Continue with Microsoft TeamsRead About How Lighthouses Keep Ships Safe
Vocabulary
Read the vocabulary terms to understand the reading better.
A lighthouse is a tall building that has a bright light near the top that helps guide ships.
A lighthouse keeper is a person who makes sure the light at the top of the lighthouse shines every night and during storms.
A sailor is a person who works on or controls a ship.
The shore is the land along the edge of an ocean or lake.
Lighthouses Keep Ships Safe
A lighthouse is a tall building with a light at the top. You can find lighthouses on the shores of oceans and lakes. The light at the top helps guide ships.
Helping Sailors
With their bright lights, lighthouses guide ships day and night. Lighthouses warn sailors that there are rocks nearby. Lighthouses show where the water is shallow. They also show where the shore is. In heavy storms, they help ships see where they are.
Stripes and Crosses
Some lighthouses are painted in different colours and patterns. One lighthouse might have black-and-white stripes. Another lighthouse might be white with a red cross. The colours and patterns make it easy for sailors to tell one lighthouse from another.
Life in a Lighthouse
Lighthouses were once all run by lighthouse keepers. Each keeper made sure the light at the top of their lighthouse shone every night and during storms. But lighthouses are often far from other homes. Life there could be lonely.
Now lighthouses are run by machines. When night falls or the sky gets dark, the machine senses the charge. Flash! The lighthouse beams out its warning.
Canada’s Lighthouses
There are about 750 lighthouses in Canada. All of the provinces have some, except for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Nova Scotia has about 160 lighthouses. No other province has even half that many.