Salish Sea Heroes: Mr. Del Prete's 4th Graders

Salish Sea Heroes: Mr. Del Prete’s 4th Grade Class at Crescent Harbor Elementary

Salish Sea Heroes aren’t always the ones out cleaning beaches or planting trees. They are also the ones teaching what the sea needs in ways people can understand. This is called science communication and it is an important part of helping people to take part in healing the sea!

Published book by Mr. Del Prete’s 2019/2020 4th grade class. Cover art by Peyton Bodenhafer.

Last year’s fourth graders in Mr. Del Prete’s class at Crescent Harbor Elementary on Whidbey Island, WA felt that people needed to know about one way that the oceans are changing, called ocean acidification. They launched an exploration of the Salish Sea, learning about food chains, habitats, and water quality. Then, partly inspired by Explore the Salish Sea, they wrote their own book about the Salish Sea. An actual, illustrated, published, printed in paperback and hardcover book, called Invisible Pollution In the Salish Sea.

A food web made of many food chains in the Salish Sea. Art by Devin Robinson

Their book teaches us that ocean acidification means a drop in pH, which means an increase in the level of acidity in the ocean. This is caused by an increase in carbon dioxide, the gas we breathe out and that is released when we burn wood or fossil fuels, like coal, gasoline, and oil. It is also the gas that is taken in by plants, plankton, and trees during photosynthesis. So when we remove trees and burn more fossil fuels, we have more carbon dioxide in the air. What’s in the air dissolves into the ocean and lowers the pH.

Illustration of plankton that have shells before and after ocean acidification that damages their shells.

The effect of ocean acidification is that animals that make shells, like plankton, clams, oysters, and crabs, aren’t able to make their shells when they are baby larvae. The book teaches us that when the shelled animals struggle, this affects the whole food chain. Is there hope? Read on!

Doing these things helps to reduce the amount of carbon in the air and ocean. Illustration by Arianna Watson.

The book also tells us that reducing carbon dioxide in the air will reduce the amount in the Salish Sea. How do we do that? The authors give a whole list of solutions for turning ocean acidification around. Things like planting a tree or garden, eating less meat, buying used products instead of new, bringing a shopping bag to the store (see Mason’s Ocean Tip #5 for how to do this during the pandemic!), turning off your lights, eating locally-grown food, and walking or riding bikes to school or the park, which also gives us more exercise so we feel better, too. They encourage us by sharing that if each person did just one solution to lower carbon in the air and the sea, it would become part of a giant impact!

The project has inspired students in different ways. Two of the authors, Peyton and Aubrey, do some of their own scientific research and talk about wanting to be biologists when they grow up.

Authors and illustrators at work on their masterpiece-in-progress!

“So far I have this little notebook that I’m writing in and taking notes and research on different types of animals. When I’m older I want to become a biologist and figure out facts about animals and stuff. Since I’m good at art, I can put that in with my biology studies,” said Peyton during a podcast interview by Writing on Whidbey Island (WOWI) this spring.

The students didn’t stop there, Mr. Del Prete’s class went on to compose and perform a song about the Salish Sea and ocean acidification with help from their music teacher, Dr. Gore.

The students’ work caught the attention of a local reporter and made a splash in the local newspaper. Read the Whidbey News Times article by Brandon Taylor on the project here:

4th grade students publish book on Salish Sea

Luckily, this whole effort was wrapped up just before school was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic!

Thank you for all your dedicated and creative work, Mr. Del Prete’s 4th graders of 2019-2020. You are true Salish Sea Heroes!

The authors see their published book for the first time!