What Built This?

LEVELED BOOK • K

What Built
A Reading A–Z Level K Leveled Book
Word Count: 339

Writing and Art

Connections

Choose one of the animals from this book.

This?
Draw a picture of the animal and what it
builds. Label your picture using facts and
information from this book.
Science
Choose two of the animals from this book.
Draw a Venn diagram comparing what
these two animals build, listing at least five
similarities and differences.

K •N
H •

Written by Marcie Aboff

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 What Built builders
Words to Know
prey

This?
cells protection
entrances silk
Front cover: A bird called the brown gardener builds a bower, then decorates it!

Photo Credits:
Cover: © Ingo Arndt/Minden Pictures; title page (left): © Martin Harvey/Corbis;
title page (right): © macdonald_nature/Alamy; page 4: © Tim Laman/National
Geographic Creative; page 5 (bottom): © Jim Brandenburg/Minden Pictures;
page 5 (top): © DK Images; page 6 (main): © Lizzie Shepherd/Robert Harding
World Imagery/Corbis; page 6 (inset): © Winfried Wisniewski/Corbis; page 7
(top): © Donhype/iStock/Thinkstock; page 7 (bottom): © Mitsuhiko Imamori/
Minden Pictures; page 8 (both): © Yoji Okata/Nature Production/Minden
Pictures; page 9: © A. Cosmos Blank/Science Source; page 10 (main): © Alex
Wild/Visuals Unlimited/Corbis; page 10 (inset): © Nature Picture Library/Alamy;
page 11: © Mark Moffett/Minden Pictures; page 12 (left): © Rick & Nora Bowers/
Alamy; page 12 (right): © Kim Taylor/npl/Minden Pictures; page 12 (inset):
© Michael Durham/Minden Pictures; page 13 (left): © Len Rue, Jr./Science
Source; page 13 (right): © Shinji Kusano/Nature Production/Minden Pictures;
page 14 (top): © Universal Images Group Limited/Alamy; page 14 (bottom):
© Robert McGouey/All Canada Photos/Corbis; page 15 (top): © Jan Hamrsky/
NPL/Minden Pictures; page 15 (bottom): © D. Sheldon/F1 Online/Corbis

Illustration Credits:
Page 11: © Learning A-Z/Laszlo Veres

Written by Marcie Aboff

www.readinga-z.com
What Built This?
Level K Leveled Book Correlation
Focus Question © Learning A–Z
Written by Marcie Aboff
LEVEL K
Fountas & Pinnell J
What are some reasons animals build? All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 17
www.readinga-z.com
DRA 18
 Animal Builders
Table of Contents
Not all builders are human. Some
Animal Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 builders are animals! They build
homes for themselves and their
Prairie Dog Towns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
young. They build for protection
Sociable Weaver Bird Nests . . . . . . 6 and to catch prey. Take a look at
what animals build.
Termite Mounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Pufferfish Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Spider Trapdoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Underground Ant City . . . . . . . . . 10

Paper Wasp Nests . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Crayfish Chimneys . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Beaver Dams and Dens . . . . . . . . . 14

Watch Them Build . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Male bowerbirds first build the bower for females, then decorate it!

What Built This? • Level K 3 4

Welcome to Tunnel Town

1A family group has

its own burrow with
1
several entrances.
2Near the entrances
1
are rooms where
prairie dogs can
1
listen for predators.
3 1
3Turnaround 2
burrows are also 4
near the surface. 5 4

4Air vents keep 4

fresh air moving
throughout the burrow.
5The bedroom is
usually deeper
underground.

Prairie Dog Towns

Sociable weavers live in southern Africa.
A maze of prairie dog tunnels is Their nests help protect them from hot and
cold outside temperatures.
like a real town. The underground
tunnels have different Sociable Weaver Bird Nests
rooms for sleeping and These friendly birds like a large
eating. Family groups crowd. Their nests can hold up to
stay together in four hundred birds. They use large
“neighborhoods.” They sticks and dry grass for the nest’s
come and go through roof and sides. The inside is lined
Prairie dogs are only
many entrances. found in North America. with softer grasses.
What Built This? • Level K 5 6
 Termite Mounds
Tiny termites can
build mounds
that are taller
than three people
standing on top
of each other!
They build their
mounds with
mud and chewed
wood. The walls
have tiny holes Ocean divers first noticed “mystery
for fresh air. A termite mound stands
circles” in 1995, near Japan.

tall in western Africa.

Pufferfish Circles

One Queen, These male fish make sand art to

165 Million Eggs! attract females. They form a large
The king and queen termite live in
a special room. The queen can produce
round pattern on the seafloor and
thousands of eggs per day and can live decorate the circle with shells. If a
up to age forty-five. Worker termites
carry her young to a nursery room where female likes the circle, she lays her
queen termite they are fed until they are adults.
eggs in the middle.
What Built This? • Level K 7 8
 Underground Ant City
Millions of ants work together to
build underground ant cities. These
giant cities have dirt “highways”
that connect rooms. Side roads lead
to gardens and trash pits.

A trapdoor spider sneaks from its hiding place to grab a passing beetle.

Spider Trapdoors
These sly spiders dig an
underground tunnel and make
a trapdoor on top. They cover the
trapdoor with their silk, and then
cover that with dirt. When prey
passes above them, they open the
After humans, leafcutter ants (inset) form the largest communities
door and the prey falls through. on Earth.

What Built This? • Level K 9 10

 Researchers stand
above and beside
a leafcutter city
in Brazil.

Little Ants, Big City

Researchers found a huge, empty underground city in Brazil,
once the home of leafcutter ants. In order to build their home,
each insect would have carried loads of earth more than half a
mile (0.8 km)—over and over. In total, the ants moved around
45 tons (40 mt) of soil to create their network of tunnels.
Paper wasp nests come in a variety of shapes and styles.
Ants at Work
Paper Wasp Nests
Paper wasps chew bits of wood and
plants to make a soft nest. The nest
is made up of cells that look like an
egg carton. Wasp eggs grow in the
A cross-section shows how deep
cells. As the wasps grow in number,
and wide this ant structure is.
the nest gets bigger.
What Built This? • Level K 11 12
 Crayfish Chimneys Beaver Dams and Dens
Crayfish dig into moist soil to Busy beavers use sticks and mud
reach water. The dirt they push up to build their dams. The dams make
looks like a small chimney. Other ponds. Beavers build their homes,
animals, such as snakes, sometimes called dens, in the ponds. The ponds
hide in the empty chimney. protect the beavers from other
animals.
The Best of Both Worlds

underwater entrances

Beavers enter their

dens by swimming
into them (top). The
living portion, though,
is built above the
water level. This
keeps the beaver
family high and dry!
A beaver carries mud
Crayfish (also known as crawfish) breathe with gills. Gills must remain wet, to build its dam
which is why crayfish burrow down in search of water. (bottom).

What Built This? • Level K 13 14

Caddisfly Glossary
Cocoons
These little builders (n.) those who make or
insects use their
silk to make construct something
cocoons. They from parts (p. 4)
add sand, small
sticks, even
shells to their
cells (n.) six-sided cups that
cocoons to make form honeycomb,
beautiful artlike
cases. hives, or insect nests
(p. 12)
Watch Them Build entrances (n.) openings or
Animals build great things. They entryways to a place
do not need tools to build. They (p. 5)
just use their bodies and the Earth prey (n.) an animal that is
around them. Animals are amazing! hunted and eaten
(p. 4)
protection (n.) defense from harm
or danger (p. 4)
silk (n.) strong threads
made by a spider
A black-tailed prairie dog looks out of its burrow. or silkworm (p. 9)

What Built This? • Level K 15 16