Lesson 3: Pet Turtles
 
 
Objectives:
               Children will be able to care for a turtle in the classroom. They will help set-up a turtle habitat and feed the turtle daily. They will hypothesize, observe and evaluate the results of a food preference experiment.
 
Materials:
               Box turtle or painted turtle-(may be borrowed from local pet store)
          Aquarium tank with filter if painted turtle is selected
          Heated rock if box turtle is selected
          Plants and rocks for sunning
          Variety of fruits, vegetables, and plants for experiment
          Chart paper
 
introduction:
                Turtles make great pets. There are several kinds of turtles you can
have for a pet. Some live in water so they need to live in an aquarium tank.
Others live on land so they can live in a tank with just a small bowl of water.
All turtles need exercise and room to move around so you need to enlarge the habitat as the turtle grows.
 
procedure:
              Children can listen to the story of Franklin's Wants A Pet by Paulette Bourgeois. They can discuss and write on chart paper common needs of pet. They can discuss the pets they have and how they care for them. Choose several animals from the story and have children tell what kind of habitat or home they live in.
          Discuss what a habitat would look like for a water turtle. Then talk about how a home for a land turtle might be different. Click on the box turtle to learn how to care for him. Click on the tank to learn more about setting up the aquarium for a freshwater turtle.
        Children can learn how to care for turtles as pets. Let them help you set up the aquarium tank. They can bring in small pebbles and plants. Once the turtle is selected, the class can give ideas for names and one can be chosen.

                  Web site to learn more about caring for your pet turtle:
 

 
Click on the turtle
 
 
closure:
         The class will conduct an experiment on food preferences of their pet. Have the children make hypotheses on what new foods they think their turtle would eat. Let them also suggest some things they think it would not eat. Each child brings in two items. Children observe the different foods put in the tank each day and record the results. They can log them in a journal about the class pet and write down other observations about sleep habits and behavior as well.
 
enrichment:
          Children can read books about other pets to discover how to care for them and what kinds of habitats they would need. They can also learn more about other turtles from the internet.
 
assessment:
          Children's observation log, experiment recordings, and writings that explain what a turtle's needs are.
 
 
 
 
 

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