I am so fortunate to have another weekend at the beach! This time of year is always a crapshoot as to weather, but we have been blessed with AMAZING weather on the Oregon Coast.
We visited several beaches and took lots of pictures 🙂 I would love to bring students to these places and have them explore. For now, though, I will share pictures with some ideas of inclusion in the classroom.
Fossils – could we determine the age of the fossils? How do these compare to present day shells? What was the Earth like when these organisms lived? How did they become fossils? Are all shells locked in rocks fossils? Several of these questions could be used as jumping off points for learning.
Shells – What do you notice about the direction of the shell? What about color? Why do you think these differences exist? There have been evolutionary studies on cone shells. Consider spending time looking at those studies and bringing it into the classroom.
This foot-looking item. What is it? Can you tell what its function likely was without knowing the organism it was attached to? What is it similar to? I think this is actually a structure from a mollusk, but I need to look a little further. It looks so much like a tortoise foot!
I hope you enjoy the photos and find a little inspiration for your classroom.
Talking and Teaching Science 