5th Grade Sound to Sea Trip

   On our recent field trip to Sound to Sea in Salters Path we learned about the ecosystems that thrive between the sea (Atlantic Ocean) and the Sound.  One of the specific lessons was about sea turtles, how they come onshore and lay their eggs, how they are affected by fishermen’s nets, and how we can help create a safer space for them.  To show students how hard it was for the sea turtle to come up on the beach to lay their eggs, students crawled on their bellies on the beach.  Another activity showed how a sea turtle can’t use their flippers to remove nets that are twisted around them because they don’t have thumbs. They did this by wearing oven mitts while trying to remove a net from a sea turtle stuffed animal.      When talking about things that have been created to help sea turtles, students saw and climbed through a net that has a device that helps save sea turtles from being caught in fishermen’s nets.  
   Next, we learned about birds.  We learned about the Wright brothers and their invention and did activities showing students where the Wright brothers got their ideas . . . which is from birds.  Students learned about all the adaptations that owls and birds of prey have by putting on a person sized example of that adaptation, ie. goggles like an owl’s eyes, winds like an owl and like a hawk, etc.  Students used strainers and tweezers to learn how wild birds get their prey.  At the end of our visit we met one of the resident owls and the resident hawk, both of whom were rescued after run-ins with cars.  They sustained injuries that did not allow them to be released back in the wild.  
   The day zoomed by but lots of information was learned and it reinforced many of our science lessons at school.