The Tenth Good Thing About Bowser
Bowser
Our turtle Bowser died last Saturday. We are very sad. My teacher said we should think of ten good things about Bowser so we can remember him always…
In this blog entry, I want you to write about Bowser and all the good things that you remember about him.
Mrs. E. He was a wonderful teacher and a brother to Yertle. You all took wonderful care of him and he taught us so much about Blanding’s turtles. When I came in to school each morning, I would always go over first to check on the turtles and each morning, they would greet me. Bowser was a real explorer, he loved to hang out on the rocks and investigate what was going on in the classroom. In the early morning hours, he and Yertle would spend a lot of time pushing around the rocks. I am happy that we had Bowser as a part of our class for almost six months. I’m not sure what would have happened to him if he was not in the head-start program. Even though he is not in our class physically, he will always live on in our hearts.
Posted on February 28, 2011, in Uncategorized and tagged Blanding's turtles. Bookmark the permalink. 31 Comments.
Mrs. Erickson's Class Blanding's Turtles Blog 
I am so sorry about Bowser’s death.
It was a very sad shock to me to learn that he was not recovering from anesthesia. So far, the veterinarians at the Aquarium and at Zoo New England have done laparoscopy surgeries on 92 Blanding’s turtles to find out whether they are males or females. Bowser is the first turtle that had a severe reaction to the surgery let alone to the first one to have died as the result.
To me, Bowser also teaches us the sad lesson that we, in the end, have no real control over the events in the lives of these turtles. They are, after all, wild animals, and after your wonderful care, the turtles will be on their own for, hopefully, many years to come. We can intervene a bit in their lives as you have all done so skillfully and wonderfully in the case of Bowser and Yertle. Hopefully, we can learn from Bowser and from all our turtles to be better caretakers. This year, Bowser has been the only turtle among our 54 headstarted turtles to die during his time with us. Last year, we lost 5 of the 41 babies that we took into headstarting.
Hopefully the veterinarians can learn to be even safer with their anesthesia and care of the turtles during the laparoscopies just as we have learned to somewhat more successful at raising the young turtles. But there are no guarantees in this business of reaching out and caring for individuals of other species.
Although we now know very clearly that using laparoscopies can be a risk to the health and lives of the hatchling Blanding’s turtles, I still believe that not knowing their gender is an even bigger risk to the whole intention of our efforts to help this population of threatened turtles to recover their previous numbers. Think of how badly off we would have been had we kept raising only male turtles as we did the first two years of our headstarting! It might have felt good to let all those turtles go int he spring but 18 years or so later we’d be wondering why we could only find male Blanding’s turtles. So, we will, for now, go on with the laparoscopies – there are still 22 turtles that have not yet had their laparoscopies this year.
I am, again, very sorry about the loss of any Blanding’s turtle in the care of this program that I run. I was especially sorry to learn that it was Bowser because I am very aware of the truly special efforts that you have all made in caring for your turtles and in learning more about the whole process of wildlife conservation.
I am vey grateful to Mrs. Erickson and to your whole class for your fantastic efforts. May your continued work on behalf of Blanding’s turtles be Bowser’s best memorial.
yours,
Bryan Windmiller
Thank you for caring so much about Bowser!!
It was really shocking that Boser passed away from the anestasia. When I heard the news, I was about to cry, but I chose not to beacause I didn’t want other people seeing me like that. It was VERY shocking news. I’m sure everyone will miss him an awful lot. At least I know that I will. Most of the time durring DPC we used Bowser to be taped, for imovies, and a lot of other things as well, he was very helpful, and useful to us. We used to feed him every single day, he ate a lot of pellets.His favorite was the big pellets. We used to use them in experimints, and alot more. He was such a loveable turtle. He was playful. He and Yertle would always restle, and climb on top of each other. He was very important. We all cared about him and we still do. Everyone loved him for who he was. The other kids in the class loved his name because he was named after Bowser in Mario Cart. I call him Bowser the second. Bowser is so adorable. Everyday, I would walk over to his and Yertle’s tank and admire him because he was very adorable. Bowser is very special. He would always get his favorite pellets, the big pellets. He is also kind of a famous turtle because we made him famous, because we told everyone about him, and we basically told everyone that we know. And we took many pictures of him and Yertle. He is a teacher. He taught us many things through out the year. He taght us his habitat, and what they eat, he taught us many many things through out the school year. I wasn’t there for the beginning of the year. But I just know that he was a great teacher to my new classmates. Bowswer was funny. Bowser was funny because when I looked at the tank, every once and awhile, he would be restling and be on top of Yertle. Bowser is swurmmy. Bowser is squrmmy because, when EC7 and I were video taping him and Yertle, he would always run away from the camera. And squrm like crazy. Bowser was adoring. Bowser was adoring because he was very very cute, and I would always look in the tank and admire him, i adored him very much. We all adored him. We will all miss Bowser very much. I know I will. I miss him already. I’m so sad. I never knew this shocking news would come. If I were Yertle, I’d be heart broken.
10 good things about Bowser
1. He was very good to Yertle. (Well, if you leave out the word tackling.)
2. He was very healthy and ate lots of pellets every day.
3. He always behaved after his “time outs.”
4. He was very brave (and so was Yertle) when we used them in our movies for DPC.
5. He was funny. One of the examples of him being funny is when he always got stuck in the back of the tank.
6. He looks very, very good in the pictures that we took of him.
7. He was interesting to watch for a while.
8. He was always happy and loved to get attention.
9. I was always so happy to feed him in the mornings because he does not like the soggy pellets and that was amusing to me.
10. He was a really good turtle to have around.
I am sorry that I did not write that much but it was really sad to think about him.
I can totally relate to the “really sad to think about him” part.
I do miss Bowser very much. He was always interested in what was going on in the classroom, like he wanted to learn what we were learning. He was curious and courageous and he was always looking for something to play with. Even though he sometimes got a little violent with Yertle, I hope that he knows that his turtle time-outs were only for his and Yertle’s own good. Bowser was always Mr. Tough Guy because he was always the one who ended up on Yertle. I think that if he ever lived to see all of his siblings, they would all look up to him as a super hero, big, tough, courageous. Bowser had more than 1,000 good things about him.
He always had his own personality that he showed.
He was always curious about the classroom and us.
He was always active and fun with Yertle.
I could keep going on and on but I just want to keep it short and sincere. When we get another turtle, he/she will never be like Bowser. He will always be with us even if he is not right there in the tank with Yertle, but he will always be in out hearts and out thoughts.
Bowser was a tough turtle, always wrestling with his brother, Yertle, until Yertle got his revenge when he became bigger. He was very playful, chasing after Yertle and playing hide and seek (Yertle didn’t like it as much as Bowser). Even though Bowser was mean to Yertle sometimes, I think Yertle will miss Bowser. Bowser would always eat a ton of pellets each day and he started eating the bigger pellets before Yertle did. He was brave and able to stand up to the pencil sharpener turtle. Bowser didn’t seem to mind “turtle torture” that much. Bowser taught us a lot about Blanding’s turtles and was a big help with DPC by giving us a lot of data. Bowser and Yertle both taught us that Blanding’s turtles have very different opinions about things and different personalities. Even in his death Bowser taught us that Blanding’s turtles can have things like allergies. I know our class will miss him because Bowser was part of our learning and a great pet.
Dear Mrs. E,
Very sad and shocking news is that Bowser, our beloved Blanding’s turtle is now dead. Bowser was an amazing Blanding’s turtle. He taught us everything he knew about himself. Bowser was also a very funny turtle. I remember when I used to laugh about Bowser when he chased Yertle around. I always got very excited when I was turtles team because I looked forward to feeding Bowser (and Yertle). He always I am very upset about Bowser’s death. We put a lot of hard work into making him bigger and healthier. I hope that we get Bowser’s sibling because he/she might have some of Bowser and Yertle’s unique personality traits. Bowser was also very useful during DPC. He was growing very well. Bowser was also very lucky cooperated when we did turtle experiments on him. I think that we will never be able to find a replacement Blanding’s turtle for Bowser because he was very unique. I think that Yertle is thinking the same thing because a great sibling. I hope that this does not happen to future Blanding’s turtles. Even though he passed away in the wild he never would have survived. Hopefully Yertle will survive in the wild!
Sincerely, ec17
Top ten things about Bowser
1) He was a wonderful teacher to us
2) Would be ready for experiments
3) He was a turtle would always like to explore
4) Bowser was a brave turtle
5) Always knew no matter what that he always had a smile on his face
6) Had a great personality
7) Was like a celebrity always ready to get paparazzi
8) Wouldn’t give me a hard time trying to give him food
9) He was a very funny turtle
10) Bowser was the closest friend that is a turtle that I have ever had
Bowser was a great classroom friend ever. He would not only make me laugh, he would also make me smile. I cared about Bowser very much. And even though he is dead I know that he was a great turtle and he will always be in my heart. So I wrote a poem dedicated to Bowser:
Became strong friend in my heart
Outstanding turtle
Was a perfect teacher to us
Stood out from others environmental
Environmental teacher
Reliable to me
Bowser was a great friend
Again I am very upset about Bowser crying but he will always be in my heart.
I meant to say ” Again I am very upset about Bowser dying but he will always be in my heart.” Sorry!
The top ten things about Bowser:
1. He was the best Blanding’s turtle ever (not trying to offend you, Yertle)
2. He taught me so much about everything
3. He was really brave – anyone who can stand up to Turtle Torture Team and a blue turtle pencil sharpener can earn the title Mr. Brave
4. He was a really good Blanding’s turtle friend
5. I loved seeing him on the videos on the blog – he was always entertaining
6. He was the spotlight for a lot of things – iMovies, Room 305B Blanding’s Turtle Blog movies, Podcasts, Voki’s, Get Out Of Your Shell (the movie and the magazine)
7. He provided so much data and story ideas and things to use on the magazine
8. He always made himself so adorable – even when he had to get his “Turtle Time-Outs”
9. He was great to Yertle
10. He was a very likable Blanding’s turtle
It was very sad to me when I heard the news that he had died. I will always keep him in my heart. I know everyone else will, too.
Bowser was a very, very, VERY likable Blanding’s turtle and I will always remember him.
When I heard Bowser had died, I was like “what?” I really wasn’t going to believe Bowser, the awesome turtle, was gone forever. But somewhere, I sort of believed it. So now, I am writing this piece as a tribute to Bowser’s memory.(Sound the horns!)
10 reasons Bowser was AWESOME
1. He would have got into the TWA (turtle wrestling association) if there was one.
2. He was super energetic and was climbing and crawling all over everything in the tank (including Yertle)
3. He would eat the big pellets Yertle didn’t like. He probably would have LOVED worms if had tried them.
4. The experiments were no obstacle for Bowser. He didn’t seem too bothered by them.
5. He was the “class clown”. It was funny to pick him up and watch him go into his shell or to see him chase Yertle until he got stuck behind the heater. That sure ended the chase quick.
6. He was a teacher. He taught us about Blanding’s turtle habitats, what they eat, how they act, and how they survive.
7. He was fun to watch. He was right behind me and I would watch him all the time. I wish I could watch him goof around and wrestle Yertle for even just a few minutes.
8. He was like a little actor or something. He always posed for the photos that were taken of him.
9. His personality was so unique. I bet no other turtle was anything like him.
10. He was like a classmate. He had recess wrestling with Yertle, snack/lunch in the morning, and he always seemed to be paying attention like a good student (except during “recess”)
So, to summarize things up, he ROCKED. And he still does. Even though he has died, he STILL rocks, as a memory, but he is a memory I will hold for a long time.
I liked how you put emotions in your response. It really gives me good memories about Bowser. Good Job! 🙂
I couldn’t believe Bower died. He taught us a lot. He was also was a like a friend. He chased Yertle around. He had the coolest name ever. These are just three things that make Bowser Bowser. I could believe Bowser died because of the surgery. There was a 1/74%chance of him getting a reaction. It was very sad that the turtle to die was him. This kind of like when my grandma died. You get a strong reaction to it but over time it sinks in and feels like normal. But the difference is you don’t feel sadder it’s just you don’t get that extra happiness you before had. I don’t think Bowser should have died because of the odds. But I suppose that the odds say that 1 out of 74 turtles will die. And today that one was Bowser.
Bowser was a true friend a teacher and a brother. He was adventurous, fun and outgoing. The bravest turtle in the tank, he discovered aliens in the tank and frightened them off. He was so amazing that I wrote a poem about him
Brave Boy
Outstanding friend
Wonderful teacher
Scratching Yertle
Excellent turtle
Race with Yertle
I hope you like it Bowser Best. Luck in heaven or the afterlife EC22
WE will all miiss bowser very much in our class room but he will live in our heart.
Bowser
Teacher to us all
Friend, played with us everyday
Brother, sibling to Yertle
Student, learned from us (how to behave)
Bowser, a great turtle to us all.
Bowser
Big brother
Outstanding turtle
Wonderful teacher
Sibling to Yertle
Enlightened us
Rough, but a gentle heart
I will miss Bowser because I liked him for always going on top of Yertle and there is many good things about Bowser like:
he was an interesting turtle
he was fun to watch
he swam around a lot
he is amusing to me
he is a funny turtle
he was a good brother to Yertle
he was brave
he was a great teacher
he was strong
the tenth good thing about Bowser is he was smart.
Everybody is sad about Bowser’s death including Yertle. Today I saw Yertle sticking his head up out of the water looking around Bowser staying like that for like five minutes then put his head down in the water and he looked sad he misses Bowser to.
It is stunning news Bowser died, My opinion they snouldn’t even do the operation because when they are 8 years old you can tell the gender without operating.Bowser was a very helpful turtle becuse we use him in imovies for our portfolio.He always was the bigger turtle until Yertle broke the record.His favrote pellets were the big one’s.He is also special because he in named after Bowser in NEW SUPER MARIO BROS.He would always hang out around the filters.I bet Yertle will miss him to because they always used too chase each other.He was the one with the longer tail.It also looked like he used to make the filters his fort and protect it from Yertle.He also liked to jump on Yertle.The tenth good thing about Bowser is that he was a very good turtle to have in class.
I miss Bowser very much. I was shocked by the news about his death. I liked having Bowser in our classroom. Here are a few good things about Bowser:-
1. He was a great explorer.
2. He was very active.
3. He didn’t us give to much trouble.
4. He taught many things about Blanding’s turtles and himself.
5. He ate a good amount of pellets. So we weren’t worried about his health too much.
6. He was very funny because he always wrestled with Yertle.
7. The experiments were not a shock to him so he didn’t get restless.
I am very sad about his death, but he will always remain in our hearts.
1.Bowser was a great teacher to us
2.He was a good brother to Yertle
3.He liked to wrestle with Yertle
4.He was good for doing experiments for dpc
5.He ate a lot and weighed a lot
6.He liked Yertles rides on his back
7.Bowser liked to chase Yertle around the tank
8.Bowser was interested in the turtle pencil sharpener
9.He liked wrestling for the purple rock
10.Bowser was a very good turtle to us all
I sure do agree with number 10 good job EC3!:)
Dear Room 305,
I am so sorry Bowser died. He was truly an amazing turtle. Your reflections made me feel like I knew him, and his unique personality. To be truthful, I never really thought of turtles as having personalities, so you have taught me a lot.
More than anything I want to thank you for your important scientific and environmental work. You are helping an endangered species, and you are educating people about the environment. What a wonderful legacy for Bowser.
At the high school, in the very busy library, I cried a little bit when I read Mrs. Erickson’s blog. I am sorry that your classroom, and Yertle, have lost Bowser, but am very thankful to have gotten to know this special turtle through your blog.
Keep up your wonderful and important work,
Mrs. Cicchetti
You may not be in our class but that doesn’t matter. Thanks so much for caring about Bowser. BD
I’m going to miss Bowser a lot. I never thought one of our turtles would die though. I thought he was really the star of attention (although Yertle was the only other turtle) here are ten things about Bowser to make him (and sometimes Yertle) the star(s) of attention;
1. Mrs.E made blogs about the turtles wrestling. But who knows maybe Yowser will wrestle Yertle too.
1. It seemed that Bowser would grow to be a very big turtle. So we were always looking how much he weighed each week and how many pellets he ate.
2. When ever Bowser and Yertle got in a fight everyone would get out of their seats and watch them.
3. Almost our whole class seemed to like him better than Yertle.
4. He always used to be climbing on rocks and other things that were in the tank so a lot of people liked to see where he was every day or what he was exploring.
5. When someone saw one of the turtle go somewhewre cool or climb on top of something they always thought it was Bowser because he was a curious turtle.
6. If it was indoor recess a lot of people would draw one of the turtles and put the correct turtle name next to it.
7. Another way to prove he was curious is he would always stare you in the eye if you were looking at him.
8. I liked how if he saw colorful things (like colored erasers) he would just swim against the glass eager to check it out and see what it was.
9. At the beginning of the year he and Yertle would swim against the wall and try to get out of the tank. that drew a lot of attention.
10. He taught us many lessons and was the center of attention because of his great personality.
I will always remember him and be a part of my life forever.
Since Bowser died I wrote this Haiku poem
A Blanding’s turtle
Yertle’s favorite brother
Was a good turtle
We are all sad Bowser died but now we should hope that the new turtle we get is as great as Bowser was. I bet Yertle is also very sad Bowser died. ☹
Here are ten reasons why Bowser was great.
1. He was funny because he jumped on Yertle.
2. He was brave because he went near the blue plastic turtle.
3. When the turtles wrestled it grew lots of attention.
4. He could be in a wrestling match.
5. He taught us many lessons.
6. He was strong because he could hold up Yertle and eventually Yertle was bigger then him.
7. He pushed himself.
8. He was incredibly fit.
9. He is the only turtle I know that had a personality.
10. He was the most wonderful turtle
Good luck in turtle heaven!
Ten good things about Bowser.
1. He was fun to do experiments with.
2. Bowser made it easy to tell him and Yertle apart by nipping off the end of Yertle’s tail.
3. Bowser taught us that turtle brothers are a lot like human brothers.
4. He made excitement in the tank by play fighting with Yertle and asking for turtle back rides.
5. Bowser made our feeding data and weight data interesting.
6. He had the mind of a turtle that lives in the wild.
7. Bowser made some very funny videos for our blog.
8. Without Bowser none of my “torture techniques” a.k.a. experiments would have been fun.
9. There are so many good things to say about Bowser 🙂 I’m not sure which one to pick, but, without him the classroom doesn’t seem complete, even Yertle feels it.
Dear Mrs. Erickson
Bowser was a good turtle. I’m sure we will miss him a lot.
I am sure Yertle will miss him too. It was very sad to hear that Bowser had passed away.
I hope our new turtle isn’t a lot like Bowser.
Here is a poem dedicated to Bowser.
Beautiful Blanding’s turtle
Outstanding turtle
Was very awesome and like able
Super turtle
Epic eater
Ravenous
THE TENTH GOOD THING ABOUT BOWSER
Dear Ms. Erickson, I was really shocked when I heard the news about Bowser so I am going to wright ten good things about Bowser.
Ten good things about bowser.
1. HE WAS GOOD AT YERTLE RIDING.
2. HE WAS A GOOD TEACHER TO US.
3. HE WAS A LONG LIVING BLANDING’S TURTLE. (COMPERING TO THE BLANDING’S TURTLES LIVING IN THE WILD.)
4. HE WAS A HEALTHY TURTLE.
5. HE WAS A GOOD WRETLEING TEACHER TO YERTLE.
6. HE WAS THE ONLY TURTLE WHO LIKED THE BIG PELLETS.(IN OUR CLASS)
7. HE ATE A LOT.
8. HE NEVER GOT HIS TAIL SNIPPED OFF A LITTLE. (NOT LIKE YERTLE.)
9. HE WAS GOOD FOR EXPERIMENTS.
10.HE WAS A AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME(X10) TURTLE.
I think that Bowser was a great turtle in his day and he was close in all of are hearts. His unique name, unbeated wrestling record and amazing appetite made him stand out from the rest . When the turtle torture team ran tests on him, he did not mind. He helped us to prove many things and help publicize the threats that Blandings turtles . As far as turtles go he was the greatest that I have ever known. Best wishes to Bowser