Turtle Tales

🎓 Audience

Education: Grade(s) 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Teacher(s)/Educator(s), Parent, Adult Learners, Homeschool/Family, Learning Pod; Public Library: Library Patrons, Library Staff

• For younger learners (PK, K, 1, 2), explore our companion program: Alfie (The Turtle that Disappeared)

 🐾 Topics

Career & Technical Education (CTE), Economics/Business, Health & Physical Education, Industrial Technology, Professional Development, Science, STEM, Technology/Information Science

🗂️ Format

• Introduction and Prior Knowledge: Introduction to sea turtles and other reptiles, encouraging participants to share any facts or insights they’ve gathered beforehand.

• Segment 1 - Meet Our Turtles: Meet our resident turtles, while learning about the physical characteristics, behaviors, and adaptations of reptiles.

• Video 1 - Sea Turtle Care and Husbandry: Video exploring nesting beaches and the lifecycle of sea turtles, including how hatchlings are protected.

• Segment 2 - Sea Turtle Hospital: Behind-the-scenes look at the specialized care and husbandry practices for sea turtles at the aquarium.

• Video 2 - Sea Turtle Patrol: Virtually visit our Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital to see how injured sea turtles are cared for and rehabilitated.

• Segment 3 - Q&A Session: Interactive Q&A session about sea turtles, reptiles, and conservation.

• Segments may vary due to weather and veterinary priorities. We will make every effort to deliver the segments as described but may use a combination of live and recorded video when necessary.

🎯 Objectives

1. Identify the physical characteristics and adaptations of sea turtles and reptiles.

2. Explore the life cycle and behaviors of sea turtles through virtual tours and videos.

3. Engage in a discussion about the conservation challenges faced by sea turtles and reptiles.

4. Develop an appreciation for the importance of protecting nesting beaches and the role they play in the survival of sea turtle hatchlings.

✏️ Standards this program supports

• ESS3C 3–5 –– Human impacts on Earth systems. Learners explore how people help injured sea turtles through rescue, rehabilitation, and release, and how these efforts reduce the impact of human-caused threats like boat strikes and pollution.

• ESS3C 6–8 –– Human impacts on Earth systems. Learners examine how coastal development, climate change, and marine pollution alter turtle habitats and impact their life cycle.

• ESS3C 9–12 –– Human impacts on Earth systems. Learners evaluate how large-scale environmental changes, like rising sea levels, plastic pollution, and temperature shifts, threaten sea turtle populations and nesting sites.

• LS1A 3–5 –– Structure and function. Learners observe key sea turtle structures, such as flippers, shells, and beaks, and connect them to survival functions like swimming, protection, and feeding.

• LS1A 6–8 –– Structure and function. Learners examine how sea turtles’ anatomical features support locomotion, respiration, and long-distance navigation in marine environments.

• LS1A 9–12 –– Structure and function. Learners analyze how sea turtle body systems are adapted for life in the ocean and how these structures influence physiological performance, behavior, and vulnerability to human impacts.

• LS1B 3–5 –– Growth and development of organisms. Learners investigate the sea turtle life cycle, from egg to hatchling to adult, and explore how development is influenced by environmental factors like nesting temperature.

• LS1B 6–8 –– Growth and development of organisms. Learners analyze the internal and external cues that regulate development in sea turtles, including how temperature-dependent sex determination shapes population structure.

• LS1B 9–12 –– Growth and development of organisms. Learners examine the genetic and environmental regulation of growth and development in sea turtles, including how climate change may alter sex ratios and disrupt reproductive success.

• Ocean Literacy Principles

  1. Ocean Literacy Principle #5 – The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.

  2. Ocean Literacy Principle #6 – The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected.

• UN SDGs

  1. 14 - Life Below Water

Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS)

• SC.3.L.15.1 – Classify animals into major groups based on physical characteristics and behaviors. Application: Students learn about turtles as vertebrates, their classification as reptiles, and how they differ from other animals.

• SC.4.L.17.4 – Recognize ways plants and animals, including humans, can impact the environment. Application: The program discusses how turtles and organisms interact with their environment and the effects of human activities on them.

• SC.5.L.15.1 – Describe how, when the environment changes, differences between individuals allow some plants and animals to survive and reproduce while others die or move to new locations. Application: Students learn about reptile adaptation and resilience in changing environments.

• SC.6.L.15.1 – Analyze how organisms are classified based on shared characteristics. Application: Students examine sea turtles within the Linnaean classification system and their distinguishing biological traits.

• SC.7.L.17.3 – Describe limiting factors in an ecosystem and their impact on populations. Application: The program investigates factors affecting turtle populations, such as water quality, habitat availability, and disease.

• Adaptation: The process by which organisms evolve traits that help them survive and reproduce in their specific environments.

• Biodiversity: The variety of different species of plants, animals, and microorganisms in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

• Buoyancy: The ability of an object or organism to float in water or air, influenced by its density relative to the surrounding fluid.

• Carapace: The hard upper shell of a turtle, which protects its back.

• Chelonian: Refers to reptiles of the order Testudines, which includes turtles, terrapins, and tortoises.

• Conservation: The protection, preservation, and careful management of natural resources and wildlife.

• Ecosystem: A community of living organisms and their interactions with their physical environment.

• Ectotherm: An animal whose body temperature is regulated by external environmental conditions, such as reptiles.

• Endangered Species Act: A U.S. law enacted in 1973 aimed at protecting species that are at risk of extinction.

• Environmental Enrichment Device (EED): Objects or activities provided to animals in human care to stimulate their natural behaviors and enhance their well-being.

• Fibropapillomatosis: A disease in sea turtles caused by a herpesvirus, leading to the growth of tumors on the skin, eyes, and internal organs.

• Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB): A rapid increase in the population of algae in water, often producing toxins that can harm wildlife, including sea turtles.

• Hatchling: A young animal that has just emerged from its egg, like a sea turtle.

• Husbandry: The care, cultivation, and breeding of animals, including feeding, health care, and general maintenance.

• Incubation: The process of keeping eggs warm, either naturally by the mother or artificially, to ensure their development and hatching.

• Migration: The seasonal movement of animals from one area to another for breeding, feeding, or climate reasons.

• Plastron: The nearly flat part of a turtle's shell structure that covers the belly.

• Poaching: The illegal hunting, capturing, or killing of wildlife, often for trade or profit.

• Rehabilitation: The process of treating and restoring injured or sick animals to health before returning them to the wild.

• Reptile: A cold-blooded vertebrate animal with scaly skin, such as snakes, lizards, and turtles.

• Scute: A bony external plate or scale, as on the shell of a turtle.

• Sea Turtle: A large marine reptile that lives in the ocean and returns to land to lay eggs, with a bony or leathery shell.

• Stranding: The event when marine animals, such as sea turtles or whales, wash ashore or become stuck on a beach or shallow water, often in need of rescue.

• Tracking: Monitoring the movement and behavior of animals using various methods, such as GPS or radio transmitters, to study their patterns and habits.

Play Turtle Bingo

Play virtual bingo using a computer, smartphone or tablet during your program to reinforce key concepts and vocabulary.

• Online

• On paper/PDF

🌐 Websites

• Help Sea Turtles

• Sea Turtle Conservation & Research

• Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital

• Sea Turtle Tracking

• Nesting Numbers

• Sea Turtle Protection Zone

• Loggerhead Sea Turtle

• Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

• Green Sea Turtle

📚 Books & Publications

Elementary

• Turtles: A Compare and Contrast Book by Cher Vatalaro (Arbordale Publishing) – A nonfiction early reader filled with facts, photos, and comparisons that introduce learners to the world of turtles and their unique features. https://www.arbordalepublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=TurtlesCC

• Turtle Summer: A Journal for My Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe (Arbordale Publishing) – A photographic journal that follows a mother and daughter during sea turtle nesting season, blending science, observation, and conservation. https://www.arbordalepublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=Turtle

• Turtles In My Sandbox by Jennifer Keats Curtis (Arbordale Publishing) – A book for early learners that introduces terrapins as part of a beach ecosystem and highlights ways people can help protect them. https://www.arbordalepublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=Sandbox

• Carolina’s Story: Sea Turtles Get Sick Too! by Donna Rathmell German (Arbordale Publishing) – Heartwarming photographic journal describes a critically ill sea turtle as she is nursed back to health at a Sea Turtle Hospital. . https://www.arbordalepublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=Carolina

High/Adult

• Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery (HarperCollins) – A moving narrative nonfiction book that follows wildlife rescuers and the turtles they heal, blending science, storytelling, and reflection on our shared responsibility for the natural world. https://symontgomery.com/of-time-and-turtles/

📰 Mote News

• Mote 40-year study attests to the effectiveness of ongoing sea turtle conservation

• 🐢 More Mote News: Turtles

🖥️ Videos

• Mote Welcomes New Sea Turtle Patients

• Sea turtle hatchlings released!

• Mote's Sea Turtle Hospital takes in 6 cold-stunned sea turtles

• Feeding a blind sea turtle at Mote Marine Lab

• Light Pollution Harms Sea Turtles