English Worksheet for Grade 6: Reading Comprehension

Hitchhikers in the Bathroom                                                 
by Liana Mahoney

Imagine this.  You step up to the sink, wet your toothbrush, and begin cleaning your pearly whites.  Out of the corner of your eye, you see something moving on the wall. Suddenly, you realize you’re not alone in the bathroom.  Your heart pounding, you turn toward the tiny intruder to get a better look.

You’re horrified to see that it has eight legs, and a pair of oversized pincers on its front end.  Is it some kind of miniature octopus, or a bizarre crab?  Is it going to sting you?

Actually, it’s a bug, and it’s no more harmful to you than a housefly.  This tiny bathroom bug is called a pseudoscorpion (SOO-dohSCOR-pee-uhn).  But don’t be fooled by its name.  It’s not really a scorpion; it’s just a relative.  The pseudoscorpion is a kind of arachnid (uh-RAK-nid), which means it is closely related to spiders, scorpions, and mites.  Like scorpions, pseudoscorpions have a segmented body and two enormous pincers.  But pseudoscorpions lack the curved stinger that all true scorpions have. 

Pseudoscorpions usually live outside in mulch, under tree bark, and in leaf litter. So how do they end up in the bathroom? They use those pincerlike claws to hitch a ride on other bugs, such as flies and beetles.  When these insects come in, so do the pseudoscorpions - attached to their legs!

These tiny arachnids prefer moist places.  Since the bathroom tends to be humid after bathing and showering, it’s a likely place to find them.  But they are easily overlooked.  Most pseudoscorpions are only about two to eight millimeters long.  

Pseudoscorpions don’t bite or sting humans, and they can even be helpful.  These bugs feed on common household pests, such as carpet beetle larvae, ants, mites, and small flies.  Welcoming this hitchhiker into your home may mean there are fewer household pests to “bug” you!     

Hitchhikers in the Bathroom 

Match each vocabulary word from the article with the correct definition.

  

  Column A                                                                 Column B

_______  1.   Bizarre                   a.   the immature forms of an insect

_______  2.   Moist                     b.   having a very small size

_______  3.   enormous              c.   strange, unusual 

_______  4.   miniature               d.   extremely scared or shocked

_______  5.   larvae                     e.   somewhat wet or damp

_______  6.   intruder                  f.   divided into sections     

_______  7.   segmented            g.   very large in size; huge        

_______  8.   horrified                h.   invader

1.  If you wanted to find a pseudoscorpion outdoors, where would you look?
2.  Use the Venn diagram to show how pseudoscorpions and real scorpions are alike and how they're different.
3.  How can pseudoscorpions be helpful to humans?


ANSWER KEY

1.  If you wanted to find a pseudoscorpion outdoors, where would you look?
Pseudoscorpions usually live outside in mulch, under tree bark, and in leaf litter.

2.  Use the Venn diagram to show how pseudoscorpions and real scorpions are alike and how they're different.   
   Pseudoscorpions   - no curved stinger ,   does not sting, helpful (eats bugs)
   Real scorpions       - curved stinger, stings humans
   Both                       - segmented body,   8 legs,    two pincers 

3.  How can pseudoscorpions be helpful to humans?
Pseudoscorpions feed on common household pests, such as carpet beetle larvae, mites, and small flies.

DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY SHEETS READING COMPREHENSION ENGLISH GRADE 6

Credits: Arcelle Yuan