Tybee Island - Monday

For those of you who may have stumbled upon this blog, the next couple of posts will be about our 5th-grade trip to Tybee Island. This is the capstone trip for our students at Brainerd Baptist School, and they look forward to it for YEARS. This post is for parents (or other interested folks) to learn more about what we do each day.

So we are approaching the end of our first full day here on Tybee Island. The weather has been incredible and our students are having an amazing experience packed full of learning in environments that are very different from what we have in Chattanooga. Our boys were up BRIGHT and early and were outside by 6:30 am (here’s hoping for a tired crew at bedtime tonight).
Here is a quick overview of our day. I will also post a photo album to our Facebook page with highlights from our day.

• We began this morning with orientation and a quick tour of the camp. Another school (Cornerstone Christian) from Virginia also has their 5th grade here and went through orientation with us (some have asked who the people were in pictures posted earlier)

• Our students are divided into three groups, and they rotate through classes. The first class was Beach Ecology, and we made our first trip to the Beach (about a mile away). They learned about the six zones of the beach, and then the groups tried to create an actual model of the zones using things on the beach.

• After lunch, we had a Coastal Critters class and a Salt Marsh Ecology class. In the Coastal Critters class, students got to move through multiple stations learning about animals that are found in the ocean as well as this area. Students were able to hold/touch/pet many different types of animals, including sea stars, crabs, urchins, sea turtles, an alligator, and many different types of snakes. Additionally, they also got to use fish nets and catch fish in the inner coastal waterway that is connected to the camp.
  In the Salt Marsh Ecology class, students loaded up (we move a LOT!) and headed a few miles away and got to use those boots you sent. They went on a hike into the marsh and learned all about the importance the marsh plays in the ecosystem as well as the animals that live there.

• After dinner, our students completed their first dissection of the trip and learned all about squids. It has been great fun watching students encounter this. Some were more excited than others!

• Our final activities tonight will include a game of Taboo and then a time around the campfire where we will have smores and devotion.
  We do not have great internet (we miss EPB!), so we will upload pictures later tonight.