Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - Day #2

It's hard to believe we've only been here 1 day and a half!

The morning dawned bright, sunny, and nearly cloudless. Breakfast choices included scrambled eggs, bacon, and home fries, as well as fresh fruit, cinnamon coffee cake or bagels/cream cheese, or cold cereal, plus milk or hot chocolate/ juice.
Each meal starts with six fifth graders (3 from the upstairs dining hall and 3 from downstairs) volunteers introducing themselves, with everyone responding "HI...(name)!" Then, he/she gives a "positive share", saying something upbeat about their activities here or about their personal interests. Finally, they get to fill in the blank to a silly statement, such as, "If I could fill the lake with anything other than water, I'd fill it with..." (pudding, whipped cream, carael were typical of their answers!) Before serving begins, an NC staff member gives some words of wisdom such as "You can't always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you get what you need!"

At 9:30 we boarded 3 school buses for the 15 minute drive to beautiful Chapin Beach in Dennis, where the tide was WAY out and the tidal pools were ripe for exploring...and trying out all those waterproof boots that were bought just for this week! Though it was a little cooler by the ocean, it was still a comfortable temperature for looking under rocks and on the rippled sand ridges to find a variety of marine treaures, including:
moon snails, periwinkles, barnacles (which live and grow permanently on whatever they attach to), Asia shore crabs (an invasive species that eats native varieties of crab), clams, oyster shells, hermit crabs, snail egg jelly, squid eggs enmeshed in "deadman'sfingers" (an invasive variety of seaweed that looks a lot like thin dredlocks; it floats so that the eggs that wash ashore during high tide might not survive), long, sharp razor clams, and Lady crabs (one of two crab types that have paddles for swimming, rather than only crawling ).

Also, two halves of a scallop shell opened and closed while being gently held in one student's hand, while another watched in amazement as a crab in a shallow tidal pool molted right before her eyes!

"Hey, guys, I found a crab...OW!" (pinched!)
"Let's look underneath THIS rock!"
"So lobsters are crustaceans?"
"Who knew nature could be so beautiful?"

and then I overheard, "I've already emptied my boots twice. Now I feel like a mermaid wearing jeans! But I'm happy; I had fun..!"