Sea Turtles in Tennessee

Thanks to Donna Miller, Ed.S. and Elaine Myers, who teach at Wearwood Elementary in Sevierville, Tennessee, for this exciting sea turtle project. Donna writes: "The turtle unit is a perfect whole language opportunity. We begin by writing what we know and what we want to learn about turtles. Every child contributes to the list. Pond turtles, desert tortoises and sea turtles are compared and contrasted.

The class made large paper mache sea turtles. Donna said that chicken wire frames are assembled and brought to the class. Each day that the students work on the paper mache turtle, a class teaching time comes first. She adds that her turtle unit and theme books had all the necessary data for the class to learn about sea turtles. The Wearwood students wanted to sponsor a sea turtle after they learned of their endangered status.

Suggestions for student activities accompanying the construction of the paper mache turtles:

(Teaching materials should be collected the summer before the turtle unit is taught. Acquire theme books from teachers, stores with turtle activities)

Complete life cycle sequence sheets.
Compare animals that are born alive and those hatched from eggs.
Compare reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish and mammals.
Make turtles from paper plates.
Sew felt or fabric turtles and stuff them.
Make a cake in the shape of a turtle.
Take a field trip to an aquarium.
Use turtle candy molds to take plaster of paris turtles.
Compose class turtle songs using familiar tunes.
Write letters to a senator and representative and include a picture of each child.
Work with a parent volunteer who will help make a turtle quilt. Each child makes a turtle section and the quilter puts it together.
Keep a journal with photos .
Get a sea turtle cookie cutter from HEART and sell cookies to raise money
to adopt ridley turtle hatchlings.

Here are some photos of the children at work:

Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3, Picture 4, Picture 5, Picture 6.