This week, our fourth graders headed to Sausalito for their final science field trip of the 2023-24 school year. The students visited the Marine Mammal Center for a hospital tour before hitting the sand at Rodeo Beach for lunch and beach exploration. The Marine Mammal Center’s mission is to advance global ocean conservation through marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation, scientific research, and education. Previously, the students had taken a deep dive into marine mammal structure and function during their third grade life science unit, so this field trip was a great opportunity to spiral back to what they learned last year, and see and hear a variety of marine mammals in person. The students practiced a beach rescue, made a fish smoothie, and experienced placing a feeding tube in an elephant seal pup plushie. We watched just-rescued incoming patients taken to be weighed and observed ‘fish school’ where rescued elephant seals and sea lions were learning to hunt for fish. As a class, we paused to reflect on how uplifting it is to learn about an organization that helps animals stay wild, and that has an excellent release success rate. After the tour, we went to Rodeo Beach with our magnifying glasses, pocket microscopes, and petri dishes. We looked closely at the rainbow sand, got up close and personal with some sand crabs, and checked out the small fish in the lagoon. Bonus, we had enough time to play on the beach too! 

– Lower School Science Teacher Cyndi Trapanese

The students loved the sand, sea, and sea lions: 

“It was really cool and we got to see a ton of sea lions, and learned a lot about elephant seals!”
Ellie R. ’32

“I loved going to the beach and playing tennis-football with my friends. The rocks were smooth, but very hot for your feet, so a lot of people just ran for the ocean!”  
Dominic G-B. ’32

“The seals sounded like monkeys.”
Cadey W. ’32

“We got to learn a lot and there was a lot of interaction that made it a lot of fun.”
Rowan A. ’32