The Problem With a Purr: read-along
The Problem With a Purr as a read-along for the projector: 10 pages, 1230 words, level 14, beyond grade 8.
Page 1 of 10
Rest your palm on a purring cat and you will feel the sound before you decide to listen to it. The purr as a whole spans roughly 25 to 150 vibrations a second, which physicists write as hertz, and its deepest part sits at about 25 to 30 hertz. A cat that weighs about ten pounds can produce notes lower than the lowest bass sounds of an average human voice. That ought to be impossible. As a rule, the larger the animal, the longer its vocal folds and the lower its pitch, which is why a double bass plays lower notes than a violin. A small cat with a bass voice breaks the rule, and for decades no one could say exactly how it gets away with it.
Keys: ← → or Page Up and Page Down turn the page, Space starts and pauses the voice, Home and End jump, F fills the screen. Tapping the right side of a page goes on; the left side goes back.
How to use it
- Press Full screen (F) to put the book on the projector.
- Press Read to me (Space), or read it yourself and turn pages with the arrow keys or a tap. Pick the Pace that suits the class.
- After the last page, three questions come up to talk about.
About this book
- Level 14, beyond grade 8
- 10 pages, 1230 words, about 9 minutes aloud
- A true book, gentle
Related
About The Problem With a Purr
A ten-pound cat makes a note lower than an average bass voice. How the purr is made, why scientists still argue about it, what a hungry cat hides in its purr, and why the cleanest experiment cannot be run.
Words to preview
- hertz (HURTS)
- vibrations per second
- larynx (LAIR-inks)
- voice box
- hyoid (HY-oyd)
- throat bone
- diaphragm (DY-uh-fram)
- breathing muscle
- hypothesis (hy-POTH-uh-sis)
- idea not yet proved
- oscillation (os-ih-LAY-shun)
- back-and-forth shaking
Questions that fit any book
- What is one new thing you learned from this book?
- Which page told you the most? What did it say?
- What would you still like to find out about this?
Questions
How long does The Problem With a Purr take to read aloud?
It has 10 pages and 1230 words, so about 9 minutes at the Steady pace and a little less at Quick. If you stop to talk on the way, plan for more.
What reading level is The Problem With a Purr?
Level 14, beyond grade 8. The library numbers its levels from 0 to 18 and puts the level of a book on its cover; levels above 13 are beyond grade 8 and have no grade. A level is a guide for choosing, so look at the pages yourself.
Whose voice is it?
Your browser's own. Read to me uses a speaking voice already on the computer, so it sounds like that computer and works without a sign-in. Voices differ: some light each word as it is spoken, and some do not, in which case the highlight follows a steady pace instead. Some browsers use an online voice; if yours does, the browser, not us, sends the words of the page to its speech service. If no voice is installed, turn the pages and read it aloud yourself.
Do students need an account?
No. Nothing is asked of anyone and nothing is sent to us. Project the page, or share the link and let students open it on their own screens.
Where does this book come from?
It was written for Peabody's library as a true book. It is not copied from a textbook or another site.
Nothing you do here is sent to us. The voice is your browser's own. No sign-in, no ads.