Posted by Laurie Sullivan at 10/17/2009 12:00:00 PM

Loggerhead sea turtles can be found in the Chesapeake Bay and in many parts of the world. However, since the 1970s the number of sea turtles has declined. Currently, all species of sea turtles are listed as threatened or endangered. To learn about sea turtles, we watched a National Geographic video clip, read the book Turtle, Turtle Watch Out, and played a game. In the game, each student pretended to be a baby sea turtle. Using a Fortune Teller (see photos, green papers students are holding), the student turtles encountered either positive or negative experiences. If the experience was negative, the student sat down to show that this turtle was no longer part of the population. In each round of the game, the student turtle population declined. We represented this information using a line graph. As you can see in the photos, we appreciated having the SMART Board to assist our learning. Click here to see the SMART Board and Turtle game in action. We also enjoyed listening to Sprytle the Turtle about a Loggerhead Turtle by Steve Songs. Click here to see a videoclip of Barrett students listening (and some singing) the song.

View more photos of the students in action here.Note: Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. Owsley’s classes will be learning about the sea turtles next week in the Discovery Lab. I will upload photos from these classes next weekend, so please check back.