Read two passages about North Carolina animals · Answer questions · Get ready for the EOG!
Read both passages about North Carolina's black bears! Passage A is a story about a girl who sees a bear. Passage B is an informational text with facts about black bears.
FOCUS: Story vs. Informational · Author's Purpose · Text EvidenceMia had been hiking the trail for twenty minutes when she smelled something sweet. She stopped walking and sniffed the air. Blueberries!
She pushed through a cluster of tall ferns — and froze. There, not thirty feet away, was a black bear. It was sitting on its round bottom in the middle of a blueberry patch, using both paws to scoop berries into its mouth as fast as it could.
"Don't run," Mia told herself quietly. Her dad had taught her that. Running makes bears chase you. Standing still and staying calm is the smart thing to do.
The bear hadn't noticed her yet. It was too busy eating. Berry juice dripped off its chin. Its ears wiggled when it chewed.
Mia almost laughed. The bear looked like her little brother eating cereal — messy and completely focused.
Then the bear lifted its big, dark head and sniffed. It turned and looked right at Mia with small, calm eyes. For a long moment, they just looked at each other.
Then the bear stood up slowly, shook itself like a wet dog, and walked into the forest without looking back.
Mia let out the breath she had been holding. Her heart was pounding. But she was smiling too. Back on the trail, she pulled out her journal and wrote down every single thing she could remember.
The American black bear is North Carolina's largest wild animal. Black bears live in the mountains of western NC and in the swamps and forests near the coast. They are excellent swimmers, fast runners, and skilled climbers.
Black bears are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. Most of their diet — about 85 percent — comes from plants. They love berries, nuts, and roots. In the fall, bears eat as much as possible to build up fat for winter. A bear can gain up to 30 pounds per week during this time!
Black bears are usually shy around people. When they see or smell a human, they will most often walk away quietly. However, bears that have learned to find food near campgrounds or trash cans can become bolder. It is important never to feed a wild bear.
Bears are very good at using their senses. A bear's nose is about seven times more powerful than a dog's nose. They can smell food from more than a mile away! Their eyesight is similar to a human's, but their hearing is much better.
North Carolina has about 15,000 to 20,000 black bears. The state works hard to protect them. Wildlife rangers teach people how to stay safe around bears and how to keep food stored properly so bears are not attracted to campsites. When people and bears learn to share the forest, both can thrive.
Read both passages about sea turtles on North Carolina's coast! Passage A is a story about a boy who watches turtle eggs hatch. Passage B is an informational text with facts about loggerhead sea turtles.
FOCUS: Story vs. Informational · Compare Details · Text EvidenceGrandpa said the eggs had been buried in the sand for sixty days. That meant it was almost time.
Every evening that week, Marcus and his grandfather walked down to the stretch of beach that the turtle volunteers had roped off with orange flags. Every evening, nothing happened. They would sit in their folding chairs, watch the stars come out over the Atlantic Ocean, and walk back to the cottage.
"You can't rush a sea turtle," Grandpa always said.
On the seventh evening, Marcus was half-asleep in his chair when Grandpa grabbed his arm. "Look," he whispered.
The sand inside the roped-off area was moving. Not much — just a small tremble, like something was breathing under it. Then a tiny flipper broke through. Then another. Then the sand erupted in a slow, silent explosion of baby turtles, pushing and climbing over each other, all heading in the same direction: toward the light glimmering on the water.
"How do they know which way to go?" Marcus whispered.
"They follow the brightest light," Grandpa said softly. "Out here, that's always been the ocean."
Marcus counted as they went. He got to sixty-three before they all disappeared into the waves. He sat back in his chair and looked at the empty sand, still warm from all those little bodies.
"Same time next year?" he asked.
Grandpa smiled. "Same time next year."
The loggerhead sea turtle is one of the most important animals on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Every summer, female loggerheads come ashore at night to lay their eggs in the warm sand. North Carolina's beaches are one of the most important loggerhead nesting sites on the East Coast of the United States.
A female loggerhead digs a nest about two feet deep and lays around 100 to 120 eggs at one time. The eggs are round, white, and about the size of a ping-pong ball. The mother covers the eggs with sand and returns to the ocean. She never comes back to care for them.
The eggs incubate in the warm sand for about 60 days. When the eggs are ready to hatch, all the babies in a nest hatch around the same time. Baby sea turtles, called hatchlings, use the natural light of the ocean and sky to find their way to the water. Lights from houses and roads can confuse them and lead them in the wrong direction.
Loggerhead sea turtles are threatened, which means their numbers are dropping and they need protection. Trained volunteers patrol NC beaches each summer, marking nests with orange flags so people do not disturb them. They also ask beachfront homeowners to turn off outdoor lights during nesting season.
Of every 1,000 loggerhead hatchlings that reach the ocean, only about one or two will survive to become adults. Protecting their nesting beaches gives them the best possible start.