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A Cow Eats Her Grass Twice

6th grade nonfiction passage about how a cow digests grass: 199 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction how a cow digests grass 199 words

A Cow Eats Her Grass Twice

A cow spends much of the day grazing, and she seems to eat in a strange way. She swallows grass quickly with hardly any chewing. Later, when she lies down to rest, she brings it back up and chews it again, slowly, for a long time. The wad she chews is called cud.

The reason is the way a cow's stomach works. Her stomach has four chambers. The first and largest, called the rumen, holds a huge crowd of tiny microbes. Grass is tough because it is full of fiber that people cannot digest. The microbes in the rumen can break that fiber down, and in return they have a warm home with plenty of food.

Chewing the cud helps the microbes do their job. Each time the cow grinds the grass into smaller bits, there is more surface for the microbes to work on. The softened food then moves along to the other chambers, where the cow takes in the nutrients she needs.

Animals that digest food this way are called ruminants. Sheep, goats and deer are ruminants too. Because they can turn grass into energy, farmers can raise them on pastureland where crops might not grow well.

Questions

  1. What is cud? in the text

  2. How many chambers does a cow's stomach have? in the text

  3. What lives in the rumen? in the text

  4. Why can a cow digest grass when people cannot? think about it

  5. How does chewing the cud help the microbes? think about it

  6. Why do farmers raise ruminants on pastureland? think about it

Words to know

grazing
eating grass that grows in a field
rumen
the first and biggest chamber of a cow's stomach
microbes
living things too small to see without a microscope
fiber
the tough, stringy part of plants
ruminants
animals that chew cud, such as cows and sheep
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 188 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2

A cow spends much of the day eating grass. She eats in a strange way. She swallows the grass fast with little chewing. Later she lies down to rest. Then she brings the grass back up and chews it again, slowly. The wad she chews is called cud.

The reason is how her stomach works. A cow's stomach has four parts. The first and biggest is the rumen. It is full of tiny microbes. Grass is tough because it has a lot of fiber. People cannot digest that fiber. The microbes in the rumen can break it down. In return, they get a warm home and lots of food.

Chewing cud helps the microbes. Each time the cow grinds the grass, the bits get smaller. The microbes can work on them more easily. The soft food then moves on to the other parts of the stomach. There the cow takes in what she needs.

Animals that eat this way are called ruminants. Sheep, goats and deer are ruminants too. They can turn grass into energy. So farmers can raise them on land where crops do not grow well.

▲ This passage · 199 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.5

A cow spends much of the day grazing, and she seems to eat in a strange way. She swallows grass quickly with hardly any chewing. Later, when she lies down to rest, she brings it back up and chews it again, slowly, for a long time. The wad she chews is called cud.

The reason is the way a cow's stomach works. Her stomach has four chambers. The first and largest, called the rumen, holds a huge crowd of tiny microbes. Grass is tough because it is full of fiber that people cannot digest. The microbes in the rumen can break that fiber down, and in return they have a warm home with plenty of food.

Chewing the cud helps the microbes do their job. Each time the cow grinds the grass into smaller bits, there is more surface for the microbes to work on. The softened food then moves along to the other chambers, where the cow takes in the nutrients she needs.

Animals that digest food this way are called ruminants. Sheep, goats and deer are ruminants too. Because they can turn grass into energy, farmers can raise them on pastureland where crops might not grow well.

■ Harder · 233 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.4

A cow devotes a large part of every day to grazing, and she appears to eat in a rather peculiar manner. She swallows grass rapidly with hardly any chewing at all. Later, once she has lain down to rest, she brings the grass back up into her mouth and chews it again, slowly and thoroughly, for a considerable time. The wad that she chews at this stage is called cud.

The reason lies in the way a cow's stomach is built. Her stomach has four separate chambers. The first and largest of these, called the rumen, contains an enormous population of tiny microbes. Grass is tough because it is packed with fiber, which people are unable to digest. The microbes in the rumen, however, can break that fiber down, and in exchange they enjoy a warm home and a steady supply of food.

Chewing the cud assists the microbes in their work. Each time the cow grinds the grass into smaller pieces, there is more surface for the microbes to attack. The softened food then travels onward to the remaining chambers, where the cow absorbs the nutrients she needs.

Animals that digest their food in this fashion are known as ruminants, and sheep, goats and deer belong to the group as well. Because they can convert grass into energy, farmers are able to raise them on pastureland where crops might not grow well.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put grazing, rumen, microbes, fiber and ruminants on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 4 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "A Cow Eats Her Grass Twice"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 199 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.5. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 3 ask for something the text says directly and 3 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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