You'll need: Biofacts from the Entry Event above; materials for students to create simple costumes (see Part 2 below) such as fabric scraps, construction paper, tape, pipe cleaners, craft feathers, plastic recyclables (cut-up milk jugs make great shells!), etc.

PREP: In this activity you'll use the same biofacts you collected for the Entry Event. Make sure you have at least one of each of the following for each group of 3-4 students: twigs or branches, feathers, and shells. 

PART 1: Divide students into small groups and distribute the biofacts. Remind them that these are items that all come from things that live at the sandy beach. Allow the students a few minutes to take turns touching and exploring the items freely, without any instructions. Then, ask students to identify what living creature made each of those items. Together, work towards the conclusion that trees or plants made the twigs; birds made the feathers; and sea snails (or crabs, depending what type you have!) made the shells. 

Record the following answers that students provide through this next series of questions and discussion. Ask your students why they think snails build those hard shells? The answer is for protection - it helps to protect the snails' soft bodies from being injured or eaten by predators. Ask the same question about the twigs - why do plants and trees build hard, woody stems? The answer is the same! The hard surface protects the plants from being broken or eaten, and it also helps hold the plants up so they can grow taller. Finally, focus on the feathers. Ask, why do birds have feathers? In part, this is also for protection and warmth from the cold water and air. But mostly, it helps the birds to fly. 

Review all of the answers you've recorded on the board and ask students to think about why all plants and animals have special features like hard shells, stems, or feathers. These are all things that help living things to survive where they live. Different plants and animals have different features because they live in different places, and in different ways - for example, birds spend most of their time in the air so they have feathers; but snails live on the beach and the ocean, so they have shells.

PART 2: Features Fashion Show! Using whatever materials you have available, have your students create outfits that feature one of the physical traits/external parts they learned about and walk the "catwalk". Have them pause at the end to explain how their trait or part could help solve a human problem! Feathers could help a human to fly different places quickly, or shells could help protect bicyclists like armor or helmets. You could even invite other classes to attend the fashion show to make it an exciting event.

PART 3: Read the “What if you had animal teeth/noses/ears/feet?” book series by Sandra Markle. Compare and contrast the features named with the ones students observed that sandy shore animals have.

You'll need: computer with access to YouTube, projector, craft paper and markers

PART 1: Ask students to recall the things that all living beings need to survive: food, water, and shelter. (This was an emphasis in the Coast Connections Kindergarten Unit - if needed, review these things more in-depth.) When they were babies, who provided all of these needs? - their parents, of course! But lots of baby animals have to quickly learn how to survive on their own. Sometimes, their parents take care of them; other times the babies must fend for themselves. 

Tell students that they're going to learn about one type of bird that lives at the sandy shore - a Sandpiper. Sandpipers can be seen on most Oregon beaches. They are small, brown birds with white breasts and short, sharp beaks. Like all birds, Sandpipers lay eggs, incubating them on the nest to keep them warm. When the eggs hatch, the parents help protect the tiny babies and also teach them how to hunt and survive on their own.

Watch the award-winning Disney short animated film, Piper, asking students to observe all the ways the baby Sandpiper meets his needs for food and shelter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xroy2VFphi4&ab_channel=ThinkPositives After watching, ask students to share what they observed. Ways that Piper meets his needs include:

• Calling for his parent (though it doesn't work!)

• Running from the waves

• Burrowing in the sand to protect himself from waves

• Staying close to the adults

• Digging snails up out of the sand to eat

PART 2: Next, brainstorm some ways that animal parents might care for their babies, recording their answers on the board. Answers may include that the parents feed their babies; keep them warm; and protect them from danger. However, don't provide these answers yet if students don't come up with them; rather just allow them to freely brainstorm.

Then, tell students they're going to watch a video about Killdeer, a type of bird similar to a Sandpiper that also lives on the Oregon coast (and can be found in much of the U.S.). Ask them to watch for ways that the mother bird cares for her young: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70xetO8E_M&ab_channel=MikeBlairOutdoors

After the video, ask students to share the ways that they observed the mother bird took care of her babies. Answers may include:

• She incubated the eggs, keeping them warm and safe under her.

• She pretended to be hurt to distract the predator bird.

• She helps the babies learn how to hunt.

• She keeps them warm when it gets cold.

PART 3: Ask students to list all of the ways that their parents or caretakers help them to survive and thrive every day. Then, have students create and decorate cards thanking their parents and caregivers for all that they do for them.

You'll need: computer with access to YouTube, projector, crab life cycle worksheets - 1 per student (see Part 2 below for link)

PART 1: Tell students that all animals have a life cycle: stages of life from when they're born until they're adults, where they look a little different at each stage. Some animals, like humans, look a lot like their parents when they're born; others less so. Some sandy shore animals almost look like aliens when they're born! But they all grow up to look like their parents as adults. That's because they need time to grow, change, and develop into their final form. This series of changes is called metamorphosis.

Ask students if they've ever seen a crab at the beach. Crabs are very common sandy shore animals, and very important. As babies, they're a big food source for a lot of animals, including fish and birds. As adults, they dig holes in the sand that other animals can use for protection. People eat crabs too, especially Dungeness Crabs here in Oregon. See https://oregonaitc.org/resources/oregon-resources/oregon-grown-commodities/dungenesscrab/ for more fun facts about Dungeness that you can share with students. Dungeness can sometimes be found on our sandy beaches and also mudflats.

Using the pictures at the above link, walk students through the life cycle of a crab. After a female lays her eggs, they hatch into tiny larvae called zoea which are free-swimming. Zoea look more like fish than crabs, with a spike on their head to protect them from predators. Zoea develop into megalops, which are still tiny but look more like a crab with a stretched-out body. Megalops are also free-swimming. Finally, megalops sink to the ocean floor and become juveniles. These look like the adults, but very small, about the size of a dime! Juveniles molt or shed their shells over and over, growing bigger each time, until they are their full-grown size. Be sure to check out this video for microscopic video images of each life stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN164hYstlM&ab_channel=RASAquaculture 

PART 2: Distribute one copy of this crab life cycle worksheet per student (or you may choose to have them work in pairs). Ask them to cut out each of the life cycles, then paste them on the worksheet in the correct order: https://primarylearning.org/worksheet/crab-life-cycle-cut-and-paste/ (Please note, you must subscribe to this website to access this resource, but it's completely free. They also have a number of other crab life cycle resources: https://primarylearning.org/subject/crab-life-cycle/) 

PART 3: Compare and contrast the crab life cycle to a butterfly life cycle. Use the pictures and information at https://butterflywebsite.com/articles/lifecycle/butterfly-life-cycle.cfm to walk students through a butterfly's life and introduce key vocabulary. Print copies of the life cycle from https://www.butterflyidentification.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Life-Cycle-of-a-Butterfly.jpg and ask students to make observations about which stages are the same as a crab life cycle, and which are different. 

You'll need: shovels/small spades (1 per student), buckets to collect crabs or other creatures, laminated copies of this crab identification sheet if desired

• Find a wide, flat area on the sandy beach. Remind students that Dungeness crabs, and many other types of crabs call beaches home. But they're not often seen on the surface - they bury themselves in the sand for protection. 

• Instruct students to dig through the sand looking for crabs, but model for them how to do so gently and carefully! Even though they have shells to protect them, crabs could easily be injured by the shovels. Explain how students should pick up any crabs they find - gently and with both hands, holding their body and not their legs, and not squeezing as they place it carefully into a bucket. 

• Allow students plenty of time to dig and explore, circulating often to ensure they're handling any creatures they find with care. 

• At the end of the allotted time, gather in a group and ask students to show and share what they found. Use the identification sheets, if available, to attempt to identify which species you found.

You'll need: printed, cut, and ideally laminated copies of these critter cards (pages 12-16 of linked document). There are 15 "critters" total, so if you have more students than this, you can have them work in pairs or small groups.

• Draw a large circle in the sand, big enough for your whole class to circle around, then gather them around the circle. 

• Distribute one Critter Card to each student (or pair/group). Ask students to study their critter carefully for a few minutes; for example, have them count the number of legs theirs has, describe the shell shape, etc. 

• Tell students that these are some plants and animals commonly found on sandy beaches, and it's their job to find them! Some may live on top of the sand, in the shallow water, in the washed-up seaweed piles, or underneath the sand. 

• Designate safe boundaries, using landmarks, that students should not go past. Instruct students that they should bring back ONE of their critters, if they find it, and place it in the circle. (If they find their critter quickly they can keep searching and exploring, but should leave the rest of the plants/animals where they are.) 

• Then set them free to explore and find their assigned critters. Ask them to let you know if they find their critter, and circulate among the students to ensure that they're not harming any creatures and to help direct them if they can't find theirs (for example, have them dig in the sand or in the wrackline). 

• At the end of the allotted time, gather students around the circle, and have each student/group point to what they found, share what it is, and where they found it.

You'll need: one small colander per pair of students (these can be found for cheap at dollar stores), one shovel per pair, one bucket per pair, copy of Critter Cards from Scavenger Hunt activity (this copy not cut up, but kept whole to serve as a field guide, and ideally laminated)

• Remind students that some of the coolest creatures on the beach live underneath the sand, and are difficult to see to the average beachgoer. Tell them they're going to use the colanders to capture and study sand-dwelling animals. 

• Divide students into pairs, and tell them that each person will have one of two jobs: either they will be the "scooper" or the "washer". The scooper will scoop one shovelful of sand into the colander - only one scoop at a time! The washer will then slowly pour water over the sand into the colander to reveal what might be between the grains of sand. The washer may also need to go refill their bucket from the water occasionally. 

• Tell students that each of them will have a turn to do both jobs, then instruct them to go find a spot to dig. 

• After a short interval of time, for example 15 minutes, shout out that it's time for the Scoopers and Washers to switch. 

• Circulate among groups, using your identification sheets to help students identify what they found. You may do this for however long time allows. 

• At the end of your allotted time, tell students to carefully and gently place all of the creatures they found back into a hole in the sand, and gently fill it back in to cover and protect the animals.