Tide Pool Friends
**Grade PreK** Meet different Puget Sound seashore animals during this interactive pre-K class. Through discussion, movement and song, students will learn fun facts about the animals and their habitat while reviewing colors and numbers. Explore even more during the free-choice activity time that includes a live animal station, magnet board and puppet play, a reading and puzzle corner, and a letter-matching activity. This introductory marine science program is perfect for preschools, Head Start classes, day care centers and other groups of young children.
Explore Pacific Northwest Tidepools
**Grades K-2** Get up close with live tide pool animals. Through the use of puppets, live animals and observation, students will learn how these animals survive in their ever-changing habitat and how simple actions can help protect them. Learn about invertebrates like hermit crabs, sea urchins and snails, and discover how they have adapted to survive in the intertidal zone.
The Great Salmon Journey
**Grades K-2** Learn about the life cycle of one of our region’s most iconic animals: the salmon! With the use of interactive storyboards and learner-driven activities, students will explore salmon from egg to adult and discuss the many different factors that affect these amazing fish. Students will become invested in the journey of the salmon through role-playing and discover just how difficult it is to make the great salmon journey.
Puget Sound Plankton Lab
**Grades 3-5** Discover the most abundant organisms in Puget Sound: plankton! Students will learn about the role plankton plays in providing food for all animals as the base of the marine food web. Students will be guided through a plankton exploration, learning about phytoplankton and zooplankton through living examples that they collect themselves from the water beneath the Seattle Aquarium’s pier. By the end of the class, students will have the opportunity to explore a plankton sample of their own using a real microscope.
Orca Discovery
**Grades 3-5** What do you have in common with an orca? Discover the connections we share by comparing the life cycle and physical structure of orcas to humans while building a life-size whale skeleton. Instructors will lead students in a discussion of how our actions can both negatively and positively affect these amazing animals.
Sea Otter Conservation Research
**Grades 6-12** Find out what it takes to conduct research on wild sea otter populations. Students will learn how to collect data, ask research questions, and plan and carry out investigative work. The conservation work undertaken on the outer coast of Washington state by Seattle Aquarium Senior Conservation Manager Dr. Shawn Larson and her team will serve as an example.