S.C. Guide to: Each One Teach One This is a great student centered activity. I use it as a pre-teaching tool before taking students into the salt marsh or on the beach. It can also be adapted as a virtual field trip For extra authentic learning, provide signposts with a sample of the item being taught at their station (seashell, crab claw, etc.) Two adults are required in this activity. Adult #1 will stay with the group of students, preferably in a comfortable area. This adult may read a book to the group or lead a group discussion. Adult #2 will train each student (one at a time) to be an expert on one species or item found in the salt marsh. *Determine a Learning Trail ahead of time, with about 14 places for signposts.
Each One Teach One: Procedures 1. Adult #1 stays with group, sending one student to adult #2 every two minutes. (you may want to leave a timer with one of the students). 2. The first student goes with adult #2 to the first designated spot along a predetermined trail. The student is taught all about the species on the first card. This child is now Signpost #1, is an expert on this subject and will teach all the others who visit this post. *Signposts do not move, their function is to convey information. 3. After two minutes, the next child is sent to signpost #1. Student #1 will teach student #2 all about their species, with teacher #1 close by for support. 4. After two more minutes, student #3 is sent to signpost #1 to learn from student #1. Teacher #2 moves with student #2 to the next spot on the trail and trains this student to become signpost #2. 5. The rotation continues, with each consecutive student becoming the next signpost. Teacher #2 always stays with the newest signpost through his first teaching, then moves on to train the next student. 6. When the last student is sent to signpost #1, teacher #1 accompanies him through the trail. After signpost #1 teaches this last student, he begins his way down the trail, with each consecutive signpost doing the same. In this manner, all students will have the opportunity to teach, and be taught by, all of their classmates. 7. The activity concludes with the students and teachers at the end of the trail. At this point, the teachers host a Q & A session addressing any further questions about the information just shared.
Each One Teach One - Marsh Print information cards on heavy paper; laminate. Fourteen cards are provided. For larger classes, you may chose to pair students up at each signpost. Adapt and enjoy!
South Carolina Coast South Carolina ranks 40 th in physical size, and is in the top fifteen for biodiversity of plants and animals. South Carolina s coastline is about 185 mi (298 km) long. The Coastal Zone extends some 10 mi (16 km) inland which includes land and water. South Carolina has more salt marshes (over 1,351 square kilometers, 334,000 acres) than any other state along the Atlantic coast.
Tides Tides are caused by the moon s gravitational pull on the earth s ocean. Our rich salt marshes thrive where huge volumes of salt and fresh water mingle. Every 12 hours, billions of gallons of seawater rush in through a web of estuaries to fill the marshes, then rush out again, taking along nutrients for sea life. High tide line is easy to see on a barrier island look for the wrack line, the dead spartina left behind. As the tide goes back out, look for tide pools low areas that collect water and a variety of living things. We have two high & low tides each day, with an average range of 6-8 feet.
Plankton Satellites equipped with color scanners measure the concentration of chlorophyll in the ocean from space. Plankton are collected with sampling bottles or special nets. Plankton are wanderers. Their name comes from a Greek word meaning that which drifts. The term describes a wide variety of species, both plant and animal, that drift on ocean currents and range in size from single-cell organisms to huge jellyfish. The vast majority are either microscopic or barely visible to the naked eye. Billions of these tiny creatures form the base of the ocean s food chain and produce as much as 80 percent of the free oxygen in the atmosphere. They are crucial to life both in the sea and on land.
Blue Crab Like other members of the Decapods order, it has five pairs of legs. The first pair is a set of powerful claws, and the last is flattened into a paddlelike shape for swimming. It s scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, means beautiful swimmer. A male blue crab is called a Jimmy, an immature female blue crab is called a Sally, and a mature female blue crab is called a Sook. A female blue crab can lays as much as two million eggs at a time.
Oysters Oysters belong to the bivalve or two-shell family. They live with one shell permanently attached to hard substance (substrate). Pearls of edible oysters have no value.
Rough Sea Squirt Also known as sea squirts and sea grapes. Larva looks like tadpoles, with a spinal cord (notochord) and gill slits. They undergo metamorphosis and reabsorb these features, becoming a blob-like creature. Sea squirts are closely related to human because they have a notochord during early development.
Fiddler Crab If they lose their large claw, the smaller one grows large to replace it. A small one grows on the other side. They come out of their burrows at low tide to feast on detritus. Reduced gills allow them to extract oxygen from air when kept wet.
Shrimp Life Cycle Edible shrimp found on the South Carolina coast include white, pink, brown and rock shrimp. Inedible shrimp include the Snapping shrimp (listen for them at night in the salt marsh), mantis, and skeleton shrimp.
Diamondback Terrapin The only turtle that lives exclusively in brackish waters. You can tell the age of a terrapin by the growth rings on their scutes. Look for them in the wrack piles and in intertidal creeks.
Smooth Cordgrass Spartina alterniflora The root mats of marsh grass hold the marsh together. Live spartina gives marsh animals protection (cover) and food. Dead spartina becomes detritus (food) and wrack (protection), and is considered more valuable than living.
Glasswort Some say it got its name from the sound it makes when you walk on it (breaking glass). Early settlers cooked and pickled it. Glasswort can tolerate total immersion in salt water. Is also know as pickleweed.
Marsh Periwinkle Periwinkle snails crawl up and down the spartina stem with the tides. If you place the operculum on your throat and hum, the snail will come out. Favorite food of the blue crab.
Yaupon Holly Only the female trees produce the red berries. This tree can tolerate droughts and salt spray. Provides cover and nesting place for many marsh birds. Makes a nice tree or shrub for landscaping.
Great Blue Heron Eats fish, shrimp, frogs, salamanders, insects and snakes. Has wing span of 7 feet. The great blue heron, one of the largest birds in North America, can grow to a height of 4 feet. It is often seen standing motionless in the shallows of marsh ponds or tidal creeks. It waits in this elegant pose for prey to swim near, and then it strikes with a lightning-quick thrust of its long neck and spearlike bill. Look for it in flight with its neck folded and its long legs trailing behind.
Each One Teach One - Beach Print information cards on heavy paper; laminate. Thirteen cards are provided. For larger classes, you may chose to pair students up at each signpost. Adapt and enjoy!
South Carolina Coast The coast includes estuaries, semi-enclosed bodies of water, such as harbors, bays, inlets, and sounds. The coast includes wetlands, areas of gradual transition where land meets water, such as swamps, freshwater and saltwater marshes, tidal mud flats, and lagoons. The coast also includes beaches, barrier islands, and maritime forests.
Sabal Palmetto Amazing Facts: Is South Carolina s state tree. Commonly known as the Cabbage Palmetto. Is a branchless evergreen. The fruit of the palmetto is a favorite food to many birds and raccoons. The crisscross patterns on trunk are old leaf-stems called boots. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/acechar/specgal/palmetto.htm http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1019.htm
Lettered Olive Snail Amazing Facts: Is South Carolina s state shell. Is a carnivore and preys on bivalves such as clams, cockles, and mussels. Captures prey with foot and takes them below the sand surface to digest. Colonists and Native Americans made jewelry from the shells.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle Amazing Facts: Is South Carolina s state reptile. Loggerhead means block of wood + head. Feed on jellyfish and sponges. Loggerhead s brain is the size of a walnut. Classified as a threatened species. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/seaturtle/cc.htm
Ghost Crab MORE Amazing Facts: Ghost crabs have reduced gills, which allow them to extract oxygen from the air as long as they are kept wet. Look for them above the high tide line on sandy beaches. Ghost crabs are predators of sea turtle hatchlings.
Dolphin Mammals, not fish. Members of the toothed whale family. Dolphins use echolocation. They communicate with a series of clicks and whistles. Very intelligent - good at imitating, memorizing, and solving problems.
Sea Oats Survives high temperatures, drought, sea water, salt spray, strong winds, storms & periodic fires. Grows up to 6 feet high Seeds are spread by wind. Huge root system holds sand dune together.
Moon Snail It drills holes in prey and sucks out the meat. Eats clams, small fish, and even other moon snails! Egg case looks like a sand collar.
Cabbagehead Jelly Has no tentacles around its bell. Eight arms join together to form a tube-like mouth. Is a favorite snack for sea turtles. Eats small fish and crustaceans. Grows up to one foot. Correctly called Sea Jelly not FISH.
Sea Cucumber Sea cucumbers use their tube feet more for attachment than locomotion. The ten to thirty modified tube feet that form tentacles around the mouth can be completely retracted. Sea cucumbers breathe with two respiratory trees on either side of their digestive tract.
Sand Dollar They are reddish-brown to purple when alive. Live on sandy bottoms, burrow for protection. Food is moved by rows of tube-feet into mouth, called an Aristotle s lantern. Is the favorite food for flounders.
Horseshoe Crab Tail was used by Native Americans as a spear tip. Uses tail for rudder and turn itself over. Two compound eyes and nine simple eyes. They can swim upsidedown. Their blue blood contains copper. Their blood is know to help speed up the clotting of human blood.
Manatee Critically endangered, the West Indian manatee was hunted for its meat in the 19 th century, but today most are killed by boat propellers. This docile and sluggish seagoing mammal can attain a length of more than 10 feet and weigh over a ton, which makes its nickname, sea cow, seem very appropriate. Manatees are herbivores and will eat almost any marine vegetation, although they usually dine on the smooth cordgrass that is prevalent in the salt marshes. Can be found in fresh, brackish, or salt water. Can eat about 100 lbs of vegetation daily. Can stay underwater for as long as 20 minutes, but average breath interval is 2-3 minutes. Continuously lose their teeth but can grow more.