From the Stars to the Sea to the Mud Pit:
Sixth-Graders Experience Barrier Island
By Paula Merwin, Grade 6 Reading Teacher

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Blessed with great weather, wonderful parent helpers who really involved themselves, and a setting that everyone could enjoy and learn from in one way or another, our annual sixth-grade trip to the Barrier Island Environmental Education Center was “all that it could be” this year.

Cates McLean couldn’t pick a favorite part as, “it was all sooo much fun!” but she did enjoy looking at the stars with Writing instructor Peggy Trowell, especially Saturn. “It was so peaceful and beautiful to look at,” she reflected.

Lots of people enjoyed climbing the ten-foot wall, a challenge for many individually and for every group who had to work together to reach the top.

Wallowing in the mud-pit is a perennial favorite for many, and certainly is a sensory experience to be remembered. What could be better than the feeling we had of being “covered in thick, black mud up to our necks, smelling worse than rotten eggs,” as Meaghan Carrigan described. Yum!

Several commented on the specimens found in the water while seining, and on the beach while walking, including a dead stingray and a couple of jellyfish. Jeb Helmers says the best part was the food. (We all participated enthusiastically in mealtimes.)

As the climax to a marine science unit and a series of related art and literature excerpts, Barrier Island helped us all appreciate this particular aspect of our natural world and to understand more about how we should take care of it.

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