Throughout history, the growth of big cities has resulted in the destruction of ecosystems. In the case of Chicago, IL, a grassland that was once home to bison, deer, wolves, and foxes quickly became a booming city of over three million people. After reading about this dramatic change, learners identify the main idea and supporting details of the text. Take the activity one step further by asking students to write brief summaries of the reading passage.

Concepts

main ideas, central ideas, supporting details, details, reading comprehension, summarizing, ecosystems, food chains, food webs

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Additional Tags

food chain, main idea, supporting details, summary writing, Reading Passage, food web, ecosystem, reading comprehension, english language arts

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Pros

• Clearly explains the impact of city growth on neighboring ecosystems
• Includes statistics that demonstrate the explosive growth of Chicago at the turn of the 20th century
• Offers cross-curricular connections between science, social studies, and language arts

Cons

• Statistics that show the impact of urban growth on native species are not included

Common Core

RI.3.2 RI.4.2 RI.5.2 W.3.2.a W.3.2.b W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.5.2.a W.5.2.b