Teachers
Mojave Max has a lot to teach your kids about native desert species and conservation!
We hope the following resources will help you continue spreading the message of Mojave Max in the classroom and beyond!
Assembly Presentations
The Mojave Max Education Program provides educational assemblies in the fall and winter months each year. The assemblies include appearances by a ‘Ranger’ who discusses desert tortoise biology and conservation, an educator who discusses Mojave Desert weather which plays an important part in Mojave Max’s emergence, and the costumed Mojave Max mascot. The assemblies are interactive and students are given an opportunity to answer ‘quiz’ questions to earn prizes!
Photos and videos will be taken during the assemblies and may be posted on Mojave Max’s social media accounts. Schools will be asked to ensure that students have a signed CCSD publicity form on file in the front office. For those students where you’re unable to get a signed publicity form, we’ll ask them to be seated on one side of the room to ensure their photos will not be taken.
The applications for the 2023-2024 Mojave Max Assemblies are now closed. Teachers who submitted a request for an assembly at their school will be notified of their application status via email. If your school was not selected for an assembly this year, you may also submit a request for a Tortoise Talk (spaces are limited, and the size of the group is typically under 40 students).
Tortoise Talks
Clark County School District teachers and youth and civic organizations may request “Tortoise Talk” presentations. Unlike the Mojave Max assemblies, individual Tortoise Talks are conducted year-round, and do not include an appearance by the costumed Mojave Max mascot. We will visit schools, clubs or civic organizations and give an approximately 45-minute lesson about the desert tortoise and its habitat, the Mojave Desert. The lesson also includes information about Mojave Desert weather, desert tortoise biology, and the importance of desert conservation. Tortoise Talks are best-suited for individual classes with a maximum audience of 40 students. The presentation is fun, interactive, curriculum-based, and appropriate for kids in grades K-5.
Mojave Max Emergence Contest
Beginning in late fall or early Winter each year, Clark County students and teachers can submit a guess as to when they think the real live Mojave Max tortoise will emerge from his burrow at Springs Preserve. The student who guesses closest to Max’s actual emergence time, without going over, will win a laptop computer, a Springs Preserve year-long family membership, an “America the Beautiful” year-long pass to National Parks and Federal Recreation areas and a backpack filled with outdoor goodies. The winner’s entire class will receive T-shirts and Olympic-style medals, as well as a field trip and pizza party at Springs Preserve. The teacher of the winning student will also receive a laptop computer.
The Mojave Max Emergence Contest is currently closed, and will reopen next fall. Opening of the emergence contest is announced on this website, and on Mojave Max’s social media.
Resources for students and teachers
Mojave Max believes in enjoying his desert home and he wants everyone to learn how to keep it safe, how to Respect it, Protect it, and Enjoy it. To do that, he and his friends have collected many fun resources that will help you get started exploring his world.