At Island Beach the children learned about the animals and plants that live on the land and in the sea. Read what Lamar Jones of 307 wrote about sharks.

Sharks were on Earth before the dinosaurs. Sharks come in different colors and shapes. Sharks can smell blood from half a mile away. Shark teeth grow back in one day. Some sharks lay eggs below the water. Some sharks have live babies. Some sharks wrap their eggs around plants. Sharks eat everything. They eat meat and plants. Sharks bite surfboards. People kill sharks because they are afraid. There are not many sharks left in the ocean.

James Adams, Lavon Simons, and Lamar Jones learn about shark teeth.

Jamal Rogers of 205 learned an important lesson about plants.

We saw poison ivy. We learned the colors of it which are green and burgundy. The poison Ivy grows berries. No animals can get sick or can catch poison ivy because that is some of their food.

Tyreek Dorsey of 201 learned how to recognize it.

This lady named Ms Schuster taught a lot about plants, like if a plant has three leaves and sometimes red berries, it is poison ivy.

He also learned some geography.

When I went to Island Beach, I learned a lot of new things that I did not know. Like I did not know that Island Beach was on the Atlantic Ocean. I always thought that it was on the Pacific side.

On our way we crossed a bridge, but we did not know what was the name of the water until we got there, and we asked Mrs. Chambers, and she said that it was Barnagat Bay.

Room 210 walked to the other side of the island to see Barnagat Bay.

The second-grade students collected sand on the beach. When they returned to school they looked at the sand with their naked eyes and a microscope. Here is what room 113 observed.

When we looked at the sand with our naked eyes it looked
like tiny specks,
like spider eggs,
like salt,
like little rocks,
like it has pepper in it,
white, black, gray and tan.

When we looked at the sand with a Discovery Scope it looked
like sparkles,
like crystals,
like sugar,
like ice,
clear.

The following stories were written by room 209. Please read their recollections of a day at the beach, April 20, 1998.

We saw a deer in the woods on the way to the beach. It was very cool when we were there. We saw big waves. While we were on the beach, we saw three horses. The beach has lots of sand and water. We had lots of fun on the trip.
James Adams

The waves of the Atlantic Ocean crash against the beach.

There was lots of seaweed on the beach. The ocean is pretty. I saw two horses on the beach. Whales live in the pretty ocean. There are stingrays in the ocean. There are sharks in in the ocean. There are lots of starfish in the ocean. I found seashells. There is lots of sand on the beach. There are sticks and stones at the beach. I saw lots of fish crows.
Ashante Johnson

The fish crow taking a rest.

In the ocean there are lots of things like stingrays. They are very wild. They will sting you. A blue whate is a mammal and it is the biggest animal in the ocean. A baby blue whale is two classrooms long.
Darren Rogers

Here are two stories from room 205. Read them and see what we found on the beach.

I went to the beach with my mom. We found shells and rocks at the beach. My mom and I found a lot of shells that were big and small too. We got to play in the sand. My mom and I buried the shells in the sand. I saw a living horseshoe crab. She also found a dead seahorse. We learned about shells from a teacher at the beach. She took us on a hike and we got water from the bay. I had fun at the beach.
Archita Johnson

Archita Johnson, Tangela Davis, Michael Dickey, Kaprice Miller, and Terrell Lowrey listen to Trish Schuster talk about a horseshoe crab.

Our class went to the beach on April 28. It was fun. We went to the bay and the ocean. Classes 205 and 201 went and so did my mom. On the way we watched Free Willy 3. When we got to the beach I collected almost 30 shells. Mostly I collected little clam shells deep down in the sand. Sometimes I had to race the waves because there was a big shell where the waves came up. I found a lot of the shells on the top of the beach. I called the top of the beach my good luck spot. Caesar and I raced for shells. There were so many shells, big shells and little shells. I found a scallop shell. We saw a horseshoe crab, and my mother found a seahorse, but it was small, very small, and it tooked dry, but the science teacher said it was real. Most of the time I was with my mom. Class 201 took the lesson first. We ate lunch, then we went on the hike. I liked the hike. It was the best part of the trip to me. I hope we go next year. Oh, I forgot, I fell asleep during the movie going home.
Jamal Rogers

Christina Benson, Michael Dickey, Porscheca Wright, Lamona Smalley, Samiah Schell, and Tyesha Hightower examine a horseshoe crab.

Nahteef Williams of room 211 visited Island Beach on April 20, 1998. He noticed the differences between the ocean and the bay.

My class went to Island Beach State Park. The ocean has salt water. We took little walks. We went over to the beach. We picked up seashells. When we got to the water, the weather changed. The sun came out. The bus drove down the road. The bus driver stopped. We saw the bay. The bay was different from the ocean. We saw waves at the ocean. The bay did not have waves. The front of the bay was not deep. The ocean is deeper than the bay. We saw crab legs. The crab legs were not living when we first got there. It was a long ride. We had a lot of fun. We went to school. We went home. It was fun.

Marlene Dancy and her students, Anthony Piper, Kaprice Miller, Aiyshia Nesmith, Sheena Becoate, Terrell Lowrey, Harry Baily, and Jamal Rogers look out over Barnagat Bay.