They have stamina too - turtles can hold their breath for a long time. Some turtles can hold their breath for up to 10 hours. This is because they have a special adaptation that allows them to slow down their metabolism and conserve oxygen.
If those two fun facts aren't enough they will love discovering that turtles don't give up easily. They can swim long distances. Some turtles, such as the green sea turtle, can swim over 1,000 miles in a single journey. These turtles use their flippers to swim and can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour.
Turtle have power, flexibility, stamina and persistence - everything your students need to practice for writing too! Daily pattern, fluency or handwriting practice not only supports the overall writing program you teach (students learning to write), but it will help:
- Develop Fine Motor Skills for other areas: practicing for writing requires the use of small muscles in the hands and fingers, essential for many other everyday activities.
- Enhance Cognitive Skills: writing encourages children to think critically, organize their thoughts, and express themselves effectively, all of which contribute to cognitive development.
- Promote Creativity and Imagination: as they draw and write, encourage them to verbalize, talk about what the patterns look like or describe the movements. They can build on these ideas for writing words, a sentence or story eventually.
Here is a page of line practice for your students to complete - in a writing journal or as a background for a turtle craft or art project.
You can have your children make a turtle craft using this page from the Pond Coloring Club - it's available to Premium Club members. They will
- trace
- color or paint
- cut and glue to make their turtle
While turtles are often known for their slow pace, you can remind students in their daily writing practice that they are actually quite strong creatures. They have powerful jaws and claws that they use to crush food - and so they will too develop a strong pencil (or crayon) grip for writing.
If you'd like more page ideas for developing pre-writing and handwriting movements and skills follow along on my Youtube channel.