Groovy Gastropods On Sanibel & Captiva Islands

By:

by Sanibel-Captiva Island Explorers (ages 4-13)

 

 

There are lots of cool things you can learn when you're on vacation! For a month during different schools' spring breaks, kids staying on Sanibel and Captiva islands teamed up with food writer Laura Martin Bacon and the marine experts at Sanibel Sea School.

 

OUR MISSION:

To learn all about gastropods—the sea creatures whose names sounds a LOT like "gastronomy." We did our field studies by exploring the beaches and bayous, reading marine guides, looking up information online – and interviewing the teachers at Sanibel Sea School.

 

 

Here's what we learned:

 

Gastropods are really goofy creatures! their stomachs are near their heads and their mouths are in their feet –or what WOULD be their feet if they had any. Anyway, the name “gastropod” comes from the Greek words for “stomach” and “foot.”

 

Check out Sanibel Sea School’s incredible gastropod photo of a live lightning whelk:

 

 

Some gastropods live on land (like garden snails) and others live in the sea (like lightning whelks, conches and moon snails). Since we were on an island, the aquatic kind were the ones that the we were studying.

Since we were working with a food writer, we were curious about what and how gastropods eat. Also: who eats them?

We found out from our friends at Sanibel Sea School that gastropods eat all kinds of things. Some are carnivores (eat animals), others are herbivores (eat plants). Some gastropods even eat … EACH OTHER!

 

 

They use a tongue-like thing called a radula, which is covered with tiny, supersharp teeth that are as hard as titanium. Moon snails use their radula to drill into the shells of other gastropods so they can eat them.

Cone snails use their radula like a venom-shooting harpoon launcher to attack their prey.

Some gastropods just use their radula to scrape algae off of hard surfaces.

 

 

Who eats gastropods? They can be eaten by crabs, lobsters, octopuses, birds and other ocean creatures. (Humans can also eat gastropods ­– just the insides, though – not the shells.)

 

After we finished learning about gastropods in the sea, we looked for shells on the beach. We found lots: some were from gastropods and some weren’t. Check out the photo below and see if you can guess which shells used to belong to gastropods (hint: they have a spiral shape).

 

 

 

Another fun thing we did was use some of the gastropod shells we’d found to make creatures funny creatures, like the ones in the photo below and at the top of this page.

 

CONCLUSION: Exploration is a blast -- whether you're close to home or far away. Next time you're traveling, see if you can find a cool creature to study, then use books, the internet, local experts and your own hands, eyes, ears and brain to learn all about it. Ask questions. Write stuff down. Take LOTS of photos. Collect samples, if you can. If you need need to, work with a grown-up to write your your story and share it with other kids. We had a great time and we know you will, too!!!!!

 

 

WANT TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN NATURE  BLOG? HERE ARE OUR WRITING & VIDEO GUIDELINES!

 

 

FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS:

 Text: Try to keep the word count to 400 words, max. Of course, your blog can be much shorter -- even just a couple of sentences are great! Please make sure your blog is in either a Microsoft Word or Text-Only format.

 

Photos: Submit one to three great photos! If your parents don't want you to show images of your face on the internet, just take pictures of the ingredients, techniques, scenery -- or whatever else you'd like.

 

Videos: Your videos should be no more than 2 minutes long – and shorter is fine! To submit, you'll need to post them on YouTube, then send us the link in your email submission.

 

 

 

 FOR TEACHERS OR GROUP LEADERS:

 

 Text & Photos:Since you'll be uploading directly to the Green Ribbon Schools website, please free to create a blog with as much text and as many photos as you like. You can write a group blog by the entire class—or have individual students write their own brief blogs with bylines.

 

Videos: Please note that the maximum size video file that can be uploaded directly onto the Green Ribbon Schools website is 20MB. If your video file is larger, please upload it to YouTube, then post the link in your project file on the GRS website.

 

 

 

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK

 

 

 FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS:

 

Please have your parent, guardian or teacher email your blog and photos to Laura Martin Bacon at kidsfoodblog@gmail.com.

If you're submitting a video, please post it on YouTube and email the link.

Entries also need to include your first name, age and your parent or guardian's permission to be part of this project.

 

 

FOR TEACHERS OR GROUP LEADERS:

 

-To get started, register on the Green Ribbon Schools website by clicking here.

- Choose "Teacher" from the role pulldown.

- In the School/Org blank at registration, please enter your school name, city and state. If you can't locate your school or organization, please contact Green Ribbon Schools here and they will add it for you.

- Complete registration, and you will automatically be logged into the GRS website. 

- Once you are logged in, you're on the MY PROJECTS page, where you will see the JOIN PROJECT box. 

- Enter the following "Invite Code" into the JOIN PROJECT box:  ry6104-2805-5  

 - Presto: You are now joined to the IACP Kids Digital Kitchen project!

 

 

TEACHERS' GUIDE: BUILDING YOUR PAGE

 

Please build your page using the RESULTS PAGE BUILDER inside the IACP Kids Digital Kitchen project.

Be sure to upload your photos and videos using the UPLOAD IMAGE/VIDEO button on the right side of the project page. 

After that,  you can enter text, images and videos into the results builder.

When everything is complete, click the PUBLISH PAGE button and then SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL button to send it to IACP Kids to post for you.

If you have any technical questions about how to upload and post, Green Ribbon Schools will be happy to help -- just click here to contact a GRS expert!