When students come into our science lab, they can observe two species of sea urchins crawling up the walls of an aquarium, baby horse shoe crabs the size of half-dollars swimming upside-down, a coral banded shrimp, spider crabs, and sea cucumbers licking algae off the rocks.

  What's even more fun is when classes schedule a touch tank lesson. They can learn all about the characteristics of five marine phyla, learn how each animal protects itself, what it eats, and how it moves. They can hold the animals, and observe eating behaviors.

The tanks are maintained by third grade SAIL students with the help of a parent volunteer. Students spend half a school year learning the characteristics of each phylum of animals. They research a specific animal, create filmstrips and books about that animal, and finally teach other classes using the live animals in the touch tank! We've even taken our tank to the middle school to teach 7th grade.