Education Opportunities
[ S.C. Sea Grant Consortium - April 17, 2020 ]
Dear South Carolina Educators,
Did you know that the Atlantic Ghost Crab can dig a burrow up to 4 feet long? They can spend up to six weeks in this burrow during winter hibernation and can close it off with sand in the summer to keep themselves cool. We're not quite at the six-week-mark of quarantine yet, but we here at S.C. Sea Grant Consortium have compiled the following resources to keep you entertained as you hide out in your burrows!
Learning Resources of the Week
S.C. Sea Grant Consortium Educator Help Line - Ocean Literacy Principles
Thursday April 23, 2020 at 4 PM

In order to support teachers and parents engaging in at-home instruction, S.C. Sea Grant Consortium educators will be hosting a weekly live video chat on our Facebook page each Thursday at 4 PM.

Starting next week, each session will focus on one of the Ocean Literacy Principles . We will be starting with the first ocean literacy principle – "The Earth has one big ocean with many features" – and sharing some activities you can do at home to learn about the way water circulates through the ocean. Tune in at 4 PM Thursday, April 23, 2020 for a bit of human interaction and some great learning opportunities!
Weekly Ocean Science Journal Prompts from S.C. Sea Grant Consortium
To incorporate literacy into your science curriculum, S.C. Sea Grant Consortium has created a ten-week set of ocean science writing prompts for elementary , middle , and high school grade bands. Each week, one Ocean Literacy Essential Principle is highlighted with a fact page and supplemental activity. The prompts are written to be used weekly; however, they can be used more or less frequently depending on the needs of the user. In addition, the prompts are standalone concepts and can be used in or out of sequence. The journals are formatted in order to be used digitally or printed as a hard copy.
Virtual Field Experiences at the Baruch Marine Field Lab
To replace an annual field trip to the Baruch Marine Field Lab, lab coordinators led a small field expedition to record a series of videos illustrating various components of field sampling. These videos are great for older students looking to pursue careers in research science and show abiotic measurements , phytoplankton collection , zooplankton collection , and trawl collection .
Professional Development Updates
NOAA Needs Your Help!
NOAA wants to know what type of STEM multimedia resources and distance learning mechanisms educators want to use with students and for their own professional development. Take this very short survey and let NOAA know how it can help you!
Weekly Ray of Sunshine
Taking Middle School Students on Virtual Walks
During a Zoom social hour with the 2018-2020 cohort of participants in the Palmetto Environmental Education Certification program, Jennifer Osborne shared a great story from her experience teaching online. Jennifer is a middle school science teacher in Horry County and has come up with a way to vary her instruction and insert some excitement into her students' days. Rather than using Zoom to teach from inside her home all the time, she "brings her kids" outside with her on walks. She uses her cell phone to continue sending video to her students as she looks in on some of her animals. The suspense builds as they go and check to see if her chickens have laid any eggs - which they almost always have. Awesome job continuing to expose your kids to nature even when they're stuck inside, Jennifer!
Be Featured in Next Week's Ray of Sunshine!

Each week, we would like to highlight the innovative, creative, and heartwarming things that you are doing to make learning happen for your students. Whether you're having virtual dance parties, doing show-and-tell through Zoom, or just have a funny story to tell, we'd love to share some good news. If you would like to be featured in our weekly Ray of Sunshine section, please send your stories, pictures, or videos to Kristen Goehring ! Please be aware that by sharing these with us, you consent to the content potentially being included in future S.C. Sea Grant Consortium communications.
Have Something to Include?
Have an opportunity or resource that you would like to add to the next S.C. Sea Grant Education email update?
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