Text interpretation: The slug and the snail

activity of text interpretation, aimed at students in the fifth year of elementary school, about the slug and the snail. Why do they walk slow, huh? Let's find out? Then read the interesting explanatory text! Then answer the various interpretive questions proposed!

You can download this text comprehension activity in editable Word template ready to print in PDF and also the activity with answers.

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• Word: Text interpretation: The slug and the snail – 5th grade – Editable template
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SCHOOL: DATE:

PROF: CLASS:

NAME:

Read:

Why do the slug and snail walk slowly?

Everyone knows that with them there is no rush. So much so that when someone walks or does something very slowly, they soon get the nickname “slug” or “snail”. But have you ever wondered why these animals walk like this, so slowly?

Slugs and snails move slowly because their movement depends on the action of muscle bundles – or, in other words, muscle fibers – that stretch and contract. These muscle bundles are located on the sole of the foot of these animals.

You may never have noticed, but an important feature of molluscs is their… Foot. Yes, these animals also have feet: a structure on which they stand and move, whose shape is almost always positioned in the environment where these animals are found. The foot of slugs and snails, for example, has a wide sole, so that these molluscs can attach themselves or move over the most different surfaces, such as walls, leaves, branches, tree trunks and even areas smooth.

Well then! In the feet of slugs and snails, we find muscle bundles that are softer, more slack, and that contract and stretch slowly, from one toe to the other. By contracting and stretching, these muscle bundles end up overcoming the adhesive force exerted by the sole of these animals' feet on the surface where they are. Thus, they help slugs and snails to get around.

Many of the muscle bundles in slugs and snails can only contract and stretch under pressure from the body. blood of these animals, which, curiously, is not red like ours, but has a light color, as it contains pigments with copper.

The movement of these animals, however, is also facilitated by a substance that the molluscs themselves produce. Inside the foot of slugs and snails, we find a gland, responsible for producing mucus. This mucus makes it easier for these animals to walk. With it, sliding becomes easier, although it remains slow. But don't be fooled by this low speed. To give you an idea, slugs and snails are capable of escaping from the terrarium – the location where scientists leave them in the laboratory – as soon as they find any opening through which they can pass, and often the researchers do not even realize. […]

Standard Salgado.
Magazine “Science Today for Children”. Edition 192.
Available in: .

Questions

Question 1 - In “But have you ever wondered why these animals walk like this, so slowly?”, which animals does the text refer to?

Question 2 – In the passage “Slugs and snails move slowly because its movement depends on the action of muscle bundles […]”, the underlined word expresses:

( ) the way slugs and snails move.

( ) the time at which slugs and snails move.

( ) the intensity with which the slugs and snails move.

Question 3 – In the passage “[…] we find muscle bundles that are softer, looser […]”, the highlighted part is:

( ) a narration.

( ) a description.

( ) an argument.

Question 4 – Underline the expression that indicates purpose:

“The foot of slugs and snails, for example, has a wide sole, so that these molluscs can attach themselves or move around […]”

Question 5 - Why, according to the text, does the blood of slugs and snails have a light color?

Question 6 - According to the author of the text, there is a substance that facilitates the movement of slugs and snails. What substance is this?

Question 7 - Point to one of the segments in which the author talks directly to the reader:

( ) “These muscle bundles are located on the sole of the foot of these animals.”

( ) “Thus, they help slugs and snails to get around.”

( ) “But don’t be fooled by this low speed.”

Question 8 - The text on the slug and the snail aims to:

( ) explain something.

( ) tell a story.

( ) give guidance.

By Denyse Lage Fonseca
Graduated in Letters and specialist in distance education.