Going Crabbing!

This week I started my new position as a 5th grade science teacher at KIPP Coastal Village!  Most people think it's strange that I'm starting a teaching position at the beginning of summer, but the reason behind it is actually pretty cool.  KIPP Houston pays new teachers a stipend to observe experienced teachers during summer school and build relationships with students prior to starting school in the fall.  My school's program is called Summer by the Sea and runs for two weeks.

Today was by far the best day yet!  We took the kiddos to Galveston Island State Park to test and compare the salinity of the water on the seaside and the bayside, use binoculars to sight birds and record their observations in field guides, and to go crabbing for blue crabs to identify adaptations that enable them to survive in their habitat.  You can guess which part was all our favorite -- crabbing!

Here's a few pictures from the trip:

Galveston Island State Park

The park was really beautiful -- the water was calm and the flowers were in bloom.  The trails and docks were all well cared for.  There were birds and crabs everywhere!  It was the perfect science "classroom" for the day.

Our biggest catch of the day!

You catch crabs by tying meat (like chicken or tuna) to a line.  Then you drop the line to the bottom of a shallow part of the bay.  You pull the line taut and when you feel a little tug, you slowly pull the line up to see if you have a crab hanging on.  The blue crab above is the biggest one that we caught.  He was a little over five inches in diameter.  You can really see the blue on his claws, his legs, and his swimmerets.  You can tell it's a male because the tips of his claws are dark blue or black, whereas females have red tipped claws.  When you turn him over, you can also see that his shell has a marking that looks like the empire state building or other skyscraper, whereas females have a bell-shaped or triangular-shaped marking.

Setting the captive crabs free!

At the end of the morning, we set all of our little crabs free.  I think we caught five or six altogether.  Brent and I will definitely visit the state park some time soon.  After telling him about our trip, he's eager to try his skills at crabbing.  What a great first week at KCV it's been--I'm getting more and more excited about the fall every day!