Friday, April 29, 2016

Turtle or Tortoise? Reading Comprehension + Art


My boys have both been fans of the Wild Kratts cartoon. It seems to ignite not only a fascination with animals, but a curiosity too - at least it has for my sons. 


Because of this and a love of art, I thought my son would enjoy this activity.

To gain some knowledge, I read him a great book about the differences (and similarities) between turtles and tortoises. Trisha Speed Shaskan's book contains simple explanations and beautiful illustrations that captivated our interest with the turn of each page.



When we were finished, I asked him if he wanted to make a turtle or tortoise. He answered the latter, so we traced a big bowl onto half of a piece of brown card stock.



We added feet and a head, and then some paper shapes in a contrasting color, laid out like a mosaic to form the pattern on our tortoises' shell. Lastly, we glued a googly eye on.

Now it was time to test his reading comprehension. 


I gave him a worksheet that I designed and asked him to cut out the slips of paper at the bottom and put each of the characteristics under the proper reptile. He got them all right!


Download the free Turtle vs. Tortoise PDF I made here.

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