Name ______________________________

Comets and Meteors Visitors From Space

By Jeanne BendickIllustrated by David Schleinkofer

Prediction

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Author’s Purposeinform persuade entertain

Comets and MeteorsVisitors From SpaceFocus Skills:•To use book parts to locate information and find answers to questions in text.•To read and understand a nonfiction selection.

GenreExpository Nonfiction: explains information and ideas

SummaryWe see comets when the Sun’s gravity pulls them past Earth. Comets may look like bright, fuzzy balls or long-haired stars, but they are really made of rock, dust, and ice.Reading StrategyUse Text Structure and FormatGood readers are active readers and they pay attention to how an author has organized information in a selection. Many nonfiction selections include headings and captions. Major ideas are organized under headings, and captions give information about illustrations or photographs.

Page404

Today Long Ago

Defineastronomer

Where on these

pages would

you look to find

out where comets come from?

Explain

Page406

How does a comet

begin its travels?

How does a comet

change as it gets

closer to the sun?

What is solar wind?

Where else in the book

could you find the meaning of this term?

Different Alike

Why don’t comets

glow when they are far from the sun?

Page408

comet planet

Why does the author

compare the Moon’s

movements to a comet’s movements?

Think and Respond1. How are comets different from planets?

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2. What is the purpose of the words in red letters at the tops of some pages?

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3. What effect does the solar wind have on comets?

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4. If you could talk with the author, what question would you ask her? Why would you ask this question?

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Use the graphic organizer to answer the following questions. Highlight the answers on the organizer.

1. What is the main purpose of this selection?2. Why is this selection most like an informational book?3. What does a comet look like in the sky?4. Why did people who lived long ago think a comet was a

warning of something bad?5. What can the gas in the comet’s coma be compared to?6. What are scientists who study the planets and stars

called?7. Where do scientists think a huge cloud of comets might

be?8. What do you call the force that connects the solar system

to the sun called?9. What is the name for the “flying rocks” in our solar

system?10. What does a comet start out as?11. What are the tails of comets made of?12. What is the name for the orbits that comets take around

the sun?13. What is one thing that makes a comet glow?14. What is a comet tail?