Hooray! The turtle has survived over a week in the Herons and seems to be thriving. It has a hearty appetite (which we are recording data about) and the class has worked to create a lovely habitat (about which we are also recording data). In their spare time, the Herons are doing some lovely sketches of the turtle, too.
The turtle has yet to be named, in part due to the difficulty determining a juvenile turtle's sex. It does, however, has a surprisingly good personality. It comes out to greet anyone who is holding its food canister and it can move at great speed to get out of the bring lights of celebrity in the center of our morning meeting.
I will continue to weave a biology concepts into our work with the turtle. We're working on identifying abiotic and biotic factors that affect an ecosystem right now. We'll continue our work with food webs and a discussion of adaptations.
Many thanks to A.P., A.P., and K.S. for taking the lead on our turtle and fish habitats. They have lead the charge from petitioning the teacher to fundraising to doing the research to figure out what we need to buying what we need. Thanks, too, to their parents for supporting them in the class pet project.
P.S. Did I mention it's very photogenic?
The Rookery 
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