20860_Editing_explanations_Years_4_and_5
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Aquatic biomes<br />
Teachers notes<br />
Lesson focus<br />
Punctuation<br />
• Capital letters for sentence beginnings<br />
• Full stops<br />
• Grammatical commas<br />
• Commas for lists<br />
Grammar<br />
• Subject-verb agreement<br />
Spelling<br />
• Confused words: were/where, seas/sees,<br />
witch/which, dew/due, sun/son,<br />
sum/some, there/their<br />
Writing<br />
• Paragraphs<br />
Teacher information<br />
An explanation seeks to explain what something is, how it functions or is made.<br />
Answers<br />
A biome is a large community of animals <strong>and</strong> plants living in a particular<br />
environment. The two major types of biomes are terrestrial <strong>and</strong> aquatic. Aquatic<br />
biomes are either freshwater or saltwater.<br />
Freshwater biomes include lakes, rivers <strong>and</strong> wetl<strong>and</strong>s. The shoreline of a lake is<br />
shallow <strong>and</strong> warm, inhabited by insects <strong>and</strong> amphibians. In the centre, the water<br />
is deeper <strong>and</strong> colder <strong>and</strong> is home to fish <strong>and</strong> crustaceans. Rivers are much colder<br />
still, supporting fish, floating weeds, algae <strong>and</strong> fungi. The greatest variety of animal<br />
<strong>and</strong> plant life can be found in wetl<strong>and</strong>s, where the waters are still <strong>and</strong> the<br />
atmosphere humid.<br />
Saltwater biomes include all the seas <strong>and</strong> oceans. They are the largest <strong>and</strong> most<br />
diverse of all biomes. They have many zones which vary in temperature due<br />
to the amount of sunlight they receive. The open ocean is home to many fish,<br />
marine mammals, plankton <strong>and</strong> seaweed. Where the sun can not penetrate, in<br />
the deepest depths of the oceans, it is pitch black, very cold <strong>and</strong><br />
the pressure is enormous. In spite of such inhospitable conditions,<br />
some animals have adapted to living there.<br />
1. (a) Missing punctuation is in bold type.<br />
2. (a) Verbs are underlined.<br />
(i) are – a biome ✗ (ii) include – biomes ✓<br />
(iii) is – the water ✓<br />
(v) is – the pressure ✓<br />
(iv) receives – the zones ✗<br />
(vi) has – animals ✗<br />
3. (a) Spelling errors are in italic type.<br />
where, seas, which, due, sun, some, there<br />
4. (a) Answers will vary but should approximate the following:<br />
Paragraph 2 ‘What are freshwater biomes like?’<br />
Paragraph 3 ‘What are saltwater biomes like?’<br />
64 <strong>Editing</strong> skills R.I.C. Publications ® www.ricgroup.com.au