Draw Conclusions

Explain Remind students that any conclusions they draw about what they are reading should be based on relevant details in the text. Write the following on the board: The stripes of zebras help to protect them from predators. When zebras are traveling in a herd, animals that hunt them cannot see individual zebras because the stripes make the herd look like a large striped block. 

Guided Practice Read the text with students. Suggest that students use a Conclusions Map to organize clues and draw a conclusion. (Zebras need to be protected from predators, which will hunt them for food.)

Practice Write the following paragraph on the board and read it aloud to students. Have students draw a conclusion about why zebras have stripes. Lions, which are the main predators of zebras, are color blind, so even though the zebra's stripes do not match the background colors of the surroundings, the lions cannot see the difference between the zebras and the background. This helps the zebras to escape from their predators.