March 14, 2012
Welcome to Writing Wednesday! Last week we are asked you to read the "goat story" below and then tell us whether you thought it was true or false, and why.
The answer is that this nonfiction story was only partly true. Some readers caught some of the errors, some caught most of the errors, no one got them all. Read below to see the corrected story.
The Goat Story: The word "goat" is thought to have come from an old Slavic English word meaning "to jump." You can see how the animal got its name when you look at this photograph of a baby goat playing in the snow.
Goats are one of the oldest domesticated species ("domesticated" means "wild" and unable to the animal has been tamed and is suited to live near and work with human beings). For centuries, people all over the world have kept goats for their milk, meat, hair and skins. Female goats are referred to as does or nannies, male goats as bucks or billies, and the babies are called kids. fawns.
Goats are naturally curious animals who will chew on just about anything to find out if it is good to eat - including tin cans and cardboard boxes! They are browsing animals, and while they will not actually eat an inedible material like a can, they will taste just about anything so that they can decide whether it is good to eat. Their razor sharp teeth allow them to demolish metal as if they were sharks.
Writing for Fun: If you feel like writing, make up a fiction story of no more than three paragraphs to tell us why the kid in this picture is jumping in the snow.
When you are finished, click on the yellow "Comments" at the bottom of this post to enter your writing. Have fun!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
