Raising Turtles in Our Classrooms

Did you know that the Blanding’s turtle is a threatened species in Massachusetts? Numbers are rapidly declining due to habitat loss. But there’s a lot we can do to make a difference. At North Shore Montessori School, our students are doing their part to raise awareness – and turtles!

NSMS is among a growing number of schools helping to head-start hatchlings. Together, we’ve partnered with the Parker River Blanding’s Turtles Conservation Project, Parker River Clean Water Association and Mass Wildlife to help protect this threatened species. 

But before we explain our program further, let’s talk turtles. In fact, let’s talk Blanding’s turtles. 

Blanding’s turtles are named for Dr. William Blanding (1773-1857), a Massachusetts physician and naturalist who studied this turtle species. These semi-aquatic freshwater turtles are declining in numbers due to the loss of vernal pools, marshes and slow-flowing wetlands. 

This is where our elementary students come in. As part of their Practical Life and Care of the Environment activities and jobs, the students feed the hatchlings and maintain their tanks. In addition, the students weigh, measure and record their growth.

During the past two school years, our elementary students have raised a total of 10 hatchlings – giving each hatchling an astonishingly high weight gain and growth. Naturalist Mark Irving, who volunteers for the Parker River Blanding’s Turtles Conservation Project, says that NSMS students have given some hatchlings the equivalent of five years’ growth in one school year!

The turtle conservation program fits well with our Montessori curriculum. Dr. Maria Montessori believed that children need to experience nature first-hand to deepen their appreciation for the world around them. In her book titled The Discovery of the Child, Dr. Montessori wrote: “When children come into contact with nature, they reveal their strengths.”

As they head-start Blanding’s turtles, our students reveal their strengths in language by reading books about turtles, responding to writing prompts, and researching other turtle species; reveal their strengths in math by weighing the hatchings in grams, measuring their carapace and plastron in millimeters using a caliper, and recording and then graphing data; and reveal their strengths as guardians of living things.  

As a new school year approaches at NSMS, we’re excited to meet the newest Blanding’s turtle hatchlings who will head-start in our Montessori classrooms. Our students will be their caregivers, and for that we’re grateful.