Diary of a Turtle 25 Reviews

4.6 Rating 224 Reviews

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Which kit components were the most impactful and why? The beach clean up - Students were shocked with the amount of rubbish we found.

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect?

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? They are more aware.

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? That will go to the ocean if you don't pick it up!

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? vape

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bag, Plastic Bottle, Plastic Bottle Top, Plastic Container, Plastic Straw, Plastic Wrapper, Plastic Cup

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“The students were fasinated watching the turtle we picked journey. So still are tracking.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? The clean up kit - stark realisation for children

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? 3 bags

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? More conscious about our amounts of rubbish

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? Can we adopt a turtle?

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? Shoes and socks

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bag, Plastic Bottle, Plastic Bottle Top, Plastic Container, Plastic Wrapper

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“The Diary of a Sea Turtle kit was highly engaging for our Year 3 learners. The activities were hands-on, fun, and sparked genuine curiosity about the world around them. The kit provided great opportunities to explore both global and local perspectives — from learning about endangered sea turtles and ocean conservation, to connecting with our own local marine environments. Tamariki were excited, motivated, and fully immersed in the learning, making this kit a fantastic addition to our science and literacy programme.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? The gloves and the rubbish bags. Also the cardboard turtle.

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? We filled all of the bags donated. They were sturdy and strong. The children had a sense of pride they were helping.

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? For this inquiry, we did lots of research (which was mostly teacher led) with the 5 year olds. As a school we haven't visited the beach this year, but once a term our whole school goes out into our community and we pick up every bit of rubbish that we can find and bring it back to school to dispose of carefully. We have talked about the impact of rubbish in the community that ends up in streams that go to the ocean and also the wind blowing plastic and all sorts of rubbish into the ocean, that then impact all sea life-often reducing their life span, let alone the slow death that happens with many of these sea animals.

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? "Plastic rubbish in the ocean." "Turtles die." "Save the turtles."

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? on this trip, it was just the usual types of rubbish found, nothing was really unusual. On a previous rubbish pick-up, some type of measuring tool was found, possibly used by a tradesperson.

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bag, Plastic Bottle, Plastic Bottle Top, Plastic Wrapper, Plastic Cup

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“This kit helped us to learn about the life cycle of a turtle. It encouraged us to be mindful about plastic polution that continues to grow world-wide. We also watched many youtube clips of plastic polution involving turtles, which made the 5 year olds more aware of the damage that gets done when people live in a throw away society and some people just don't seem to care when they do this. It was good for the children to be exposed to a bigger picture and to be encouraged to do the right thing.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Tracking the sea turtle - had a huge impact

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? Daily we collected rubbish for the majority of the term.

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Keeping plastic out of the ocean felt achievable. Especially when we put the gloves on. I feel that the gloves took away all “it’s not mine” comments.

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? Can we track Buddy?

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? It’s a school. I’m surprised if there isn’t rubbish in any spots.

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bottle, Plastic Bottle Top, Plastic Container, Plastic Straw, Plastic Wrapper

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“The School Kit has everything needed for the tamariki to make regular clean ups at school. To analyse the rubbish collected, and my class loved the tracking of the sea turtle. They still ask to track him half a term later. Thanks School Kit.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Online tracking if our turtle, this really made an impact on the kids. The text cards were great. I told them I had copied them off my phone. They were always asking if there had been a message from Hayden. These gave us lots of discussion and writing prompts.

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? Half a bag as we did this around school

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Children more conscious of what might happen to their rubbish. Many parents commented on how their child would be worried if they saw rubbish when out and about .

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? That will go down the drain and go into the sea and hurt Nugget.

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? Broken pair if toy binoculars

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bag, Plastic Wrapper

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“My tamariki loved checking out where there turtle had traveled and loved the 'texts' from Hayden. They really hooked into this and became concerned about the rubbish they saw that might hurt their turtle. Lots f discussion, writing and art was completed. A super activity that I wish I could have dedicated more time time.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Having their own gloves gave them a sense of importance and leadership

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect?

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? The students are aware of rubbish around them and are picking it up in their own time. Its been amazing to see how inspired they have become about keeping rubbish out of our oceans.

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? Miss Dugmore, I picked up rubbish I found at the beach so that the sea creatures dont get sick.

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? unfortunately, a vape at the playground :(

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bag, Plastic Bottle, Plastic Bottle Top, Plastic Container, Plastic Straw, Plastic Cup

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“My New entrant class loved the resources in this kit. We focused on ocean sustainability and they found so proud to have their own gloves. We did big clean ups at our school and also took the class to our town park to do the same. Students completed the turtal mural also. We learnt about what sea creatures need to survive and they now pick up any rubbish they find on the ground and educate others.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? The gloves were great for a school clean up. We couldn't get to the beach but our own environment need cleaning up

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect?

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Yes . They understand how if we don't pick up pour rubbish it could get on our waterways and in animals might try and eat it or get caught up on it.

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? We need to look after our world and the animals.

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? Plastic yoghurt lids

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bottle, Plastic Bottle Top, Plastic Container, Plastic Wrapper

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“My year 1 class enjoyed looking at the turtles being tracked and also the journal stories about turtles. We created some lovely turtle artwork too. It tied in beautifully with our inquiry on habitats.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Tracking the turtles and seeing how far they had travelled. It gave the students a real life marker of where the turtle was in the ocean in real time.

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? We actually didn't collect any rubbish as the weather did not co-operate. We had a lot of discussions and watched videos on the impact of rubbish on beaches. So they did a lot of learning around the rubbish aspect of the project. We are an enviro school so we discussed the amount of waste we produce as a school and the positive impact that also has on our environment.

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Definitely gave them core learning around environmental and sustainability issues. Even though my class are only juniors, I could still teach them important facts at thier level.

How high was student engagement throughout this kit?

Very Low

Neutral

Very High

What’s a sentence you heard in your classroom that would help us understand the type of learning that was taking place? Can we please check on 'Miso Speedy' today? Can we see how far she has gone? Tjey understood and remembered that the turtle would go back to the original beach she was born at to lay her own eggs. They wanted to see if she had travelled back yet.

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? ? I did a beach collection on the weekend with my family and shared the findings with my class.

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bottle, Plastic Wrapper, Plastic Cup

How well did this kit help your class build statistical thinking and numeracy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

How well did this kit help your class build literacy skills?

Helped a little

Somewhat helpful

Very helpful

Diary of a Turtle helped my students better understand the impact plastic waste can have on marine life. Agree

“My class has thoroughly enjoyed the Dairy of a Turtle kit last term. The children thrived on learning about sea turtles and some facts about the challenges that they face in 2025. The highlight of the kit was really checking on our turtle to see how far she had travelled and then summizing why she was in that particular spot? I would definitely recommend this kit to other teachers. The students definitely learnt alot about rubbish, recycling and the effects that trash has on our oceans.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago