Third Graders Working to Save Apalachicola Bay one VOG at a time

This month was the first time that third graders from Franklin County Schools created vertical oyster gardens (VOGs) as part of their annual field trip that focuses on oysters as a keystone species in our bay. These oyster gardens were created with the help of Oyster Corps and their representatives. The class began with a nature journal activity about how detritus from upriver provides nutrients to our bay as well as the importance of oysters as habitat for other creatures. This activity was followed by an oyster lab where students investigated their own miniature oyster bar to investigate and identify all the species they could find in their oyster bar sample and compare and contrast some of the physical characteristics that make them similar and different. The students also had the opportunity to compare a 9” fossilized oyster with the size of one from the bay and speculated about why the size was so dramatically different. Students then created their vertical oyster gardens, and the field trip ended with seining in the bay to help bring home the functional concept of an estuary as a nursery area. Students, teachers, and chaperones all really appreciated the new inclusion of the vertical oyster gardens in our existing 3rd grade curriculum. These VOGs will eventually be placed in Apalachicola Bay to assist in providing locations for oyster spat recruitment. A local business with waterfront access has agreed to host these VOGs, that will then be investigated for successful recruitment by one of our new high school field trips within our local county school system. We love tying lessons together across multiple grade levels in our local community and this project conducted in partnership with Oyster Corps will provide another great opportunity to do so.