Spanish Lesson: Conocemos a la tortuga
Lesson Plan
45 minutesGrades3Spanish
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Written by Lorissa Clark, Sustainable Jersey for Schools
About this lesson
Students learn facts about turtles and talk about sea turtles in Mexico and New Jersey.
Inquire: Students watch a video to learn facts about turtles, complete a worksheet, and play vocabulary games.
Investigate: Students sort turtles by habitat, talk about climates in New Jersey and Mexico, and identify sea turtles that live in both places.
Inspire: Students make a turtle finger puppet and use the puppet to share what they learned.
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Everything you need to teach it
How to edit these materials (video)Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson can be taught after a unit on animals or body parts or as part of a unit on science or the environment.
- This unit highlights the importance of turtles in our environment, including turtles that can be found in New Jersey, while connecting students to a target-language culture.
- Teachers should use as many cognates as possible to provide students with comprehensible input.
- Teacher can use the photos of turtles at the end of the Teacher Slideshow for further practice with identifying body parts and basic descriptions.
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 1 of 3 in our 3rd grade Spanish Unit: La tortuga marina.
- Students should be familiar with vocabulary related to colors and size.
- Students need scissors for the sorting activity in the Investigate section and the turtle puppet activity in the Inspire section. Teacher can pre-cut and laminate the turtles for the sorting activity for future use.
- Teachers can familiarize themselves more with turtles found in New Jersey on the Save Coastal Wildlife website and the Department of NJ website.
Differentiation
- More advanced students can complete the sorting activity in the Investigate section independently.
- When showing the videos, teachers can use subtitles in English or Spanish to help students with comprehension.
- Teachers can provide more scaffolding by introducing the vocabulary prior to this lesson.
From the scientist review
Esta lección permite a los estudiantes aprender sobre las tortugas marinas, las condiciones climáticas y los hábitats que podrían vivir y maneras de cuidarlas. También compararían las estrategias locales adoptadas para preservarlos en New Jersey y México. Después de revisar la lección, determinamos que pasó nuestras evaluaciones de credibilidad en la ciencia.
This lesson allows students to learn about sea turtles, the climate conditions, and the habitats they live in New Jersey and Mexico. After reviewing the lesson, we determined that it passed our credibility assessments in science.
This lesson allows students to learn about sea turtles, the climate conditions, and the habitats they live in New Jersey and Mexico. After reviewing the lesson, we determined that it passed our credibility assessments in science.
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About the teacher writers
Lorissa Clark
Lorissa Clark holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from The College of New Jersey and a Master of Arts in English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education from the American College of Education. She has been teaching since 2006 and has 20 years of experience teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language to students in grades K–12. Lorissa holds K–12 teaching certifications in Spanish and English as a Second Language and has extensive experience designing curriculum, integrating technology into instruction, and supporting educators through professional development.
Sustainable Jersey for Schools
Sustainable Jersey is a network and movement of municipalities, schools and school districts working collectively to bring about a sustainable New Jersey. Acting with state agencies, non-profit organizations, foundations, academia and industry, Sustainable Jersey researches best practices for what communities could and should do to contribute to a sustainable future.
