Tuffy the turtle

what do you know about turtles the children in this class are learning many things about them with the help of Mrs Harris they can see that a turtle has a hard shell that protects its body when a turtle is bothered it will pull its head and legs into its shell turtles do not have teeth but a turtle's jaw Jaws have hard sharp edges which it uses for biting food when a turtle closes its eyes the bottom eyelid goes up the turtle has sharp claws which it uses for holding and tearing its food between this turtle's toes there are pieces of skin this is called webbing web toes are very useful they help a turtle swim web toes are often found on animals that spend much of their lives in water as this Turtle does other kinds of turtles live on land this Turtle like others that live in water can stay underwat for a long time but it still has to come up for air it breathes air just as you do now Mrs Harris is going to read a story about a turtle in the story animals will talk and think as we do of course we know they can't do this but it's fun to pretend here is the Story Once Upon A Time In A Quiet Pond there lived a turtle his name was Tuffy and he had a shell like other Turtles he didn't mind a shell when he was swimming but when he came out of the water his shell made him slow and clumsy and of course he had to carry his heavy shell with him everywhere he went sometimes the other animals made fun of him because he was so slow one day a plump frog croaked Let's Race to the water Tuffy but Tuffy knew the Frog was just teasing him he could never win a race with a frog then he saw his friend the snake let's play tag Tuffy the snake said you're it Catch Me If You Can tuy knew he could never catch the snake how he wished he didn't have to carry his heavy shell with him everywhere he went he wished he could be like his friend who was sitting up on the fence this little lizard he did have a shell how quickly he could move if only Tuffy could move that fast Tuffy felt so unhappy he decided to leave the pond and find a place where the other animals wouldn't make fun of him as he crawled away from the pond he met one of his relatives a snapping turtle tuy asked him do other animals make fun of you because you're slow oh no said the snapping turtle if animals made fun of me I'd snap at them with my hard sharp Jaws but Tuffy wasn't a snapping turtle he didn't want to snap at anyone as he crawled slowly along he saw his friend the snail where are you going Tuffy the snail asked away from here the other animals tease me because my shell makes me slow I have a shell and I'm slow but I don't mind said the snail it's good to have a shell good for what asked Tuffy if you don't know said the snail you'll find out but tuy was sure he would never find a good use for his shell so he went on his way soon he came to something he had never seen before even though it passed right by the pond it was a highway but puppy didn't know it he decided to see what lay on the other side the other animals in the pond nearby watched him go watch out called the little Li [Applause] it's dangerous there croaked the [Applause] Frog you're crossing the highway hissed the snake would Tuffy get safely to the other side the snail hoped he would at last Tuffy was across the Busy Highway and safe again as he stopped to rest a slow-moving caterpillar came by I'm very slow said Tuffy so am I said the caterpillar let's crawl together the caterpillar crawled and Tuffy was glad at last he had a friend without a shell who was just as slow as he was the caterpillar crawled up and over a large Rock Tuffy tried to follow him but his shell got in the way tuy wasn't hurt but it was so hard for him to turn over he was certain that a shell was of no use at all now while he was trying to turn over something was coming a dog just in time Tuffy turned himself over and saw that the dog was coming but what could Tuffy do he couldn't run away how could he protect himself tuy pulled himself into a shell and the dog couldn't hurt Tuffy at all all he was safe inside his hard shell oh this shell is too hard for me the dog growled and soon he gave up and went away my shell saved me thought tuy how lucky I am to have a hard shell now Tuffy wanted to tell all the animals of the pond how good it was to have a [Music] shell but would Tuffy have to crawl back over the dangerous Highway [Music] again Tuffy saw something that went under the highway it was a long pipe would this be a safe way to get back to the pond it seemed like it might so Tuffy crawled into the pipe it was dark inside but Tuffy was safe and in a little while he came out at the other end of the pipe and there was his pond again you can imagine how happy he was to be back as he tried to hurry back to the water he passed the snail the snail called down to him did you enjoy your trip no said Tuffy but I learned something a shell is a good thing to have it protects you I knew you'd find out laughed the snail a shell is very useful tuy crawled back to his pond and then called to the animals who lived there a shell is a good thing to have even though my shell makes me slow it protects me and from that day on Tuffy was glad to have a shell he was glad to be a turtle oh