Sea Turtles

 Our Adventure began with the class heading to the Beach on Key Biscayne.  We went to the nature center and listened to a presentation on turtles, then went out into the bright sun to find our own nest.

 Panama led us down to the water where they had previously buried "eggs" and created nests for us to explore.  They marked each nest with a post and divided us into teams.

There were a few kite boarders out too.  It was the perfect day for learning.

 Scout brought her friend Eva along.

The guy in the brown shirt looked like Panama's twin! 

 He works at the nature center with the turtle rescue.  They aren't even related!!

 Each group of kids started digging while the moms took pictures.

We were digging up the "eggs".  Each ping pong ball was numbered. 

 We had to spread them out, putting the male eggs in one pile and the female in another.  The turtles get their gender based on temperature. So the eggs on top of the nest where its warmer are girls and the eggs on the bottom are boys.

 There's about a hundred eggs in each nest.

 When all the eggs were found, our teacher, Alexandra, read off numbers.  Each group found the number and brought it up to her basket.  She read the demise of the poor turtle.  Some were carried off by raccoons, some drown in the ocean, others were eaten by sharks.

 Each egg came up one by one, representing another baby turtle that didn't survive. 
In the end, there was just one egg out of 100 that made it to maturity. 

This was a great hands on lesson, and Scout remembers every detail.  I often hear her teaching other friends about it.