We are so grateful for today's field trip! The Marine Science Institute provided us with an exciting educational experience showing our students how to be marine biologist studying in the field! We got to use oceanographic equipment such as a beach seine and mud grab. We had fun identifying and analyzing the live specimen we caught in the nets!
I couldn't help but take photos throughout this very special experience, and I'm excited to share our adventure with you!!
Our instructor started off by introducing us to the San Francisco Bay Estuary. We learned that the water is "brackish" and that the bay only has one way in. The estuary is a shallow area which provides a nursery for baby sea animals.
Our program consisted of 4 different learning stations, including fish, sharks, plankton and invertebrates!
1. FISH - we experienced a brief beach activity where students worked together to deploy a 50 foot net/beach seine, and pulled it across oyster shell beach. The fish that we caught were collected, observed and discussed in their classroom. Our instructor explained adaptations, habitat and diet.
2. SHARKS! The Marine Science Institute have their own leopard sharks! We were able to observe the live sharks in their aquarium and learn a lot about them.
3. PLANKTON- Students worked together using a plankton net to gather samples of plankton from the dock. We took our samples to the lab for microscopic analysis.
4. INVERTEBRATES- Our students were able to touch and study invertebrates, deploying a Peterson benthic grab to gather bottom sediment samples. We got to "touch the bottom of the bay"!
This was a very exciting field trip considering we got to be scientists for a day!
Field trips are a crucial part of our curriculum here at St. Stephen Lutheran School. Most importantly, these are opportunities for us to live out our faith, being ambassadors for Christ! I am looking forward to more educational adventures this year!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me, admin@ssls.org with any questions! Thanks for visiting our blog!