Make the most of your trip to the beach!
Teachers, you’re already experts in empathy. You model it and nurture it in your classrooms every day. Empathy is at the heart of your work—and it’s also a powerful tool for building connections with animals and nature.
These resources are designed to support you in helping students extend their empathy to wildlife, including the often overlooked, misunderstood or underappreciated animals in our world. By encouraging students to take the perspective of marine life—whether it’s a sea star, wolf eel or moon snail—we can spark curiosity, compassion and a sense of shared responsibility for the natural world.
The following resources are designed to help with beach field trips.
All ages
How to use NOAA Tides and Currents
A step-by-step video walking you through how to find tide predictions for your beach trips.
How to read and compare tide charts
A review of vocabulary, how to read tide charts and answers to frequently asked questions.
A guide to exploring local beaches
Information about 12 local beaches, including logistics for your trip, suggestions for best tide levels, animals you might see and accessibility considerations.
Pre-K
Focus Frames lesson plan
Prepare “focus frames” with your students to help with tide pool exploration on the beach. Pair with the pre-beach worksheet and post-beach worksheet.
Pre-beach worksheet
Students will practice their colors and letters.
Post-beach worksheet
Students will draw what they saw at the beach.
Kinder–Second grade
Hide and Salish Sea lesson plan
Review beach etiquette with your students and prepare them for tide pool exploration on the beach.
Hide and Salish Sea bingo card
Students will keep track of what sea life they encounter on the beach.
Third–Fifth grades
Discover and Display lesson plan
Students will work in groups to create their own versions of our beach naturalist signs to take to the beach. These signs encourage beachgoers to treat tide pools with care. Pair with Discover and Display worksheets.
Discover and Display worksheet
Worksheets for students to prepare for their beach visit, plan out their beach naturalist signs and reflect on their beach visit.
