Diary of a Turtle 25 Reviews

4.6 Rating 224 Reviews

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Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Loved the turtle moving around the classroom

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? 5 part bags

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Absolutely they still find rubbish and talk about how picking it up saves turtles

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? the rubbish looks like a jellyfish so the turtle eats it and gets sick

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? lots of bags of dog poop

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? 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

“We had a great time with Diary of a Turtle and were thrilled to be on Breakfast TV for our beach clean up. The children were so engaged with our turtle and it's progress across the ocean. They loved to see where she was each day and were so engaged with the messages from the sea cleaner's crew.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Having the gloves for rubbish cleanup. The turtle visuals.

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? approx 6 full bags

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? My students are much more conscious of the environment, some will actively pick up rubbish when they see it and without being asked. Others understand why they need to if asked to pick it up. They all understand that rubbish outside a rubbish bin is not good and are on their way to developing their tidy kiwi selves.

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? I wish I had known this question was coming, I might have been conscious about remembering! There is often discussion when we see rubbish and we hear students saying to each other "we can't leave that in the environment."

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? A spatula and a bicycle wheel!

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

“We used Diary of a Turtle with Year 2-3 students. Our school is nowhere near the ocean. However, it provided an opportunity to engage our students in topics such as the water cycle, ocean life and environmental issues that can cross from the land to the sea. Our students loved following our turtle Pebbles, and this is something we have continued to do since wrapping up the program. We got out into our local community and were amazed at the amount of rubbish we collected. This provided time for parents to also engage in the topic work and get involved with doing some good in the community.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Rubbish bags and gloves

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? 2 full ones in one session - TBC using the other bags

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Tamariki being engaged in noticing rubbish around our school, offering to do clean ups/jobs to protect our area and learning processes

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? "I wonder where our turtle is now and why..."

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? Pens mostly!

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

“We used the School Kit alongside an inquiry into our local awa. We really enjoyed the learning around drains and ways we, as a school, can clean up from our school. The tamariki also really enjoyed the turtle tracking!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? The messages from the sea rangers and tracking the turtles. My class loved this and would tell anyone who came into our class what we were up too. It was very engaging learning.

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 can talk about how we need to pick up rubbish so it does not get into the ocean.

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 check on Moana?" (name of the turtle we tracked) - we had a high level of engagement with checking in on our turtle each day and seeing where she had travelled too.

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? A shoe

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

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 was a highly successful learning opportunity for my class of Year 0 and 1 students. This term we were exploring different habitats and we used the kit while learning about the moana. The class loved the video from the sea rangers. We made a display where we put the up different messages each day and tracked the distance that our turtle had traveled. We also watched videos about turtles, acted out their life cycle and talked about the impact of rubbish on turtles. We used this learning to build up our oral language, and for our writing. Lastly we took a trip down to a local walkway and spent some time picking up rubbish. Back at class we sorted the rubbish.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Display items because the children enjoyed reading./looking at them on the wall.

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect?

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Has made the children think about picking up rubbish when they see it around our kura

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? "straws and plastic cups should be banned"

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? Plastic gloves

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? Plastic Bottle, Plastic Bottle Top, 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 children in my class really enjoyed learning about Turtles and they impact the environment is having on them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? The gloves and rubbish bags as they loved picking up the rubbish and making a difference.

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? One

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? Much more aware of the need to be put rubbish in the right place.

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? Pick up that plastic or it might go into the sea and hurt a turtle.

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? Socks

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

“Children loved looking at the different turtles and all picked one to write about. They loved the postcards from the sea cleaners and the big puzzle pieces of the turtle that they coloured in and put together. They did a cleanup along the road from our school to the river and lived the special gloves and bags. It was great how this integrated with maths with sorting and counting all the different pieces of rubbish. This kit has made the children very much more aware of picking up rubbish in our school ground so it doesn’t blow into the river and affect our sea life.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? Bags and Gloves

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect?

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? We have started a Rubbish Rangers Club. It runs every week at lunchtime and we use the gloves (they wash up so well) every week

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? I cant believe we get to look after a turtle

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? Nothing unusual

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? 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

“Kids loved the turtle tracking (they believed it). The gloves and bags were provided were excellent.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Which kit components were the most impactful and why? The "real" turtle to follow

How many bags of rubbish did your class collect? 3 bags per class - 9 bags in total

How has this kit impacted your class culture toward whenua ora (land wellness) and sustainability? They are always on the lookout for rubbish to pick up to prevent

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? "Where is Lil Mango now?" "What do you think Lil Mango is doing?"

What was the most unusual piece of rubbish found? random pieces of material/cloth

Which of the following types of plastic waste did your class collect? 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 term, our educational framework was built entirely around the provided Ocean Ecosystem Kit, centering on the theme of marine conservation. The results in student engagement and deep, cross-curricular learning were exceptional. The central activity of "picking the turtle" to adopt immediately established a high level of personal investment and motivation among the students. This personal connection served as a sustained inspiration point, driving enthusiasm throughout the term. We frequently overheard students discussing the welfare and journey of their chosen turtle, demonstrating deep cognitive engagement well beyond structured class time. The kit proved to be an outstanding foundation for integrated learning. In literacy, the adopted turtle inspired compelling writing projects, including rich narrative accounts and powerful persuasive pieces advocating for environmental change. Furthermore, the practical task of rubbish collection provided the basis for a comprehensive statistical investigation. This activity led to insightful student-driven observations about environmental impact, directly linking to and enriching our social studies curriculum. The unit extended into Technology and Engineering disciplines. The urgency of marine pollution, highlighted by the statistical investigation, led students to brainstorm and design practical solutions. They engaged in hands-on challenges to create prototypes of devices intended to prevent water pollution or actively clean up polluted oceanic areas. This design challenge required them to apply digital literacy, material science concepts, and iterative design thinking, bridging the environmental focus with concrete technological application. This framework provided a highly effective, real-world context for all our learning objectives. The students were highly motivated, and the kit successfully facilitated meaningful connections across multiple learning areas.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago