by Kate Morgan H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN H ARCO URT by Kate Morgan PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover: Masterfile; Title Page: Masterfile; (b) Masterfile; (t) © Wayne Green/Corbis; (b) PhotoDisc, Inc.; (b) © Shubroto Chattopadhyay/Corbis; 10 (b) Larry Bones All other photos © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers, Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777 Printed in China ISBN-10: 0-547-25295-1 ISBN-13: 978-0-547-25295-7 0940 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers retains title to the materials and they may not be resold Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format A Green Space in a Big City Many people live and work in a city Cars and buses speed along the busy streets Tall buildings are full of people at work or at home But a city has more than tall buildings In the middle of many big cities are large green open spaces These city parks are special places Why Are City Parks Important? City parks are places for people to relax They can take walks or play sports They can have picnics on the grass City parks are homes for animals, too Small birds, squirrels, and rabbits live in these parks Sometimes, visitors can see a fox or a hawk The trees in city parks can help to absorb the pollution from the city They help make the air cleaner Many cities in our country have great parks Let’s visit four of them Central Park in New York City, New York Central Park is in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world In the summer, visitors can go for a boat ride or skate with friends They can see a play, a puppet show, or a movie In the winter, they can ice skate or go sledding There are 21 playgrounds throughout the park Trees in Central Park There are thousands of trees in Central Park Here are just a few of them Oak tree This tree makes clumps of acorns that fall at the end of summer This tree has gray bark with ridges but no spines Elm tree The seeds from this tree have thick coverings Horse Chestnut tree Hermann Park in Houston, Texas Visitors to this city park can ride in boats on a lake or play a game of golf They can ride around the park on a small train, too! Children can cool off at a water playground Families can hike or bike on nature trails People of all ages can visit a log house museum At the zoo, they can walk into a tropical rain forest Seward Park in Seattle, Washington Seward Park is in a big city, but it is very wild The park juts out into a lake Long passages lead into a thick forest The forest has living trees that are more than 200 years old It also has many dead trees that have fallen The dead trees dissolve slowly into the ground Then they become food for plants and animals An old dead tree can store food to feed many other living things Visitors can look at the lake from the edge of the park They can watch eagles hunting for ducks in the water Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California Today almost one million trees grow in Golden Gate Park But it was not a park years ago It was a place illed with sand dunes The land was too dry for most plants Later windmills were built in the park They used wind power to pump water Then more trees could be planted Golden Gate Park is full of many things to see It is home to museums, a big greenhouse, and a herd of buffalo! The park is famous for its gardens One garden is full of wonderful smells It was planted for people who are blind They can walk through the garden and smell different lowers Flowers and trees grow around ten lakes In the spring some of the lakes look yellow Here’s why Cypress trees have dropped pollen on the water The most famous garden in Golden Gate Park is the Japanese Tea Garden Caring for City Parks There are wonderful parks all across the country What can you to help take care of a park near you? Don’t leave food or trash Don’t pick plants or break tree branches Do help ix up the park Many parks have special days for people to plant lowers or clean up Bring your friends and family to help! 10 Responding Word Builder What kinds of passages have you used to get from one place to another place? Copy this word web and add more words TARGET VOCABULARY roads passages Write About It Text to Self You have just read about passages through the woods Write a paragraph about a hike or ride you would like to take Include at least two words from the Word Builder in your description 11 TARGET VOCABULARY absorb clumps coverings dissolve passages pollen spines store throughout tropical Question Ask questions before you read, while you read, and after you read TARGET STRATEGY This word also means a place people go to buy things 12 Level: L DRA: 24 Social Studies Strategy: Question Word Count: 650 3.4.18 Build Vocabulary HOUGHTON MIFFLIN Online Leveled Books 1387977 ... spaces These city parks are special places Why Are City Parks Important? City parks are places for people to relax They can take walks or play sports They can have picnics on the grass City parks are... parks Sometimes, visitors can see a fox or a hawk The trees in city parks can help to absorb the pollution from the city They help make the air cleaner Many cities in our country have great parks. .. A Green Space in a Big City Many people live and work in a city Cars and buses speed along the busy streets Tall buildings are full of people at work or at home But a city has more than tall