My Garden of
the Salish Sea
Notebook
Name
Teacher
All rights reserved © 2014 Garden of the Salish
Sea Curriculum
Vocabulary
Garden of the Salish Sea Curriculum:
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Salish Sea – Body of water that extends into both Washington State and
British Columbia.
Funded by Whatcom Community Foundation, the
Alcoa Foundation and by donations

Filter Feeder – Type of animal that gets its nutrients from sorting out tiny
plants and animals from the water as it breaths.

Bivalve – a mollusk with two parts of a shell attached by a hinge; muscles,
clams and oysters are examples.

Water Quality – the state of the water; can be measured in pH, dissolved
oxygen, temperature, turbidity, absence or presence of bacteria, and/or salinity.

Ocean Acidification – slow transition in the world’s oceans becoming more
acidic due to human influences; primarily the combustion of fossil fuels

Intertidal Zone – the area along the shore of the oceans that is exposed during
low tides and covered during high tides. Intertidal means between the tides.
The intertidal zone is an important habitat for many animals including shellfish
and juvenile salmon.

Fecal Coliform Bacteria – bacteria from the feces (poop) of warm-blooded
animals that can get into the water and prevent shellfish from being harvested
safely.
Goal: Motivate communities, students and
their families to and practice stewardship
of local watersheds. This is done through
understanding shellfish, coastal
ecosystems and human impacts.
Puget Sound Restoration Fund Mission:
Restore marine habitat, water quality, and
native species in Puget Sound.
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Program:
Day 1 – Introduction to Garden of the
Salish Sea (pages 1-4)
Day 2 – Classroom laboratory
(pages 5-13)
Day 3 – Preparation for field trip
Day 4 – Field trip (pages 14-18)
Day 5 – Post-trip visit/wrap up
Teacher led activities throughout unit
 Plankton-Greek for drifter, microscopic plants, animals or bacteria that are
carried with the current. They provide a crucial source of food to larger
organisms.
 Zooplankton-Tiny free floating animals.
 Phytoplankton-Microscopic drifting plants.
 Photosynthesis-Process used by plants, including phytoplankton to make food
from light and carbon dioxide in the air.
 Spat - A juvenile oyster that has changed into an adult develops its shell and
attaches to a substrate like a rock or shells.
Cool Facts about the Salish Sea & Shellfish

The Salish Sea is named after the Coast Salish peoples who have lived along
its shores for over 10,000 years
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The Salish Sea includes the Straights of Juan De Fuca, the Puget Sound, the
San Juan Islands, the Gulf Islands, the Straits of Georgia, and Hood Canal
Salish Sea Stewards
Being a steward means making a commitment to take care of something.
What are some things you already take care of? ___________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Over 7 million people live within the watershed of the Salish Sea
_________________________________________________________________________
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An oyster can filter more than gallons of water per day. There were so many
oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, they could once filter a volume of water
equal to that of the entire Bay (about 19 trillion gallons) in a week. Wow!
Looking at the ways we can take care of the Salish Sea on the “Pledge” list, are there any of
Most oysters can make a pearl. Natural pearls are made when foreign matter
inside the body is covered with layers of nacre, the same calcium- and
protein-based material used to make shells.
_________________________________________________________________________

There are 30,000 species of bivalves and more than 8,000 species of them
are oysters.
What are some things that you can do at home to be a steward of the Salish Sea?

Shellfish have growth rings that record the seasons.
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Olympia oysters, once abundant in the Salish Sea are now scarce and efforts
are now being made to bring them back.
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these things you already do to be a steward? _____________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
How often will you do them?__________________________________________________
What are some things you and your family can do to be a steward of the Salish Sea?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
28
1
Shellfish in Time and Place
Shellfish live or lived on coastlines around the world.
Name 3 places where you saw shells labeled on the map
1. _______________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________
Causation: There is a place up near Mount Baker called Chowder Ridge, fossilized shells
can be found there, why do you think there are fossils of sea creatures in the mountains?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Connections: The Salish Sea is the body of water named after the Coast Salish Peoples
who have lived near its shores for over 10,000 years. It includes the Puget Sound, Straits
of Georgia, Straits of Juan De Fuca, the Gulf Islands, and the San Juan Islands; what two
countries does the Salish Sea belong to?
1. __________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________
Focus on Food: Shellfish are an important source of food and protein around the world.
What shellfish have you eaten? (Clue: what about clam chowder?)___________________
What foods are made from sea vegetables? ______________________________________
2
27
Oyster Observation
Observe the oysters in the live tank, what are they doing?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Function: What organ is the oyster using to breathe? ____________________________
Connection: How does an oyster breathing and filtering the water help other plants and
animals in the ocean?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Focus on Math: If 1 oyster filters 50 gallons of seawater each day, how many gallons
would 3 oysters filter in a day, in a week? Show your work
________________________
gallons/day
_________________________
gallons/week
3
26
Day 1 Review
What are three things you learned?
1. ____________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________
What are two things that you already knew?
1. ____________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________
What is one thing that surprised you?
1. ____________________________________________________________
25
4
Investigation: The Human Smoke Stack
When you exhale, carbon dioxide (C02) is released in your breath. Carbon
dioxide from our breath is the same thing that comes from a car when it burns gas
or from a coal burning power plant. Many sources of C02 come are made by natural
processes, but too much C02 produced by humans is a problem for shell building
sea-life. When there is too much carbon dioxide in our air it becomes polluted. The
excess carbon dioxide in the air can be absorbed by the oceans causing a shift in
water chemistry. We can measure these changes the carbon dioxide causes in the
water by measuring the pH.
Following the procedures, complete the experiment and then answer these questions:
Data Type
Cup #1 (changing variable, breath)
Cup #2 (no change, controlled)
Color
pH
What changes did you see in the variable cup (the one you breathed into)?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
What color was the solution before you breathed into it? ___________________________
What color did the solution change to after you breathed into it? _____________________
Change: Why did the color of the solution change? _______________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
24
_________________________________________________________________________
5
Investigation: pH of Household Solutions
The pH scale is used to describe the acidity of a solution. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14
and changes from acidic to basic as the number increases. Pure water is neutral, with a pH
of 7, right in the middle. Notice that seawater is slightly basic. With your lab group, first
predict whether the solutions will have a pH that is higher or lower than pure water and then
test the household solutions. Record the pH of each solution in the table below:
Solution
Vinegar
Prediction
pH Trial 1
pH Trial 2
pH Trial 3
Lemon Juice
Club Soda
Pure Water
Baking Soda
dissolved in
distilled water
Tums dissolved in
distilled water
6
23
Investigation: I’m Melting
Exploring Shellfish Issues
Explore the Garden of the Salish Sea website
(www.restorationfund.org/salishseacurriculum). Using evidence from an
article or video, write a paragraph describing what you think is interesting
about shellfish, why they are important to humans, to other animals and to the
environment. What are some of the threats facing shellfish? Use another piece
of paper if you need more space.
Observe the shells that were soaked in vinegar (acid) to shells soaked in distilled
water (neutral). Compare the shells soaked in vinegar and the shells soaked in
water. Draw a picture of the two jars and describe what happened to the shells
soaked in acid using complete sentences.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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Shells soaked in acidic solution
Shells soaked in neutral solution
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
7
A Tale of Two Cities:
Looking at the two felt boards, list 3 similarities:
1. _______________________________________________________________
Video Questions
The Other CO2 Problem
1. What is the octopus’s big problem?
________________________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
2. What doe shellfish us calcium carbonate for?
3. _______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What are 3 differences between the two cities?
3. Who has caused the problem of ocean acidification?
________________________________________________________________________
1.
____________________________________________________________
4. When the oceans become more acidic, what major food source will die?
2.
____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3.
____________________________________________________________
5. What part of the food chain do clams eat?
________________________________________________________________________
Perspective: Which city looks like where you live and why? ______________________
6. Who must change to reduce ocean acidification?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
7. ________________________________________ causes the oceans to become more
acidic, which is destroying the animals that live in the oceans homes.
Perspective: Which city do you think looks like the city that is healthier for the ocean
8. What is the increase in acidity in the oceans? __________________%
and why? _______________________________________________________________
9. The burning of fossil fuels (oil and gas) is causing the oceans to be more acidic. What
________________________________________________________________________
are ways you can help reduce the need for fossil fuels?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Look at the watershed map. How far away do you think you live from a stream, a lake
________________________________________________________________________
or the ocean? ____________________________________________________________
21
8
Whale Jenga
Watershed Model
First, complete the watershed activity then answer these questions:
In your own words, what happened to the ocean when you played Whale Jenga?
________________________________________________________________________
What are 3 sources of pollution in the watershed model?
1. ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________________
What did you discover about human influences on the environment because of this game?
________________________________________________________________________
Responsibility: What are 2 actions can you do at home to reduce pollutants entering
the water?
1. ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What are ways you can protect the oceans you have thought of after playing Whale
Jenga?
Are the following ground covers pervious or impervious? Pervious allows water to
soak into the ground naturally filtering the water, impervious causes the water to run
down hill and not soak into the ground.
________________________________________________________________________
Ground Type:
Pervious or Impervious:
Grass
________________________________________________________________________
Concrete
________________________________________________________________________
Dirt
Asphalt (road)
Gravel
Sand
20
9
Watershed Model
Compare & Contrast: Draw a picture of a healthy watershed and ocean
Comparezone
& Contrast:
picture ofwatershed
a healthy watershed
ocean zone.
intertidal
and compareDraw
to anaunhealthy
and ocean and
intertidal
intertidal zone and compare to an unhealthy watershed and ocean intertidal zone.
Healthy Watershed and Intertidal zone
Field Investigation Questions
Why is having all of the microscopic phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water important?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
What would happen to the food web if there were too many river otters and gulls and
not enough shellfish?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Unhealthy Watershed and Intertidal zone
What are three things you learned while on this field trip:
1. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
10
19
Low Tide Scavenger Hunt
Search along the intertidal zone to find the animals and plants below; once you have found one,
draw a solid line to connect them to what they eat or what eats them to create a food web of
the near shore ecosystem. If you didn’t find a plant or animal on this work sheet draw a
dotted line to connect them into the food web. Find something not on the food web already?
Draw it in and connect it to other plants and animals with a solid line.
Oyster Dissection
In the box below, draw a scientific drawing of the oyster. Label at least 3 parts of the
oyster that you found. In the lines below, explain the functions of the parts of the
oyster that you found.
1. _____________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________
18
11
Oyster Anatomy
Beachfront Scavenger
Hunt!
Try to find five these different kinds
of clam shells:
1. Native Little Neck Clam
2. Manilla Clam
3. Varnish Clam
4. Butter Clam
5. Cockle Clam
Did you find any other animals? If
so, what were they?
Do you think its important to
preserve these creatures? Why or
why not?
.
12
17
Food Web Foundations
Connection: What microscopic organisms might an oyster eat?
_____________________________________________________________________
Connection: What might eat an oyster?
_____________________________________________________________________
Shellfish Life Cycle:
Function: How does an oyster move before it becomes an adult?
_____________________________________________________________________
What is a juvenile oyster called when it has just attached to a substrate (rock or
shells)? (Clue, rhymes with splat.)
_____________________________________________________________________
What were some similarities between the clam survey you did and this
Connection: If oceans become more acidic, shellfish will have trouble forming what?
data? ______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Connection and Change: How might the food web change if there were no more
What were some differences between your clam survey and this data?
oysters? ______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
16
13
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Whatcom Marine Resource Committee Clam Survey Data Sheet - Mud Bay You are collecting data that will help your community track the health of the tidelands. Treat the area with respect, replace rocks where you found them and please don’t litter.
<1.5 in.
Total
< less than or smaller
> greater than or larger
>1.5 in. <1.5 in.
>1.5 in.
<1.5 in.
Vegetation - P,present, A,absent
1. Which type of clam is the most plentiful or abundant?
2. Which type of clam is the least plentiful or abundant?
_______________________________________________________
3. What was the total number of clams that your group counted?
_______________________________________________________
Eastern Softshell
>1.5 in. <1.5 in. >1.5 in. <1.5 in. >1.5 in. <1.5 in. >1.5 in. <1.5 in. >1.5 in.
Sub = subtrate, S(sand) G(gravel) C(cobble) B(bedrock)
_______________________________________________________
Butter
Cockle
Macoma
Native Littleneck
Manilla
Varnish
Horse
Water
Veg
Sub
Sample Hole #
Transect #
Lable each row by the hole # (it may not start with 1) Before digging, count the Horse Clam holes, after you have dug out your hole, classify the
clams by species (type) then by size (larger or smaller than 1.5 inches). Fill in on the data sheet the number of each clam:
Using your number sense, make a
pie graph by dividing the circle
into pieces that represent the
amount of the different types of
clams that your group found.
Work together with your group.
Grand total
Water - deeper than 1 inch Y/N