K-5

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Introduction

The Words in Blue are your WebQuest vocabulary words

The Great Turtle Race is a way for you to learn about leatherback turtles. The race provides a way for you to track these gentle reptiles as they come to the beaches to nest and then return to the sea. By tracking leatherback turtles using satellites we can learn a great deal about them, as you will soon discover.

The Situation

They're off! Leatherback turtles are leaving the beaches after laying their eggs and are heading back to the ocean. Join the race and you can be part of a group of concerned individuals, scientists, and organizations that care about our environment and want to save the turtles. There are a few problems, however. Leatherback turtles are disappearing in some areas of the world. Why is this happening? Your task is to follow the turtles during the 14 day race, see where they go, and find out the reasons why not so long ago there were many leatherback turtles and now so few remain. Scientists estimate in about ten years all leatherback turtles in the Pacific Ocean may be gone. What can you do?

Sea Turtle Information

The leatherback is the largest sea turtle and is one of the largest living reptiles in the world. They can grow up to six and a half feet long (how many meters is that?) and weigh almost 2000 lbs. (how many kilograms is that?). The shell is one single piece. A leatherback's shell is about 1.5 inches thick (how many centimeters is that?). Adult leatherbacks can be black and pinkish white and have pale white and pink spotting on the top of their heads. The front flippers are longer than in other sea turtles. The back flippers are paddle-shaped. (Do you know why they are paddle-shaped?)
Female leatherbacks can lay up to 100 eggs in each nest on sandy beaches where they nest several times during a nesting season. After 60-65 days, leatherback hatchlings emerge from the nest. Leatherback hatchlings are roughly 2-3 inches long and their front flippers can be as long as their bodies. They weigh about 1.4-1.8 ounce (how many grams is that?).
Did you know that leatherback turtles have been around for more than 110 million years? They are as old as dinosaurs and one of the oldest animals on earth.

Be the Scientist. Find out all you can about leatherback turtles. Just like a scientist, you will explore the facts about sea turtles, discover the reasons why they are in danger and understand how to help them survive.

List as many reasons as you can think of why leatherback turtles could soon be extinct.

Can you research and find more information about leatherback turtles?

What are their habitats?

What do they eat?

Do they have any predators?

Where are their nesting areas?

Leatherbacks are amazing animals in many ways. Can you name 3 or 4 ways?

Are there any conservation efforts to protect leatherback turtles?

Are humans a threat to leatherback turtles?

What do you need to know about leatherback turtles to help them survive?

With your teacher, a classmate or your parents try to find answers to these questions.

See the leatherback turtle fact sheet, at:

Caribbean Conservation Corporation & Sea Turtle Survival League

Join the Race

Meet the turtles – Check in at www.GreatTurtleRace.com after April 5, 2007, to meet the turtles of the Great Turtle Race!
Track the turtles – Watch the turtles move along their migratory path when the race begins on April 16, 2007 at www.GreatTurtleRace.com

Activities:

Be the Turtle
Like to write? Tell what it would feel like to be a leatherback turtle in danger of extinction.
Write a story using your own words and the words highlighted in blue found on this web page. Additional kids activities, words and definitions can be found at: Caribbean Conservation Corporation Sea Turtle Coloring and Activity Book

Picture Prompt
Find a picture with a leatherback turtle in it and tell your classmates what you think is happening in the picture.

Turtle Journal
Make a turtle shaped journal to write in and exchange leatherback turtle information with your classmates.

Homework
At home with your parents, brother or sister:
-Use modeling clay to make a model of a leatherback turtle to share with your class.
-Look up information about leatherback turtles on the Internet . Make a poster with the information you find.
-List and share ways to prevent the extinction of leatherback turtles. Try a graphic organizer for your ideas.
-On a piece of paper draw the route you think a leatherback turtle might take to get to its favorite beach.
-Imagine you were able to write a letter to a leatherback turtle. What would you say in the letter?
-Pretend you are a leatherback turtle and make up your own game that you would play in the ocean.

Innovation
-Invent a new device to help leatherback sea turtles survive in the oceans.
-Design something to prevent leatherback turtles from getting caught in fishing nets.

Vocabulary
If you were to write letter to help save the turtles, what would you write? Try using the words highlighted in blue found on this web page as part of your letter.

Matching Game
Make up your own matching game about leatherback turtles using words that you find on the Internet or in a book.

Turtle Guide
Create a guide to help people learn how to protect leatherback turtles.

Art
Create a leatherback turtle masterpiece for your school or classroom.
-Your drawing could include a leatherback turtle, its name, habitat and/or what it likes to eat.
-Remember-a picture is worth a thousand words. Sea Turtle Coloring Book

It’s all about numbers
Do you know how many leatherback turtles are left in the oceans? Make a chart, graph, a picture, or a timeline that illustrates how many turtles scientists estimate will be left in the ocean ten years from now if people did nothing to protect them.
-Do you know how many miles a leatherback turtle travels in its lifetime? Use your math skills to figure this one out and give your justification.

Indonesian Culture
Do you know why it’s important to understand other cultures and how people live? What does culture have to do with saving the leatherbacks? You can do research on the web, write about it or perhaps make a poster.

Geography
Where do leatherback turtles live? Draw a map showing where leatherback turtles live in the world.

Turtle Trading Cards
Make your own trading cards to share and exchange with you classmates. The cards should include at least one interesting fact about leatherback turtles.

Turtle Explorer Design Challenge

Wouldn’t it be cool to have a class mascot that will explore places that you may not be able to visit? It can be a stuffed animal or something else you create. You may need a name for your new Explorer who will help you learn about conservation. Your Explorer will need some kind of container to travel in so it can be sent to places to learn about leatherback turtles. The Explorer you create can be photographed with real leatherback turtles and scientists. The Explorer can be designed to collect autographs and information from people along the way, as well as information from locations that it is sent. You may also consider sending your Explorer to other schools, aquariums, a zoo, a park, environmental centers or other places you would like to learn more about. So…get started, designing, building and collecting items, pictures, signatures and important information about environmental conservation and other interesting facts about ecosystems around the world. You may want to do this as a class; it’s more fun. Here are a few tips for your design:

Your container should be waterproof.

It should be lightweight. Do you know why?

The container should have enough room to fit your Explorer and other items.

Include something about your school, a logo, school facts, etc.

Compose a letter from your class explaining this project and what you hope to achieve.