The Turkey Family
Reading Comprehension Activity
Baby turkeys are very small, but they’re fast learners. They follow their mother’s every move, but sometimes turkey mothers need to learn on the job, too. Students will read the passage and answer follow-up questions about vocabulary and other story elements.
Topic(s): Humor. Skill(s): Character Traits, Story Elements. Genre(s): Prose
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Passage
Tina Turkey always wanted to be a mother. She was excited when she began to lay eggs in the spring, and she sat on them carefully to keep them warm. One by one, the eggs hatched, and Tina had six baby turkeys to take care of. They were light brown and very fluffy.
Baby turkeys are called poults, and Tina’s poults were very smart. They listened to her gobble and tried to talk back to her. They could only make peeping sounds, but they tried their best. Each little poult watched Tina carefully to learn how to behave like a turkey should. When Tina walked to the pond for a drink, her poults formed a line and scampered after her. They always stayed in the same order. Tina was pleased with her poults.
One day, Tina decided to take a walk to the meadow, where there were many tasty insects to eat. She also wanted to show off her smart, handsome poults to all the other turkey mothers, and she knew they would be in the meadow gobbling together.
“Let’s go!” Tina clucked, and her poults lined up behind her. She began to waddle down the lane toward the meadow. Now that they were bigger, the poults could keep up with Tina. She walked a little faster.
There was a stone wall on the farm that gradually got taller and taller as it stretched toward the meadow. Tina loved to walk on top of the wall where she sould see far and wide. She hopped up and walked along the wall, thinking about how fine a mother she was.
One by one, the poults tried to hop up on the stone wall. Their legs were still small and weak, and they could not jump up on the wall. They tumbled over each other in the grass.
Tina turned around to count her poults, as she often did on a long walk. Where had they gone? She began to gobble loudly. The poults peeped back, and Tina looked down. Her poults were still down on the ground!
Tina still had a lot to learn about being a mother, just like her babies had a lot to learn about being grown turkeys. She jumped down and gathered the poults under her wings until they calmed down. Then she walked on the ground they all got to the meadow safe and sound.
Comprehension Questions
Answers
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