Strange Plants…and strangely intelligent 7 year olds

Here is a sample story of the level that some of my Kindergarten kids are reading at. Can you imagine? I don’t think I was reading at that level till Jr High (mom says I was a late bloomer when it came to reading. and stuff). Even just the length is something to be impressed by, let alone the context and vocabulary. I don’t really remember, so all you moms/teachers out there let me know just how impressed I should be with my class.
When we think about plants, we often think of trees, flowers, and grass. Like most plants, these plants have green leaves. They also have roots growing into the ground. Some plants are not like most plants. This book is about some of these strange plants.

Plants called air plants live in trees high above the ground. Their roots are not buried in dirt. Instead they grow on tree branches. They take moisture from the air, not from the soil like most plants do. Can you imagine plants that eat meat? Well there are such plants. They eat insects, spiders, and even some other small animals. One well-known meat-eating plant is the Venus’ flytrap. Its leaves look like traps. They have small spikes along their edges. When a critter walks inside the leaf, the leaf snaps shut. The critter is trapped. The sundew is also a meat-eating plant. It has many sticky hairs on its surface. Insects landing on it get stuck. Then the plant digests the insect. The giant sundew plant of Australia even eats small frogs!

Some plants steal food from other plants. The dodder plant sends root-like parts into another plant. It sucks food and water from the plant. It is a parasite. A parasite lives off another living thing. Many flowers have strong smells that attract insects. Some of these flowers smell bad to people. The Stapelia flower smells like rotting meat. Flies think this is a tasty meal, and they fly into the flower. Some plants look like stones. The plants in this picture are called “stone plants” or “living stones.” They live in very hot, dry places. They hold water very well. Their shape helps to hide them so that animals do not eat them.

Some cactus plants are covered with wool-like hairs. The “wool” protects them from daytime heat. It protects them from daytime heat. It protects them from nighttime cold. The “wool” also helps the cactus plants hold moisture. Some trees and shrubs grow out of solid rock. They grow up high where the wind blows strong. Their roots reach down into small cracks for moisture. As the roots grow, they split the rock.

Some plants have animals living inside them. Ant colonies live inside ant plants. They use spaces in the plant’s stem as houses. Some spaces are used for raising young ants. Other spaces are used for garbage. The ant plant uses some of this garbage for food. There are many more kinds of strange plants. Bamboo makes noise when it grows. Some Australian orchids grow and flower completely underground. There are many amazing plants in the world.