Beach Field Trip

The other day, I accompanied our little girl's preschool class on a field trip to the beach.  We went at low tide with buckets and shovels to explore the tide pools.  As I'm sure you would expect, all the children loved this.
And, no offense to my land-locked friends out there, but it was definitely one of those times I was so glad to live near the sea.  Juneau is really an amazing place to live.  There are mountains just outside our front yard, and the ocean is just a few miles away.  Plus, we've got eagles, bears, salmon, whales, wolves, and even porcupines living with us in "our neighborhood".  That's just one reason that we've turned Alaskan.

This field trip also made me realize the amazing learning opportunities that we have for kids in our beautiful location.  Teaching has been on my brain a lot lately, because I'm taking an online course to keep my teacher's license current.  Recently, I used the beach field trip and sea life study as an answer for a paper.  As I was writing it, I thought back to my days at Oklahoma Christian University and the year I spent teaching in Edmond, OK. I was trying to remember if I had used or created a lesson plan about sea life or the beach.  The best I could come up with was a sample lesson good ole' Dr. Vincent gave us in our elementary science teacher's course.  As part of the lesson, he suggested bringing in some shells for students to explore and discover.  Shells!  That's it!?  I'm so thankful for the way Juneau kids are able to learn about this area of God's creation.  Another blessing to living in the Last Frontier.

 The day was great.  Not gloriously sunshiny, but it didn't rain on us.  In Juneau terms that's classified as a good day.  I took a BUNCH of pictures and used the natural beauty around us to practice some of my photography skills.  I even switched my lens to manual for a few shots which I really never do.  I know...daring of me.  I wouldn't say I'm "there" with my photography by any means, but I can tell I'm improving.  So that's good. 

Showing off a newly discovered sea urchin.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

What is it with boys, rocks, and water?  A combination that is almost always guaranteed to turn out a certain way.

Digging up a cockle (in the clam family)

The pose

It took much longer to get him to pose.  That's why there's not a pose of them together.

Ready for a snack

Posing with a new friend.

Mr. Crabby

She didn't actually find this herself--unless you count finding the ziplock bag labeled with another boy's name who was the one to actually put the crab in the bag and just became tired of toting it around.  If nothing else, it counts as being resourceful. :)

Then it was snack time...on the beach.  For some reason the idea of this was so exciting to our little girl.  It may have something to do with her love of picnics and the baskets they can be carried in.

Our little man was definitely ready to eat, but he didn't want any part of the group tarp/cloth.  So I convinced him to sit on an overturned bucket, set up a "safe" distance away.

Hope you're enjoying your spring and the beauty that surrounds you, where ever you may be.