An outline shows the relationship between a text’s main ideas and its supporting details. In an outline, you arrange the information by using Roman numerals to show the main ideas and capital letters to point out supporting details. If you need to add another level of details, use Arabic numerals to indicate those.
What are the important details in this paragraph? Add them to your outline.
II. Definition of Sharks
They are fish with skeletons made of cartilage, not bone.
They are cold-blooded.
They breathe through gills.
They have a two-chambered heart.
Most live in warm seas.

22. Text Analysis: Text Features
Pg. 909
Text Analysis: Text Features
Sidebars are set off from the main article—usually on the side or bottom of the page—and provide additional information. You can read sidebars at any time.
What information does this sidebar give you?
While the article provides information about sharks in general, the sidebar zeroes in on specific types of sharks and even includes photographs of them.
Why might the writer have chosen these sharks to highlight?
What important idea do these photographs and facts support?
Add this new information to your Outline as well.

23. Text Analysis: Text Features
Pg. 910: Lines 30-46
Text Analysis: Text Features
A subheading signals the beginning of a new topic within a text.
Preview the subheadings on these pages. Which section will tell you where swimmers are most at risk?
The subheading “Where Do Most Shark Attacks Happen?” suggests that the following section will tell where swimmers are most at risk.
Add this information to your Outline as well.

24. Pg. 910: Line 34
Background: Jaws
The “Jaws flicks” (line 34) are a series of movies involving attacks on humans by great white sharks. The first Jaws film, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released in It shattered box-office records and increased many people’s fear and loathing of sharks.

25. Language Coach: Similes
Pg. 910: Line 45-46
Language Coach: Similes
Similes can help explain something that is unfamiliar by comparing it with something that is familiar.
The phrase “like being crushed beneath the weight of ten cars” (lines 45–46) is a simile, a comparison using the words like and as.
What is the writer comparing with this simile?
The writer is comparing the force of a shark bite to the force of being crushed by ten cars.
For practice, T asks Ss to complete the following simile:
Some shark’s teeth are as sharp as. . .
razor blades, knives, broken glass

26. Tiered Discussion Prompts
Pg. 910: Lines 36-46
Tiered Discussion Prompts
In lines 36–46, use these prompts to help students understand the threat posed by sharks:
(Connect) Did you think the number of shark attacks was higher or lower than 100 each year?
You may say that you thought the number was much higher.
(Analyze) How do you think the frequency of shark attacks on humans compares to the rate of fatalities caused by other accidents, such as those involving cars?
Car or other accidents cause many more deaths each year. According to the World Health Organization, there are over 1 million traffic fatalities a year worldwide.

27. Revisit the Big Question
Pg. 910
Revisit the Big Question
In the sidebar, what does the appearance of the whale shark suggest about its nature?
The whale shark’s enormous size suggests that it is dangerous to humans.
What fact proves that this impression of the shark is deceiving?
However, because it eats tiny plankton, it is not a threat to humans.
Add details to your graphic organizers.

28. Own the Word Yes, there was a dead squirrel in the street, etc.
Pg. 911: Line 52
Own the Word
Yes, there was a dead squirrel in the street, etc.
Carcass (n)
the dead body of an animal
Have you ever seen a carcass?

29. Reading Skill: Outline
Pg. 911: Line 47-54
Reading Skill: Outline
How many details about what sharks eat have you included in your outline? Remember that you can include as many lettered or Arabic-numbered details as you need.
VIII. What Sharks Eat
Sharks eat what is available.
Most eat smaller animals, ranging from shrimp and fish to turtles and seabirds.
Some sharks eat large mammals such as sea lions or dolphins.
Others eat just plankton, tiny animals that float in the sea.
Tiger sharks eat anything, including pieces of metal, carcasses, and plastic.

30. Text Analysis: Text Features
Pg. 911
Text Analysis: Text Features
Graphic aids are visuals, such as graphs, photographs, and maps, that provide more information on a topic.
What information do you get from looking at these photographs that you don’t get from the text?
The photographs provide information about the different types of teeth that sharks have. They show that sharks’ teeth differ widely, from many rows of even teeth, to sharp, pointy, needle-like teeth.
What determines the shape of each shark’s teeth?

31. Text Features and Outline
Pg. 911
Text Features and Outline
Text Features
Make sure to update all examples in your Text Features.
Outline
Work together to create phrases for each subheading on this page.
Use these as main ideas in your outlines.
Identify the important details that belong under each Roman numeral.
Compare details and then record them on the your outline.

32. Pg. 912: Line 74
Own the Word
The sugar she added to the batter was concentrated in one spot, so she stirred it to make it diffuse.
Diffuse (v)
to spread out or through
Concentrate is the antonym of diffuse.
Use both words in a sentence.

33. Text Analysis: Text Features
Pg. 912
Text Analysis: Text Features
A caption is the text that provides information about a graphic aid.
How does this caption support your understanding of the photo and reinforce the article?
The red marks on the sea lion are explained by the caption. The information in the caption supports the idea that sharks are dangerous to other creatures and prey on large animals in the sea.
Is the word vicious appropriate for this caption? Does it help convey information in an objective, scientific way?

34. Comprehension Support
Pg. 912: Lines 69-77
Comprehension Support
Making a simple diagram can sometimes help you understand what you are reading.
Create a flow chart that shows the shark’s respiration process (lines 69–77).

35. Text Analysis: Text FeaturesPg
Text Analysis: Text Features
Use the labels on the illustration to identify the spinal cord, kidney, and brain.
Describe where each part of the shark is located.
The spinal cord is along the back.
The kidneys are above the spleen.
The brain is behind the eye.

36. Text Features and Outline
Pg : Lines 65-82
Text Features and Outline
Text Features
Make sure to update all examples in your Text Features.
Outline
Work together to create phrases for each subheading on this page.
Use these as main ideas in your outlines.
Identify the important details that belong under each Roman numeral.

37. Text Analysis: Text Features
Pg. 914
Text Analysis: Text Features
Read the Caption and look at the Graphics Aid on pg. 914.
Add the information to your Text Features document.
The Bite-Size Facts are organized in a bulleted list.
Why do you think writers use bulleted lists to present information?
A bulleted list is easy to read.
Facts can be found quickly.
The facts stand out and are easier to remember in this form.
Each bullet can also introduce a different topic.

38. Own the Word buoyancy (n) the ability to remain afloat in liquid
Pg. 914
Own the Word
buoyancy (n)
the ability to remain afloat in liquid
A piece of wood and a rubber raft have buoyancy, but a rock does not.
Provide other examples of buoyancy.
Leaves have buoyancy, but nails do not.

39. Pg. 914: Lines 83-91
2: Targetted Passage
The writer chose to start her article by identifying an effect. This passage completes the thought begun in the first paragraph: sharks are vanishing because of humans.
Reread lines 1–3. What is the effect or result? The causes of this effect are not presented until the last part of the article.
Why do humans kill sharks? (lines 85–88)
For food, medicine, sport, clothing, and jewelry.
How do the reproductive patterns of sharks contribute to their decrease in population? (lines 88–91)
Sharks reproduce every 10 years with less than a dozen pups, and cannot rebound from population of decrease.
How do you think the writer feels about human predators? (lines 82–91)
She probably doesn’t agree with the reasons that humans hunt sharks.

40. Read With a Purpose
How have your perceptions of sharks changed after reading this article?
Critique
Evaluate the effectiveness of the text features.
Which features were most helpful to readers?

41. Review: Comprehension
(Recall) What does the author think is the scariest thing about sharks?
The scariest thing is that sharks are disappearing from the oceans.
(Clarify) What place do sharks hold in the aquatic food chain?
Sharks are at the top of the food chain.
(Represent) Draw a simple illustration of a shark. Label its tail, dorsal fin, pectoral fins, and gill slits.
Return to pages 912–913 and use the information in the diagram to help you with your own sketch.