For our last field trip of the year, we were fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to head to Town Neck Beach on Cape Cod to work with naturalists from Thornton Burgess. This field trip is always a favorite as we get to wade through the tide pools to find different sea creatures and then walk through the marshes and venture into a creek with a large net to discover some of the local wildlife.
Even though the weather was warm, the water was freezing! It was still pretty early in the season and we have not had enough warm weather to bring the water temperatures up. That didn’t stop us from venturing into the tide pools though. Everywhere we looked there were crabs! Some of the crabs were local but some were invasive species. We learned they most likely caught a ride on some of the freight ships that come from countries all over the world to bring shipments to the United States. While searching, we also found different shells, seaweed, and even some fish! We collected everything in bins so the naturalists could tell us all about what we had found.
Besides our time in the tide pools, we also got to walk through the marshes and the creek that runs through the beach. While there, we were able to learn all about the types of plants that grow in the marshes, how long they’ve been there for, how green head flies are trapped, and crab molt. We learned that crabs actually discard their old shells as they grow. They leave it behind and when the tides rise and then fall, all the crab shells are left behind. They were everywhere! We probably saw tens of thousands of crab shells in a five minute walk.
To finish off the day, we got to go out to lunch at a restaurant called Surf’s Up! It’s a special treat for the sixth grade every year because it’s our last year at this school. The food was absolutely delicious. The buffalo chicken and bbq pulled pork nachos were the most recommended foods and they were so good! It was a great day of learning and eating and a perfect way to finish off our last field trip here!
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