Free Reading Passage: Heredity PDF

When a gray cat named Pepper has four kittens that don't all match, a boy named Leo starts to wonder why. This free heredity reading passage follows that question on one page. Students learn that offspring inherit a mix of traits from both parents, see how maple seeds grow into trees with the same leaves, and meet inherited traits that help living things survive, like a camel's long eyelashes. The last section shows that skills such as climbing steps or a chimpanzee fishing for termites are learned behaviors, not inherited ones.

Three question pages follow. Students answer six multiple-choice questions, sort six traits as inherited or learned and add an example of each. In Trait Detective they study an imaginary animal family, the Moffins, to name inherited traits. They then match five scenes to words such as offspring and learned behavior and write two explanations, including one that corrects a claim about how a baby skunk gets its stripe.

• Grades 3–5: life science reading on inheritance of traits
• Six pages: a passage, three question pages and a two-page answer key
• Versions: full color and print-friendly black and white