On Friday, March 1st, Louise Vance and I (Holly Robinson) drove to Hardy Elementary School in Smithfield, Virginia to “talk turtles” to 82 kindergartners!! It was a great adventure and a very successful day.
The children were so excited and enthusiastic…and clearly had prior turtle lessons. As we read “One Tiny Turtle” to them, they were answering questions and showing real awareness to the threats to turtles from plastic bags and garbage on the beach and in the water. They listened closely and followed the journey of one tiny turtle with great interest. Some of the children had been to the Outer Banks and were very excited to learn there were sea turtle nests in the summer.
Holly and Louise are a big hit with the enthusiastic students at Hardy Elementary!
Louise showed them the loggerhead carapace and a skull that had been found in Cape Hatteras and they were fascinated. We answered many questions and know we found some new sea turtle advocates.
In art class the students paint tote bags of environmental concerns…one of which is our endangered sea turtles. At their school spring fair they sell these bags and donate the money raised to N.E.S.T.
We thank the teachers of Hardy Elementary School for their support of N.E.S.T. and their desire to educate these young minds about our beautiful sea turtles.
