READING Vocabulary
Unit 6 Week 4: "To Fly"
cradle - a frame to support weight
drag - the force acting on an object in motion
- to pull or move along heavily or slowly
flex - to bend
glider - aircraft without an engine; air currents keep it in the air
hangars - buildings for storing aircraft
rudder - a flat piece of wood or metal hinged to the rear of the aircraft to
steer it
stalled - stopped or brought to a standstill, against your wish
aviation - the science or art of operation and navigating aircraft
resistance - the thing or act that resists; opposing force
SCIENCE Vocabulary
Chapter 3 - Ecosystems
ecosystem - all the living and nonliving things in an environment and the
many ways they interact (Examples: desert, grassland, tundra,
forest)
population - all the members of one species that live within an area of an
ecosystem (Example: all the prairie dogs that live in a desert
ecosystem)
community - the different populations that interact with each other in the
same area form a community
habitat - the area or place where an animal lives in an ecosystem; the
organism's "address" (example: in a desert, a quail's habitat is
near shrubs where it can hide)
niche - the specific role (or job) each organism has in an ecosystem ; the
type of food an organism eats, how it gets food, which other
organisms eat it as food
producers - organisms that can make their own food & produce food for other
organisms (PLANTS)
consumers - organisms that eat, or consume, other living things for energy
(cannot produce own food)
herbivore - a consumer that gets energy by eating only plants
carnivore - a consumer that gets energy by eating only other animals (meat)
omnivore - a consumer that gets energy by eatin both plants and animals
scavengers - consumers that feed on dead plants and animals
decomposer - an organism that breaks down dead plant and animal tissue into
minerals and nutrients (examples: bacteria, fungi, insects)
food chain - the process by which energy moves from one type of living thing
to another - energy flows in one direction
food web - a system of overlapping food chains in which energy flows in many
directions
decay - the process by which living things rot and die, and break down into
the soil, air, and water