Resources & Activities
The Book of Turtles
by Sy Montgomery, Illustrated by Matt Patterson
Book Trailer (Video - 2:45) - The SALT Project
Could a Turtle Live Outside of Its Shell? (5:16) - Mystery Science
How Do Sea Turtles Find Their Way Home? (6:02) - Discusses magnetic navigation of sea turtles and provides a close look at how Ridley's Kemp Sea Turtles were brought back from the brink of extermination.
Do Tortoises Like Being Pet? (Video - 1:18) - Smithsonian
Draw a Turtle (Video - 2:03) - Jon Klassen
Great Carrier Reef
by Jessica Stremer, Illustrated by Gordy Wright
The Sinking of an Aircraft Carrier Documentary INTRO (Video - watch up to1:38) - Watch the first couple of minutes as an introduction to this hour long documentary about the sinking of the USS Oriskany, the aircraft carrier featured in the book.
The Sinking of an Aircraft Carrier Documentary THE SINKING! (Video 4:47) - This clip is part of the hour long documentary above - this portion shows the moment the aircraft carrier sinks to the ocean floor.
Healthy Oceans: Coral Reefs and Climate Change (Video 6:04), California Academy of Sciences. Why are Coral Reefs so important, how are they affected by climate change, and what can we do about it?
What are Artificial Reefs? (Video 1:00) - Learn more about the benefits of artificial reefs, and see what these reefs look like after several years under water.
Santiago Saw Things Differently
by Christine Iverson, Illustrated by Luciano Lozano
Uncovering the Brain's Biggest Secret (Video 5:08) - TED-Ed: What is a neuron? How do signals travel from the brain to the body? Learn how Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the artist and scientist helped answer these questions.
Camera Obscura - National Geographic (Video 1:34) - learn how to turn any room into a Camera Obscura. When Santiago was in the dark basement of his school, this was the phenomenon he observed.
We Go Way Back
by Idan Ben-Barak, Illustrated by Philip Bunting
The Evolution of Life on Earth (Video - 2:19) ASAPScience: Describes the evolution of life on earth, using 24 hours as the scale
The Very First Living Thing (Video - 5:43) - SciKids: Explains stromatolites a the first known living thing on earth
Atoms and You (Video - 4:22) - Tidlybit: Explains what atoms are and how every person is made of atoms
Discussion questions:
Page 5 lists many different ideas for what life might be. Are any of them wrong? Are any of them right? What do you think life is?
NASA defines life as "Life is a self-sustaining system capable of Darwinian evolution." The author says this is what he is re-wording on page 7 as: "Life is…um…Life is The Way That Some Things Make More Things That Are a Lot Like Themselves But Sometimes a Little Bit Different?" Which version of this statement do you like better? Is one clearer than the other? Can you think of any other ways to say the same thing?
The artist of the book used all the colors in the spectrum to represent the bubbles. Why do you think he did that?
More discussion questions from the publisher available here