Worksheet

Night Fliers: Developing a Report on Bats

Grade 4 informative writing practice: find facts, definitions, examples and quotations about bats and use them to develop a topic.

Grade 4ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toW.4.2.b

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What’s included

Single worksheet
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1 Common Core standard
Printable answer key
11 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: ELA
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students tell apart facts, definitions and quotations they can use to develop a topic.
Students choose details, examples and quotations that fit a topic and bring them into their writing.
Students develop an informative paragraph with a fact, a definition and a quotation.

How to use

Read both sources together first. Students answer the questions in section 2 on their own, then use the planning frame to write a short paragraph about bats.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

W.4.2.b

Develop a topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

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Name Date

Night Fliers: Developing a Report on Bats

Use facts, definitions, examples and quotations to develop a topic.

Read the sources

Jonah is writing a report about bats. Read the article and the notes he took on a class trip.

Bats: Night Fliers

1When the sun goes down, bats wake up. During the day, these furry animals rest in quiet, dark places, such as caves, attics, and hollow trees. Many of them hang upside down by their feet while they sleep. Bats are nocturnal, which means they are active at night and sleep during the day.

2Bats are mammals, just like dogs, horses, and people. Mother bats feed their babies milk, and bats have fur on their bodies. But bats can do something no other mammal can do: they can truly fly. A bat's wing is made of thin skin stretched between very long finger bones.

3Many people think bats are blind, but that is a myth. Bats can see. Many bats also use echolocation to find their way in the dark. Echolocation is a way of finding objects by making sounds and listening for the echoes that bounce back. A bat makes high-pitched calls, and the echoes tell it where a tree, a wall, or a flying insect is.

4Bats are important helpers in nature. Many bats eat insects, such as moths and beetles, and some of these insects can harm farm crops. Other bats feed on fruit or on nectar from flowers. As these bats travel from plant to plant, they carry pollen and spread seeds, which helps new plants grow. For example, fruit bats in warm parts of the world drop seeds as they fly, and new trees can sprout from those seeds.

5When the weather turns cold, some bats fly to warmer places. Others find a sheltered spot, such as a cave, and hibernate. To hibernate means to rest in a deep, sleep-like state through the cold months. When spring comes, the bats wake up and begin hunting again.

Jonah's Notes from the Nature Center

Our class visited the Cedar Hollow Nature Center, where a large group of bats rests in a cave each summer. Ms. Rosa Diaz, a guide at the center, answered our questions. I wrote down her exact words.

"Bats are the night shift of the forest," Ms. Diaz said. "Every night, these bats eat insects that could harm the farmers' crops."

"People are often surprised by how gentle and shy bats are," she added. "Our cave is cool and dark, so it is a perfect place for bats to rest."

"If you find a bat on the ground, do not touch it," Ms. Diaz told us. "Tell an adult right away."

Find details that develop a topic

Answer each question using the article and Jonah's notes.

Sort the details Jonah found. A definition tells what a word means. A quotation gives someone's exact words inside quotation marks. A fact gives true information without defining a word or quoting a person.

To hibernate means to rest in a deep, sleep-like state through the cold months.Mother bats feed their babies milk."Bats are the night shift of the forest," Ms. Diaz said.Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly."People are often surprised by how gentle and shy bats are," she added.Bats are nocturnal, which means they are active at night and sleep during the day.

Fact	Definition	Quotation

One of Jonah's paragraphs begins, "Bats help farmers and forests." Which detail from the article best develops this idea?

A. Many bats rest in caves, attics, and hollow trees during the day.
B. Bats are mammals, just like dogs, horses, and people.
C. Many bats eat insects, and some of these insects can harm crops.
D. A bat makes high-pitched calls and listens for the echoes.

Jonah wants to tell his readers what echolocation means. Which sentence gives the best definition?

A. Echolocation is a skill that many bats use when they fly around in the dark.
B. Echolocation is one of the most amazing things a bat is able to do at night.
C. Echolocation is the reason bats rarely bump into trees, walls, or one another.
D. Echolocation is finding objects by making sounds and listening for the echoes.

Jonah wants a concrete detail about a bat's body. In paragraph 2 of "Bats: Night Fliers," underline the sentence that tells what a bat's wing is made of.

Bats are mammals, just like dogs, horses, and people.Mother bats feed their babies milk, and bats have fur on their bodies.But bats can do something no other mammal can do: they can truly fly.A bat's wing is made of thin skin stretched between very long finger bones.

Jonah wants an example to show that bats help plants grow. Which sentence should he add?

A. For example, fruit bats drop seeds that can sprout into new trees.
B. For example, bats hang upside down in dark caves and attics.
C. For example, bats have fur on their bodies like other mammals.
D. For example, many bats make high-pitched calls in the dark.

Jonah is writing about how bats help farmers. Which quotation from Ms. Diaz supports this idea best?

A. "People are often surprised by how gentle and shy bats are."
B. "Every night, these bats eat insects that could harm the farmers' crops."
C. "If you find a bat on the ground, do not touch it."
D. "Our cave is cool and dark, so it is a perfect place for bats to rest."

Jonah uses linking words to bring in a definition, a quotation and an example. Write a word or words from the word bank in each blank. Two choices in the bank are not used.

Word bank: for example · until · means · because · according to

Bats are nocturnal, which they are active at night.
Ms. Diaz, bats are "the night shift of the forest."
Fruit bats help forests grow. , they drop seeds that can sprout into new trees.