Atlantic City Aquarium/Salt Marsh Excursion Preperation
And Post Visit Activities

Previsit Activities
Have students identify at least five living or non-living things in a typical Salt Marsh.
Teachers Examples:

• Living:
  
  Fiddler Crab, Mussel, Horseshoe Crab, Hermit Crab, Seaweed, Atlantic Coast Sea Shells, Seagulls, Minnows
  
• Non-Living:
  
  Shells, Plant roots, feathers, sand, soil, bones

Encourage students to discuss their ideas of a salt marsh. Below are a few sample questions to promote discussion about the salt marsh:

• Have you ever visited a salt marsh before?
• Is there water in a salt marsh?
• Where does the water come from?
• How does it smell?
• Does anything live there? What?
• Do people live there?
• How do people use salt marshes?

Ask students to prepare questions they have about a salt marsh. Have students bring the questions with them the day of their visit to ask our staff.

Post-Visit Activities:
Using a shoebox, have students create a diorama of a salt marsh using items found around the home (crayons, clay, egg grass [seaweed]) and/or items they collected on their field trip. Students can write a short paragraph explaining their diorama. The paragraph may include information on what they saw at the marsh as well explain what they collected. Space permitting, perhaps teachers can have the dioramas displayed inside the school for other students to observe.

Make a bulletin board of your salt marsh field trip.
Suggestions:

• Teachers may bring a camera to assist in designing the bulletin board.
• Students can use items collected while at the Salt Marsh.
• Students can draw pictures of their experience (including what they saw and/or touched)
• To complete the bulletin board have the class write a paragraph of their experience at the salt marsh.

Have students bring plastic bags for collection at the Marsh.