Enhance scientific investigation, math and reading skills
Key concepts, background information, materials needed, teaching hints,
extension ideas, and answer keys for each lesson
Most activities require few materials not readily available in your classroom or
local stores
Select guide title to view its Table of Contents and open the lessons
Discovering Puget Sound – Grades 4-6
A look at the discoveries of early people living in Puget Sound sets the stage for activities
highlighting the physical, biological and human factors that influence life in the Sound.
Students quantify the miles of shoreline, examine beach sediments and investigate the
interdependency of the marine organisms that live in our shoreline areas to provide the
background knowledge and skills necessary to take actions to assure the health of
Puget Sound.
A Salmon in the Sound – Grades 6-8
Salmon serves as a vehicle to focus on Puget Sound as an ecosystem that includes rivers and
watersheds as well as saltwater environments. Diverse activities which integrate material
from many disiplines are united through a student text tracing the return of a Chinook salmon
from the open ocean to its spawning ground in the Skykomish River watershed. From food chains
and fishing to genetics and wild salmon, the activities highlight the difficult and complex
choices Puget Sound residents must make concerning the management of our natural resources.
The Changing Sound – Grades 9-12
An investigation of the decline of the once abundant native Olympia oyster engages students in a wide variety of hands-on/minds-on science activities from experimentally determining the size of Puget Sound to oyster anatomy and ecology to water quality testing. Integrating
material from geography, history, writing, and problem solving as well, the activities focus on human interaction with oyster populations and lead students to a consideration of actions they might take for maintaining the health of Puget Sound.
