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Na m e : ___ Date: _
Directions: Read the passage. Label the shells pictured by type. Then answer each question.Reading Comprehension • Saddleback Educational Publishing ©2002 3 Watson, Irvine, CA 92618•Phone (888)SDL-BACK•www.sdlback.com
Sea Shells
Sea shells come in a wide variety of shapes and colors. People admire their beauty
and form and enjoy looking for empty shells at the beach. They probably are not
thinking about the mollusks, or soft-bodied sea creatures, that once created and
inhabited most of these shells.
Four basic kinds of external sea shells exist—univalve, bivalve, tooth, and chiton.
Univalves are formed in a curvy, spiral shape with a single opening at one end.
Conch shells are univalves. Bivalves have two matching halves that open and
close. Clam shells are examples of bivalves. Tooth shells look something like tiny,
empty tusks. That is why they are sometimes also called tusk shells. Chitons
(pronounced KY tuhns) are made of eight overlapping plates attached to a stretchy
substance that holds them together like a rubber band.- What is the main idea of Paragraph 1? ____
What supports it? ___
- Paragraph 2? ___
What supports it? ___
- Where did many sea shells, found at the beach, originate? ___
- Mollusks such as octopus and squid have a type of shell inside their bodies. What word in
the story tells you that it is only talking about shells on the outside of the body?
- Which word begins with the same sound as chiton—children, kind, or city?