After settling in, we had to meet as a group for orientation and
ice-breakers. Now let me tell you, I was
completely on-board with the kids doing this…but I wasn’t planning to
participate in any way other than as official photographer. I can say that having to play games in the
hot sun on the concrete almost did me in.
I didn’t want to touch any of my body-parts to anyone else’s body-parts
when I was sweating profusely. Quite
frankly having to meet someone and touch your knee to their forehead just seems
a little sadistic. The kids however thought
it was a hoot.
After the horror that was getting-to-know-each-other we went
to Beach Ecology class. Each class
started with a classroom portion then we proceeded to a location (beach, marsh,
etc.) for the remainder of the class. In
Beach Ecology class we learned about the 5 different zones of the beach. Let me see if I can remember…
1.
Dunes
2.
Dune Meadows
3.
Berm
4.
Wrack Line
5.
Intercoastal
See, I learned A LOT on this trip. I hope the kids did too. We learned about what makes up each of the 5
zones and why they are important to the ecology of the beach. Then we boarded the bus to go see the zone
for ourselves.
Kids in the front, reluctant parents in the rear.
I can't figure out why we couldn't get in the water.
The instructors were quite simply amazing. As a former (paid) educator, I was constantly
impressed by the teaching techniques they used.
Every point was emphasized with multiple hands on activities.
"T" explains his model of the 5 beach zones to the group.
The instructors were always willing to answer questions....1000s of questions.
In-between classes there were plenty of things to do to keep busy.
After dinner there was a camp-fire presentation.
There were songs and skits and lots of opportunities for the kids to get involved.
The instructors sang a very silly song for us. They were really fun and talented.
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