Editorial Development: Bonnie Brook Communications

SKILL PRACTICE
Read each question. Fill in the bubble next to the correct answer.
 1. Before the 
arribada
 began, Melina and her mother 
.
A 
watched the turtles arrive
B 
drove to Ostional Beach
C 
saw the turtles’ nests
D 
heard scraping sounds
 2. What did the female turtles do first after they 
came out of the water?
A 
waited for nightfall
B 
dug their nests
C 
crawled above the high-tide line
D 
rested briefly on the beach
 3. Melina’s mother first noticed the sea turtles
when they 
.
A 
were in the water
B 
climbed onto the beach
C 
reached the high-tide line
D 
began scraping at the sand
 4. What will happen first after the baby
turtles hatch?
A 
They will wait for high tide.
B 
They will dig their own nests.
C 
They will try to avoid predators.
D 
They will dive into the sea.
STRATEGY PRACTICE
Did you understand the events of the 
arribada
? Why or why not?
 
 
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50
Daily Reading Comprehension • EMC 3458 • © Evan-Moor Corp.
Name: 
WEEK 7
DAY 4
Sequence
READ THE PASSAGE
As you read, look for the order of important events in the passage.
Dying for Potatoes
By the early 1800s, the most important food in Ireland was the potato. Many Irish farmers held very 
small plots of land, and potatoes produced much more food per acre than any other crop. Potatoes were 
easy to grow in the cool climate, and they provided vital nutrition for those who had little access to other 
fresh food—which was roughly half of the Irish population.
It is not a good idea for such a large number of people to depend on one food source, and the Irish 
found out why in a painful, deadly way. In 1845, a fungus from Mexico arrived in Ireland. Although its exact 
source remains unknown, it was probably carried in the holds of ships that traveled to Ireland carrying 
goods and people. The fungus attacked the potato crops, causing harvested potatoes to disintegrate into 
black, decaying piles of rot, causing a famine, or severe food shortage. Very quickly, a large section of the 
Irish population began to starve.
Farmers hoped that the 1846 harvest would be better, but it was worse. That winter, the weather was 
terrible and included raging blizzards, high winds, and bitterly cold temperatures. By the next year’s 
harvest, the potatoes had begun to recover. The Irish were hopeful that the Potato Famine had come to an 
end. However, the harvest was far too small to sustain the starving population.
Soup kitchens were eventually set up to feed the hungry, but they could not come close to meeting the 
demand for food. Diseases associated with famine, such as typhus and cholera, hit the weakened Irish. It 
is estimated that, by 1851, at least one million people had died of disease or starvation, and another million 
had left Ireland for the United States, England, or Canada.