Sand, Sand, Sand!!!

1. Sand, Sand, Sand!!! i am the beachbreeze i am the beach at sea seawaves/painter's brushsea waves painter's brush dances over the canvas waves from his palette the beach appears beach crabsmy beach walk little crabs run light as breeze evening walkevening walk at beach the sea leaps and roars as I make my wish John Tiong Chunghoo

2. Targeted Rhode Island Grade Span Expectations ESS1 - The earth and earth materials as we know them today have developed over long periods of time, through continual change processes. ESS1 (K-4) INQ –1 Students demonstrate an understanding of processes and change over time within earth systems by 1a describing, comparing, and sorting rocks, soils, and minerals by similar or different physical properties (e.g., size, shape, color, texture, smell, weight, temperature, hardness, composition). 1b recording and analyzing observations/data about physical properties (e.g., within a grouping, which characteristics are the same ESS1 (7-8) – 3 Students demonstrate an understanding of processes and change over time within earth systems by … 3a evaluating slow processes to determine how the earth has changed and will continue to change over time.

3. From The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson Now I hear the sea sounds about me; the night high tide is rising, swirling with a confused rush of waters against the rocks below my study window. Fog has come into the bay from the open sea, and it lies over water and over the land's edge, seeping back into the spruces and stealing softly among the juniper and the bayberry. The restive waters, the cold wet breath of the fog, are of a world in which man is an uneasy trespasser; he punctuates the night with the complaining groan and grunt of a foghorn, sensing the power and menace of the sea. Hearing the rising tide, I think how it is pressing also against other shores I know - rising on a southern beach where there is no fog, but a moon edging all the waves with silver and touching the wet sands with lambent sheen, and on a still more distant shore sending its streaming currents against the moonlit pinnacles and the dark caves of the coral rock. Then in my thoughts these shores, so different in their nature and in the inhabitants they support, are made one by the unifying touch of the sea. For the differences I sense in this particular instant of time that is mine are but the differences of a moment, determined by our place in the stream of time and in the long rhythms of the sea. Once this rocky coast beneath me was a plain of sand; then the sea rose and found a new shoreline. And again in some shadowy future the surf will have ground these rocks to sand and will have returned the coast to its earlier state. And so in my mind's eye these coastal forms merge and blend in a shifting, kaleidoscopic pattern in which there is no finality, no ultimate and fixed reality - earth becoming fluid as the sea itself.

4. The Picnic Basket at the Beach Background Sir Arthur Conan Doyle received his training as an eye specialist at the Edinburgh Infirmary as a student of Dr. Joseph Bell. He began writing Sherlock Holmes stories to fill time between patients. Many believe the Holmes character was based on Doyle’s mentor, Joe Bell. Sherlock Holmes became the world’s best known detective. His activities have been followed by millions of readers delighted by his ability to solve crimes through an amazing use of observation and deduction. Holmes drew incredible conclusions from minute details, such as a ticket fragment or a spot of mud or sand on a boot. His amazing powers of concentration and broad knowledge of science also helped him solve many mysteries. Doyle wrote a story in 1893 in which Holmes was killed, but public outcry forced him to bring Holmes back to life in another story. Dr. Watson, Holmes physician friend and assistance, observed in A Study in Scarlet that Holmes had a knowledge of “Geology—practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers,--and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them” (Doyle, 1930). Doyle never did achieve success as an eye specialist but became famous as an author and a man of ideas. Though Holmes was a fictional character, H. Gross incorporated Holmes’s methods and ideas into the rapidly developing field of forensic science in Criminal Investigation, a handbook for investigators (Murray and Tedrow, 1992). Literature affects science!

5. The Picnic Basket at the Beach The Crime Scene: Who stole my basket? Last Saturday when I returned to the beach blanket from my swim in the ocean, I immediately realized that my picnic basket…full of delicious food, snacks, and drinks for the afternoon… was gone!!! The only thing I were able to spot that might lead to the capture of the thief was a huge sandy footprint right where the basket was originally located. During the beach police’s investigation, they gathered some sand samples and with this evidence they rounded up four suspects in a week. Whoever stole my picnic basket has the same sand from the beach underneath his or her shoe. Your job is to help me and the detectives identify the thief. To do this you will need to determine that the sand from the thief’s shoes matches the sample from the crime scene. Luckily you have your Sand Sleuth Toolkit to help me solve the crime.

6. The Picnic Basket at the Beach • The Usual Suspects: • Tony “The Sand Flea” Gneiss • “Wrackline Willy” Quartz • Buddy “The Lifeguard” Cianci • Bobby “The Beachcomber” Bennett • The Suspicious Sand Footprint • The sand that the detectives recovered from the footprint on the beach blanket has the following characteristics: • contains garnet, feldspar, and magnetic minerals • very few shell pieces • medium to fine sized grains • angular sand particles. • Report • Prepare a convincing argument for the arrest of one of the suspects based on the evidence from your sand analysis. • Good luck using your Sand Sleuth Toolkit to solve the crime. • Source: Frazier, J.J. (1996). Sand studies. The Science Teacher, May, 14-17.

7. Extension: Sea Prints For years, the sea has held mystery and fascination for humans. Observe people who visit the ocean and you will see that they spend a great part of their time looking seaward-searching. Are they looking at incoming waves to check for swimming conditions, seeking out a speck on the horizon that will alter materialize as a ship, or searching for treasures washed up be the waves? Or do people become spellbound by the soothing sight and sounds of ocean waves repeatedly washing upon the beach? While experiencing the tranquility of watching the sun rise or set across the ocean waves, do they become lost in the sheer mystery and vastness of the blue horizon? The sea has become the focus for expression in art, music, and literature. You will be using sandpaper, crayons and an iron to create a “sea print.” Following are instructions for creating a sea print: • Use crayons to create a sea picture on a sheet of sandpaper, firmly pressing on the crayons to get a thick coat. After the scene is completed, fill in the background with and appropriate color. • Place the colored sandpaper face up in a thick stack of newspapers. • Place a sheet of manila paper over the print. Center the paper so that the print is in the middle. • Slowly press the print with a warm iron until you are able to see evidence of the crayons being transferred to the manila paper. • Trim and frame the print with a contrasting piece of construction paper. Source: National Science Teachers Association (1997). Project Earth Science: Physical Oceanography, Arlington, VA: Author.

8. Extension: Sand Library Make a Sand Library When you travel to a beach be sure to take along some empty clear soda bottles. Collect samples in the bottles and label with location of beach and date. After a short time you should have quite an extensive library. Contact friends in other countries to develop a global sand library. Try to obtain tropical, temperate, and subarctic samples. Procedure • Obtain a sand sample that looks interesting to you. • Study the appearance of the sand, its color, texture, grain size. • Make a note of those characteristics. • Obtain a Sand Library card. Record any available information on the back side of the card. • Use a glue stick to apply a 2” circle of glue in the middle of the card. • Pour some sand on the Sand Library Card. Shake off excess sand. Let dry. • Make a hole punch in one corner and insert this in a ring. Repeat the process and you’ll have a Sand Library of your very own! Source: Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (Charting Our Course: The Massachusetts Coast at an Environmental Crossroads.

9. Sand, Sand, Sand!!! For in the end we will preserve only what we love, love only what we understand, understand only what we are taught.” B. Douim

10. Sand Sleuth Toolkit SomewhereOh, to be lying, On a beach, Somewhere, With sand in my toes, And the wind, In my hair. And only the sound, Of the seagulls, On high, On a beach, Somewhere, Under sunny blue sky. The gentle caress, Of the waves, On the shore, And you close, Beside me, Could I ask for more? A soft sandy beach, That goes on, Forever, You, me, And a beach, So happy together. Linda Harnett