Reading Comprehension Strategies
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Reading Comprehension Strategies
The Dune That Was Disappearing
On Saturday morning, Maia and her cousin Wiremu joined a volunteer group at a beach near their town. Their job was to plant native grasses on a damaged sand dune. “Why plant grass when the sea keeps moving the sand?” Maia asked. Nikau, the volunteer leader, pointed to the bare slope. “The grass roots hold the sand together. Without them, wind and rain can carry it away more easily.” She showed the cousins a patch of spinifex, its long leaves curling across the sand. “This is a native dune plant. It can cope with salty wind and dry conditions.” Maia noticed a narrow track cutting straight up the dune. “People must have made that,” she said. Nikau nodded. “Shortcuts can damage plants. Once the cover is lost, the dune becomes more exposed.” The group placed small wooden markers beside a winding path to encourage visitors to keep to one route. As Maia pressed a young plant into the sand, she wondered whether one small seedling could make any difference. Wiremu leaned over to help. By lunchtime, the volunteers had planted dozens. The dune still looked mostly bare, but the new plants stood in a neat line above the beach. On the way home, Maia looked back. “It doesn’t look fixed yet,” she said. “It isn’t,” Wiremu replied. “But we’ve given it a better chance.” Maia thought about the roots spreading underground, doing their quiet work where nobody could see.
Use the clues
Answer in complete sentences where appropriate. Support your ideas with details from the story.
- Why the group has chosen to plant grasses even though the beach is always changing
- Why Wiremu has arrived late
- Why the path has wooden markers
- Why spinifex grows in forests
- More open to wind and rain
- Covered by a thick layer of grass
- Hidden from visitors
- Farther away from the beach
- The volunteers plant dozens of seedlings together
- Nikau points to the bare slope
- Maia notices the narrow track
- The group starts work on Saturday morning
- Maia and Wiremu learn that planting native grasses and guiding visitors can help a damaged dune recover over time.
- Maia and Wiremu discover that the beach has no plants because the sea has disappeared.
- Nikau tells the volunteers to avoid planting and build a new track instead.
- The cousins decide that dune plants cannot survive near the ocean.
3 printable pages
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