The Moa

The Moa

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Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about reading to find information and make inferences.
Read the article "The Moa", School Journal, Part 2, No 3, 1982, then answer the questions that follow.

Question

a)  Information about moas comes mainly from

    • Studies of dried skin and feathers.

    • Scientific studies and records of people's observations.

    • Remains found in very dry parts of New Zealand.

    • Stories told by early Maori.

    • Making visits to museums.

Question

b)  What is often found together with moa bones?

    • Rotting bodies.

    • Skin and feathers.

    • Small piles of stones.

    • Birds' gizzards.

    • Ground-up food.

Question

c)  Which is the best description of a 'gizzard'?

    • Container for small stones.

    • Part of a bird's stomach.

    • What is left when a bird dies.

    • Part of a moa.

    • Part of a bird's digestive system.

Question

d)  How is the basic shape of the moa worked out?

    • By looking at the places where muscles attach to the bones.

    • From making a model out of plastic material.

    • By reading accounts left by people who once saw it.

    • From examining dried skins and feathers.

    • By putting together a complete set of bones.

Question

e)  Compared with emu feathers, moa feathers were probably

    • Softer and droopier.

    • Less colourful.

    • Harder and stiffer.

    • Faded and streaked.

    • Brighter.

Question 1Change answer

f)  Why has no living person ever seen a live moa?

Question 1Change answer

g)  Why would moa skin and feathers only be found in 'very dry' parts of New Zealand?

Question 1Change answer

h)  How do scientists know where the moa's muscles were attached to its skeleton?
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online with SOME auto-marking.
 
You need to provide copies of the text "The Moa", School Journal, Part 2, No 3, 1982.
Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking, Using language, symbols, and texts
Keywords: 
comprehension, locate information, inference, SJ-2-3-1982
Description of task: 
Students read an article about the Moa then answer retrieval and inferential questions. SJ-2-3-1982. Text not provided.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:

  • use comprehension strategies

as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions .
 

Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Acquiring and using information and ideas in informational texts, sets 3-4
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
 

Y6 (11/1998)
a) B difficult
b) C moderate
c) E difficult
d) E easy
e) E moderate
f) Any 1 of:

•   Moa have been extinct for a long time.
•   Died out long ago.

 easy
g) Any 1 of:

•   Wouldn't rot so easily.
•   Dryness aids preservation.

 difficult
h) Places on bones show where muscles should go. difficult