(ans, pices Date Literacy Lab - Why Leaves Wear the Colors of Fall Read the following article and fill in the student question guide. Remember to read actively: When you're reading a document in detail, it helps if you practice "active reading” by highlighting and underlining key information, and taking notes as you progress. This emphasizes information in your mind, and helps you to review important points later. Doing this also helps you keep your mind focused on the material, and stops you thinking about other things. Title: “Why Leaves Wear the Colors of Fall” Step 1: Identify Key Words Read the comprehension questions below. Then, underline the key words in each question. DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTIONS YET! 1. Leaves a troee are (EST PRESSED Explain the importance of chlorophyll to plants. 3, Explain why leaves change color in the fall. WSS. eo Ores ood Ack AnH SOAMANESS =kO._ pots OS. pANan Soa wany c , i \QECOsee XATCY GONS HocS OS WACON'SHH WANK CG 4. Anthocyanins are pigments that are produced in the fall. “Why are they important to a plant's health? don “SO \ _ n 0Step 2: Read and Annotate Read the article below. As you are reading, use the annotation strategies we have discussed in class (i.e. underline, cirde, star) Why Leaves Wear the Colors of Fall hed: Septem Why do leaves change color inthe fall? asks Patricia Brown of New York City. Te! © Dautumn's cool days are trimmed with deep blue skies and golden light, and brilliant leaves of yellow, 3. 95 orange and red. Leaves changing color are a tree's way of preparing for a long winter, rather like we put = up storm windows and pull warm clothes and blankets out of storage. Sx In summer, the leaves on trees like pin oaks and sugar maples are green because they are chock-full of /degj >the green pigment chlorophyll. Trees need sunlight to make clorophyil. In tur, chlorophyll uses sunlight's energy to split water (H20) into hydrogen and oxygen. Meanwhile, leaves absorb carbon dioxide gas from the air. The end products of leaf’ chemistry: carbohydrates (homemade plant food for the tree), and oxygen, released into the air (the gas we need to breathe). The process is called itosynthesis. nan VEE UE pine Along with green chlorophyll, most leaves also contain yellow, orange and red-orange pigments celled carotenoids. Trees don't need light to make carotenoids, Botanists call them "helper pigments,” because carotenoids absorb some sunlight and (nicely) pass the energy along to chlorophyll. We don't see much of these deputy pigments (carotene, lycopene and xanthophyl) in summer, because they are masked by abundant green chlorophyll. But the ever-shortening days of fall mean less daylight and colder weather. ‘The average tree is rushing to save all the nutrients it can for its winter hibernation. Nitrogen and phosphorus are pulled from leaves for storage in branches. layer of cork ells grows between the leaves’ stems and their branches, reducing the leaves’ supply of nutrients and water. With diminished sunlight, water and nutrients, chlorophyll synthesis slows. v SS O14, worn-out chlorophyll breaks down at the usual rate - ironically, sunlight destroys it- so each leaf's stock gradually dwindles. And as the green fades, yellow and orange emerge from hidin Rieter eared Unlike the green and yellow pigments, red and purple pigments (anthocyanins, part bi the flavonoid. class) actually form in leaves in the autumn, tinting leaves searlet and burgundy. Botanists have long wondered why some trees are genetically programmed to manufacture anthocyanins in the fall. New research indicates that anthocyanins may be a tree's own sunscreen, Anthocyanins are made in a lea‘’s sugary sap, with the help of lots of sun and cool temperatures. Botanists think that anthocyanins shield the leaves’ fading photosynthesis factories from too much sunlight, rather like the pigment melanin helps protect our skin from the sun. While the red pigments act asa shield, the tree feverishly breaks down and pulls nutrients out of leaves and into its limbs and trunk before leaves drop or die. Anthocyanins may also act like vitamin C or E, scavenging so-called free radicals before they can do oxidizing damage toa fall leaf's fragile structure. In some trees, like sugar maples, the reds of the anthocyanins combined with the yellows of the carotenoids make especially brilliant orange leaves.Step 3: The Main Ideas In your own words, write down the main idea of this article in the Main Idea column. ‘Then provide direct “quotes” from the article in the Quotes column, looking at what you highlighted and underlined, to prove that your main idea is correct. | Main Id Wes CY ye LOAD AHS sr eee | TESS SS SOC REEE is | ver Ooo ARETE CHE OUNYNI ‘bane Lye HON omit Seven Sows Con _ Isun SNF OS & sean S\N ne Sameer ene 1B Wy AG SENET SER oe ron ak [Soro & less, Ane MOS. © NEES AEN HOT wv MONCONY dony OSEEro anes Sten vers Sort we | | recess CARING \ 5 | Siwos AoW 9 rn ows clawing SQowneey ane ee | es Oe OPHVOIWNK | Ot HOM On Oe BAS ae 2 en RBM 4e9 gO Or ys SrOedy, woe jsorentes Se SOCAN OO MONT K One 3, wee. WERE VE a CHICAS CO’ | ease se | sree ces Ws deetictt Fea | | poork. Overall area Lgl Je Ba Lo rity cS “Yeu ane Diedio Step 4: Reading Comprehension actvely “Teg the hg gr Now that you have read and annotated the article and ee ey mhin idea, go Og Step i and. answer the reading comprehension questions.