Teacher Edition

TurtlesinTrouble

Written by Sara Oldfield

alphakids

The Alphakids Plus teachereditions support teachers as theyguide children’s reading andthinking during one or more guidedreading sessions. Teachers canobserve children as they read andchoose from the given suggestionsto suit individual needs.

Before readingSetting the context, front coverand title page:The suggestions help teachers to set the scene and prepare childrenfor reading the book. Prompts helpto determine children’s priorknowledge. Where necessary,background information isprovided. Teachers are encouragedto check that children understandthe vocabulary listed and to discussthe meanings and/or the structuresof these words. Previousexperiences with similar text typesmay also be discussed.

During readingPredict, Read, Reflect:Questions encourage children toengage with the text by makingpredictions. They then read asection of the text and reflect onwhat they have read. The focus ison the content, language and textfeatures of the book.

Observe and support:Prompts help teachers to focus onthe strategies children use as theyread. Teachers can then select fromand adapt the suggestions accordingto the needs of the individual child.The suggestions aim to develop achild’s reading abilities.Interruptions to the child’s readingshould be minimal.

After readingA selection of reading and writingactivities:The last pages of the teacher editionprovide follow-up activities andinclude the assessment focus.

HORWITZ GARDNER

LIMITED

168e High StreetEgham, SurreyTW20 9HPUnited Kingdom

Published edition © Eleanor Curtain Publishing 2004Text © Kerrie ShanahanPhotographs © Eleanor Curtain Publishing

First published 2004

Apart from any fair dealing forthe purposes of study, research,criticism or review, aspermitted under the CopyrightAct of Australia, no part of thisbook may be reproduced byany process, or transmitted inany form, without permissionof the copyright owner. Where copies of part or the whole ofthis book are made under PartVB of the Copyright Act, thelaw requires that records ofsuch copying be kept and thecopyright owner is entitled toclaim payment.

Developed by Eleanor Curtain PublishingDesigned by Alexander StittProduction by Publishing Solutions

Printed in China

ISBN 0 7253 3291 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 904 05 06

How to use this book

Selected text features Vocabulary• This book is an explanation of the

habits and needs of sea turtles andwhy they are endangered

• It is written in the first person fromthe point of view of a marine parkranger

ashore, destroy, diseases, endangered,littering, marine reptiles, movements,ocean, pollution, protect, ranger,reflecting, souvenirs, strangled, tag,threats

TurtlesinTrouble

Written by Sara Oldfield

alphakids Turtlesin

Trouble

Written by Sara Oldfield

alphakids

Setting the contextPrepare a KWL chart prior to the reading session.

Ask the children to tell you what they know about sea turtles. Record their ideas onthe chart. Ask the children to think of questions they still have about sea turtles.Record these in the second column of the chart.

Front cover What type of book do you think this willbe? What do you think it will be about?

Title pageWhat is this book called? Who is the author?

KWhat we know about seaturtles

WWhat we want to knowabout sea turtles

LWhat we learned aboutsea turtles by reading thebook

2

Turtles in Trouble Pages 2–5

PredictHow do you think this book will start? What might the first sentence be? What will we discover about turtles?

Read to the end of page 5.

ReflectWhat is Simone’s job?What does Simone think about sea turtles? How do you know this? What did she tell us about sea turtles?

Observe and supportCan the child use information in the photographsand text to understand new vocabulary?What do you think ‘marine reptile’ means? Can you see anything on the page that might helpyou work it out?

3

My name is Simone and I am a rangerat a marine park.

I work with other rangers. It is our jobto look after the sea turtles that maketheir nests and lay eggs on the beach.

There are not many sea turtlesleft in the world. They areendangered animals.

32

Sea turtles have smooth bodies and big flippers to help themswim through the water. They have a hard shell to protecttheir bodies.

They eat seaweed, fish, jellyfish and other small sea animals.Sea turtles are reptiles that live in thesea. They are called marine reptiles.

54

4

Turtles in Trouble Pages 6–9

PredictLook at the pictures on pages 6 to 9. What can you see? What information about turtles will be included on thesepages?

Read to the end of page 9.

ReflectWhere do sea turtles lay their eggs? How many eggs can a sea turtle lay when it has made a nest? What are the baby turtles like? How do they make theirway to the water?

Observe and supportCan the child interpret what the author might mean?What do baby turtles do when they hatch? Do you think all baby sea turtles reach the oceansafely? Why?

5

76

When a female turtle comes up onto the beach, she digs a nest in the sand with her flippers.

Sea turtles live most of their lives in the ocean,but female turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.

When the turtle has finished laying her eggs, she covers the eggs with sand, then drags herselfslowly back into the sea.

Then she lays lots of eggs. Some sea turtles lay eggsabout the size of table tennis balls. Other sea turtleslay eggs as big as billiard balls. Each time a femaleturtle makes a nest, she lays up to 200 eggs.

The eggs incubate in the sand andhatch about six weeks later.

It takes the baby turtles about twodays to climb through the sand andout of the nest. They usually climbout of the nest at night.

The baby turtles run down the beach.They cannot see well but they are attracted to light.They find the sea by looking for moonlightreflecting off the water.

8 9

6

Turtles in Trouble Pages 10–13

PredictWhat do you think the rangers are doing with the turtles?Why? How might they go about it?

Read to the end of page 13.

ReflectWhat does ‘tagging’ mean? How do you know?Why is it important to collect information about seaturtles?What equipment do the rangers use to collect thisinformation?

Observe and supportAsk a child to read aloud to you while the others arereading silently. Can the child read the text fluently?I liked the way that sounded when you read it. It made it easy for me to understand.

7

11

The other rangers and Icollect the baby sea turtlesbefore they reach the water.

We count them, weigh themand tag them.

Then we release them intothe sea.

tag

10

No one knows very much about the lives of sea turtles.

The tags help us to collect information about theirmovements. When turtles come ashore we can tell ifthey have been here before.

We also tag, weigh andmeasure the adult turtlesthat come ashore.

The turtles are very heavyand we are careful not tohurt them.

Tagging, weighing and measuringturtles helps us to find out whereand when the turtles nest.

12 13

8

Turtles in Trouble Pages 14–17

PredictWhat does ‘endangered’ mean?Why do you think sea turtles are endangered?Who looks after the endangered turtles?

Read to the end of page 17.

ReflectWhy do the turtles need to be protected when they come ashore? What are the dangers that turtles face?How does this make you feel? Why?

Observe and supportDoes the child cross check all information sources onthe page (visual, structural, textual) to support theirreading?If the child makes an error, say: Try that again andthink about what would make sense. What wouldsound right or look right?

9

14

Female turtles return to a beach near where theyhatched to make their nests and lay their eggs.Sometimes they swim up to three thousand kilometresto get there.

But there are not many beaches where turtles feel safe to nest.

Noise, bright lights and people scare away nesting turtles.

Sometimes people destroy turtle nests or take the eggs.

15

17

People kill turtles for theirmeat, their shells and theirleather.

Turtles are accidentallycaught in fishing nets or hitby boats.

They are also strangled byfishing nets that are left inthe water.

We need to look after nesting turtles and their eggs becausesea turtles are endangered.

Many turtles are killed every year. The biggest threats toturtles come from people.

16

10

Turtles in Trouble Pages 18–20

PredictWhat can we do to help protect sea turtles?

Read to the end of page 20.

ReflectIs pollution a serious threat to sea turtles? Why?What information is provided on page 20?Who is telling us about sea turtles?Would it make a difference if someone else gave us thisinformation? Why?

Observe and supportDoes the child understand the purpose of the text?How does this information help us to understand thelives of sea turtles?

11

19

Turtles can be killed byrubbish in the ocean.

They eat plastic bagsbecause they look likejellyfish. The plastic bagsget caught in their stomachsand the turtles die.

Pollution in the water cancause serious diseases.

18

Here are some things that everyone can do to helpprotect the sea turtles:

• We can stop littering. Litter may end up in the seawhere it can kill turtles and other sea animals.

• We can be careful on beaches where turtles nest.Noise and lights and dogs disturb turtles.

• We can make sure we don’t buy food or souvenirsmade from turtle meat, turtle leather or turtle shell.

20

After reading

12

Being a meaning makerEncourage the children to supporttheir answers with evidence fromthe book as they discuss thesequestions:What do sea turtles do when theyare ready to lay their eggs?What dangers do sea turtles face?What does ‘endangered’ mean?Why are sea turtles endangered?

Being a code breakerChildren may like to explore thefollowing language features:• using contextual information tounderstand unfamiliar vocabulary,e.g. marine, flippers, tags,endangered, strangled• the blend ‘fl’: flap, flippers,reflecting

Being a text userWhat kind of book is this?You may like to return to the chartdrawn up earlier. Ask the childrento consider the ideas listed.Do you still agree with all of theseideas? Which do you want tochange?Which questions did this bookanswer?What have we learned from readingthis book?Where can we learn more aboutsea turtles?

Being a text criticThe author of the book is SaraOldfield and the person speaking inthe book is Simone the ranger.What do you think this means? Whowrote the book? Why does the bookstart, ‘I am Simone’?

Responding to text

Children could make a Plus,Minus and Interesting chart

about the information in the book.

This could be used as the focus fora discussion about the issuesrelated to endangered plants andanimals.

Discuss the issues that arisein this book with the

children. Children could then writeslogans telling people how to helpsave sea turtles.

Children could read throughthis and other books to build

a list of words with the blend ‘fl’,e.g. flippers, flap, reflecting.

Writing linksShared writingInvestigate other points of viewabout sea turtles. Make a list ofpeople who may have a differentopinion from the ranger, e.g.fishermen, beach goers or shopowners who sell turtle products.Write about sea turtles from thepoint of view of one of these people.

Independent writingChildren could work in cooperativepairs to make a poster about how tolook after sea turtles.

P M I

Possible assessment focus

Can the child:• explain what kind of book ‘Turtles in Trouble’ is and why it was written?• explain that the text was written in the first person from the point of

view of the ranger, Simone?

whole text activity sentence activity word activity

TurtlesinTrouble

Written by Sara Oldfield

alphakids TeacherEdition

Topic: Sea turtlesCurriculum link: Science, SOSEText type: ExplanationReading level: 23Word count: 605Vocabulary: ashore, destroy, diseases, endangered,littering, marine reptiles, movements, ocean,pollution, protect, ranger, reflecting, souvenirs,strangled, tag, threats

Possible literacy focusExploring the features of an explanatory text.Exploring the voice and point of view of a text.

SummaryThis book is written from the point of view of aranger in a marine park. It explains the habits andneeds of sea turtles and why they are endangered.

alphakids

Otherbooksat thislevel

ISBN 0- 7253- 3291- 3

9 780725 332914

The RunawayNose

Written by Christopher Stitt

Illustrated by Alex Stitt

alphakids

Good toEatWritten by Jenny Feely Illustrations by Alex Stitt

alphakids

Great Big ElephantsWritten by Rosa Müller alphakidss

The

RareBirdRetold by Clare Bradford

Illustrated by Naomi Lewis

alphakids

Making an Animated

CartoonWritten and illustrated by Alex Stitt Photography by Michael Curtain

alphakids