★Write From Text Evidence
Grade 4 Writing Worksheet
Read the text. Circle the claim that the text supports.
Read this first
Lights Out for Sea Turtles
Every summer, sea turtles crawl onto beaches to lay their eggs. A mother turtle digs a hole in the sand with her back flippers. She lays about one hundred eggs, covers them, and returns to the ocean. In Florida, nesting season runs from about May to October.
About two months later, the baby turtles hatch. Each hatchling is only about two inches long. They usually climb out of the nest at night, when the sand is cool. Then they face their first big challenge. They must find the ocean, and they cannot see it from the nest.
Scientists have learned how they do it. Hatchlings crawl toward the brightest part of the sky. On a natural beach, that is the sky over the water. Moonlight and starlight reflect off the waves. The land side is darker because of dunes and plants.
Bright lights from buildings can confuse the hatchlings. A porch light or a parking lot can look brighter than the sea. Then the turtles crawl the wrong way. They may end up on roads or in yards, far from the water.
Many beach towns now ask people to help. During nesting season, homes and hotels close their curtains at night. Some towns use special amber lights that turtles do not notice as much. In some places, volunteers walk the beach each morning. They mark new nests with tape so people do not step on them.
These changes seem to help. Where towns turned down their lights, fewer hatchlings were found heading inland.
Years later, some of those hatchlings will return. Scientists think female turtles use Earth's magnetic field like a map. It helps them find the same stretch of coast where they hatched.
- Hatchlings find the ocean by smelling the salty water.
- Mother turtles stay on the beach to lead their babies to the water.
- People's choices about lights can help hatchlings reach the sea.
- Most hatchlings leave the nest in the middle of the day.
- Hatchlings find the ocean by following the sound of the waves.
- Hatchlings can be led the wrong way by bright lights on land.
- Hatchlings stay in the nest until the middle of the day when it is warm.
- Hatchlings need a mother turtle to show them the way.
- Mother turtles stay to guard the nest for two months.
- Mother turtles lay one egg a night all summer.
- Mother turtles lay their eggs in the middle of the ocean.
- Mother turtles lay many eggs in each nest.
- Volunteers help keep new nests safe.
- Volunteers build the dunes where turtles nest.
- Volunteers carry hatchlings to the ocean in their hands.
- Volunteers turn off the lights in every home on the beach.
