January

 The turtles had a special visitor this week: wildlife artist and The Book of Turtles illustrator Matt Patterson!   Matt visited with the turtles while here for our beloved Driscoll tradition, Science Solstice.  Ahuge thanks to the PTO for bringing Matt to Driscoll.  Matt shared stories of his travels and turtles with K-2 and 3-5.  Gabriel from 5H, a Matt Patterson and Sy Montgomery expert, did an incredible job introducing Matt.  A few kids asked about buying autographed books; unfortunately those did need to be pre-ordered.  However, Matt does have some incredible prints, t-shirts, and hoodies featuring his artwork on his website here. 

In other turtle news, we have added a new feature to their tank: a shell scratcher.  Apparently some turtles enjoy having their shell scratched, just like we might enjoy having our back scratched.  This brush is attached to the inside of the tank with a suction cup.  Zoo New England has also let us know that we can start offering turtles fresh fish and shrimp along with their regular pellets.  We are excited to try it and will report back!

Happy New Year from Artemis and Apollo!  The turtles enjoyed a lovely winter break with the Levy family.  Mom Efrat is one of the turtles’ dedicated caretakers.  She comes to the library every morning to help the fifth grade feeding teams. We couldn’t run the turtle program without her, or Driscoll mom Bettina, who comes in every afternoon to help with the afternoon feeding, as well as the sixth grade measuring teams, and the glorious job of cleaning the tank.  Thank you Efrat and Bettina!

Our turtles are getting BIG!  Be sure to check out the data page to see their growth over the past couple of weeks, and enjoy the videos below.  

The Book of Turtles illustrator and wildlife artist Matt Patterson will be visiting with K-5 on Friday, January 24 during Science Solstice.  If you would like to order a copy of his book for him to autograph when he is here, all the details are on the library website here.