5th grade curriculum
Lesson plans
Lesson #1: Salish Sea Stewardship
Lesson #3: Drayton Harbor Oysters
Lesson #5: Clam Identification
Worksheets
Lesson #1: Salish Sea Stewardship Worksheet
Lesson #2: Watersheds Worksheet
Lesson #3: Drayton Harbor Oysters Worksheet
Lesson #5: Clam Identification Worksheet
Welcome Teachers! Thank you for including Garden of the Salish Sea Curriculum into your classroom. You can download and print lesson plans, activities, and worksheets to the right. Below, you will find a teacher’s guide and a student notebook.
If you would like to have GSSC staff assist you with our curriculum or schedule a field investigation, please contact GSSC here.
If you are interested in using our curriculum independently, you may choose to download the individual chapters and exercises on the right per the needs of your classroom.
6th grade curriculum
NEW VIRTUAL LEssons here!
**Teacher note: these google drive documents are view only, but you can make a copy of them to use in your google classroom, download, or print them. Each folder contains a lesson that guides students through the materials as well as all the supporting documents to use in your google classroom.
Human Smokestack and the Carbon Cycle
Carbon is the basis for life on Earth and we interact with the carbon cycle every day. Using a simple demonstration with red cabbage indicator students begin to connect themselves with the carbon cycle and reflect on the balance of the natural system.
Curious about your impact on the carbon cycle? This lesson walks students through assessing their carbon footprint to find ways to lower their emissions based on their lifestyle.
A great way to begin to understand pH, and start to think about how ocean acidification affects ocean life, is to look at the pH of solutions you have at home!
Ocean Acidification & the Oyster Life Cycle
In this lesson students compare the chemical, biological, and local economic effects of ocean acidification through learning about oysters.
Lesson 5: A Tale of Two Cities
By designing two cities, carbon heavy and eco friendly, students reflect on what they have learned about ocean acidification and actions they can take to improve the health of the ecosystem.
IN CLASS & FIELD LESSONS
Welcome Teachers! Thank you for inviting Garden of the Salish Sea Curriculum into your classroom. If we are working in your school directly, find the complete set of materials that you will need below. Download and print.
The notebook is included in its entirety below, however, we have provided the option to print it in chapters below and in the column to the right.
Please print these materials:
Students will need to use our website to complete their science notebook. This can be done during computer or library time. Teachers are encouraged to choose from additional tie-in activities such as artwork, games and additional videos on this website, to enhance the materials.
If you are interested in using our curriculum independently, you may choose to download the lesson plans and exercises below per the needs of your classroom.
Lesson Plans
6th Grade Ocean Acidification Unit Curriculum
Student Notebook
The ABC’s of Ocean Acidification Extension
Other Resources
Field Lesson
7th grade curriculum
Bivalve Anatomy and Dissection Lesson Plan
Pre Dissection Curriculum
Lesson 1: Salish Sea Challenge
Show students the Salish Sea Challenge. This is a list of ways for them to work with their families and help keep the Salish Sea healthy.
Lesson 2: Clam Identification
Students study the outside of clams, learning to identify the exterior features and differentiate the bivalve species they will be working with.
Lesson 3: Clam Anatomy
Students will be shown a variety of closed clams that they will have seen from the clam ID activity. Then students will be shown diagrams that detail the anatomical features and functions of clams.
Lesson 4: Oyster Anatomy
Oysters are another type of bivalve, like a clam, but they live on the surface attached to rocks instead of underneath the mud.
Students will be shown a closed oyster, and then a diagram detailing the anatomical features and functions of oysters.
Dissection Lab
Students will watch clam and oyster dissection videos to learn how to properly carry out the dissection lab.
If this lesson is unaccompanied by a field trip, the students will do the dissection lab in the classroom.
If this lesson is taught during low tide seasons, the hope is that classes will take a field trip to Birch Bay State Park. At this location, students can partake in the direction lab at the Heron Center, and then explore the lush intertidal scene where they can recognize and identify the bivalves they have been working with.
Field Trip Activities
Activity 1: Intertidal Species
Students use a quadrat to estimate the percentage coverage of different organisms along the beach. This exercise will calculate the biodiversity of the beach or the variety of marine organisms they see.
Marine Organisms ID (GSSC will bring laminated copies)
Activity 2: Clam Survey
Students will identify organisms from their Clam Survey Field Sheets in ‘Sample Holes’ that are dug at different locations along the beach.
Post Curriculum Materials
IN CLASS & FIELD LESSONS
Welcome Teachers! Thank you for inviting Garden of the Salish Sea Curriculum into your classroom. If we are working in your school directly, find the complete set of materials that you will need below. Download and print.
Please print these materials:
The notebook is included in its entirety below, however, we have provided the option to print it in chapters below and in the column to the right.
Students will need to use our website to complete their science notebooks. This can be done during computer or library time. Teachers are encouraged to choose from additional tie-in activities such as artwork, games and additional videos on this website, to enhance the materials.
If you are interested in using our curriculum independently, you may choose to download the teacher’s guide below and the exercises detailed on this page per the needs of your classroom.
Student Notebook
8th grade curriculum
IN CLASS & FIELD LESSONS
Welcome Teachers! Thank you for inviting Garden of the Salish Sea Curriculum into your classroom. If we are working in your school directly, find the complete set of materials that you will need below. Download and print. Find the PowerPoints and videos for select exercises linked below.
Please print these materials:
Students will need to use our website to complete their science notebook. This can be done during computer or library time. Teachers are encouraged to choose from additional tie-in activities such as artwork, games and additional videos on this website, to enhance the materials.
If you are interested in using our curriculum independently, you may choose to download the individual lessons and exercises below per the needs of your classroom.
Lesson Plans
Lesson 6.2: Hazards to Marine Mammals
Student Materials
WQ and Macro-invertebrates Powerpoint (downloads file)
Other Resources
Documentaries to watch with the class include A Plastic Ocean (2016) and Lost and (Puget) Sound.
For more information about Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network check out their website here.
An Overview of Marine Mammal Rehab in the PNW by SR3’s Patrick Hutchins-Webinar presented by Western Washington University
NEW VIRTUAL LEssons here!
**Teacher note: these google drive documents are view only, but you can make a copy of them to use in your google classroom, download, or print them. Each folder contains a lesson that guides students through the materials as well as all the supporting documents to use in your google classroom.
Learning about how water moves through the system helps students understand how their everyday actions can impact on the health of their watershed. This simple model introduces them to some common pollution sources to prepare them to take the Salish Sea Challenge and practice new habits. While this model is extremely simple, it does a great job of showing students how the pollutants travel through the Salish Sea watershed.
In order to get a closer look to what is living in the water around us we first need to learn how to use microscopes! In this lesson we have compiled some online resources to teach the basics of microscopy.
Once students are familiar with the microscope we can use it to explore what is living in our water! This lesson takes a look at some of the aquatic organisms we can find in three different water bodies in the same watershed.
Water Quality & Macroinvertebrates
When studying water quality we can use not only water quality tests, but also what biological indicators live in the waterbody! This lesson takes a look at both water quality tests and the macroinvertebrates in Cain Creek to help students classify the health of the creek.
For the last lesson in the unit we take a look at the megafauna that live in the Salish Sea watershed and how some of the actions we take have impacts on these marine mammals.