Coastal Cleanups
Our coastline is the front porch to Long Island Sound. It is also the entry and exit point for trash. Throughout the year, we host a number of beach cleanup events at locations throughout the area.
At the beach cleanup you will immediately see the impact you are making to improve the marine environment and you will walk away with a deeper, more meaningful understanding of Long Island Sound and its fragile ecology. At the cleanups we will split into groups, collect and remove debris and record the findings. The data recorded will support research and pollution prevention initiatives. Coastal cleanups are ideal for friends, families and teams.
Marina Trash Skimmer
Marine debris (trash) in Long Island Sound affects animals, plants and our quality of life. SoundWaters needs your help to study the problem. We are researching the problem with our new trash skimmer. We need volunteers of all ages to sort and count trash (really) and record their findings. This is a great opportunity for students, youth and adult groups, corporate teams and individual community volunteers to contribute their time to improve the health of Long Island Sound.
Event Volunteers
Are you looking for a fun opportunity to give back to your community, but have limited time available? Join our community events team and volunteer at a special event. As a community event volunteer, you can assist with planning the event on one of many levels. You might be involved in overall event planning or you can volunteer at the event.
Community event opportunities are often available in the following programs:
- SoundWaters Flotilla
- HarborFest
- Tall Ships Ball
Learn more about becoming a Community Event Volunteer
High School Interns
Supervised training helps high school students develop their professional skills and gain the hands-on experience that advances scientific (future) careers. Focused on understanding, protecting, and educating others about the important role that Long Island Sound has on our daily lives, a SoundWaters internship will give you a chance to learn these professional skills first hand.
Coastal Cleanups
Our coastline is the front porch to Long Island Sound. It is also the entry and exit point for trash. Throughout the year, we host a number of beach cleanup events at locations throughout the area.
At the beach cleanup you will immediately see the impact you are making to improve the marine environment and you will walk away with a deeper, more meaningful understanding of Long Island Sound and its fragile ecology. At the cleanups we will split into groups, collect and remove debris and record the findings. The data recorded will support research and pollution prevention initiatives. Coastal cleanups are ideal for friends, families and teams.
Marina Trash Skimmer
Marine debris (trash) in Long Island Sound affects animals, plants and our quality of life. SoundWaters needs your help to study the problem. We are researching the problem with our new trash skimmer. We need volunteers of all ages to sort and count trash (really) and record their findings. This is a great opportunity for students, youth and adult groups, corporate teams and individual community volunteers to contribute their time to improve the health of Long Island Sound.
Event Volunteers
Are you looking for a fun opportunity to give back to your community, but have limited time available? Join our community events team and volunteer at a special event. As a community event volunteer, you can assist with planning the event on one of many levels. You might be involved in overall event planning or you can volunteer at the event.
Community event opportunities are often available in the following programs:
- SoundWaters Flotilla
- HarborFest
- Tall Ships Ball
Learn more about becoming a Community Event Volunteer
What They’re Saying
“Thank you for a great day and fabulous fireworks in the evening. We loved the cardboard kayak race, first watching the teams constructing their boats and then the three heats and the final race. Loved seeing the young racers tactically outmaneuver their older opponents. ”
–HarborFest Attendee
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You never know if they’ll float or sink in the HarborFest cardboard kayak race.
Island Explorers – Grades 3-5
Island Explorers provides students with a critical link to the most significant natural resource in the region: Long Island Sound. Children study seas and oceans, but they have only limited opportunity to visit their own coastal environment and see key concepts (such as habitat, ecology, and biodiversity) in a real and vital way. This program takes place in the school classroom and at SoundWaters’ coastal center.
If you would like to book a program, have any additional questions, or would like to see a program in action please contact Alisha Milardo, Vice President, Education, education@soundwaters.org, 203 406 3312.203 406 3312.
Science on the Sound – Floating Classroom
Welcome aboard the schooner SoundWaters!
Discover Long Island Sound’s ecology and biology while sailing aboard the schooner SoundWaters. Your students will investigate how plants and animals survive daily environmental changes, examine macro and microscopic organisms, raise the sails and more! This 3-hour program offers a rigorous STEM investigation into habitats, animal adaptations, water quality and food web/bio accumulation. Technology rich, with hands-on experiments, this program is geared to your grade level.
ACTIVITIES
Overview of Labs and Activities:
Students begin learning even before they come on board. We have pre-sail communication with teachers, and offer pre-sail activities. Upon arrival at the dock, it is hands-on, active learning all the time. We have two elements in our shipboard teaching: labs and activities. The 4 labs are structured, hands-on science investigations. These labs constitute the focus of the scientific learning. Students rotate through the labs during the sail. The 3-5 activities are shorter as we transition during the program, and focus on ship handling and trawling. While there is a blend, the shorthand is that the labs focus on science; the activities focus on ship.
Labs
- Plankton Research Lab: Assessment of LIS plankton population surface distribution
- Human Impact Lab: Stewardship and degradation rate of marine debris in the LIS watershed.
- Water Analysis Lab: Evaluation of water quality parameters in Long Island Sound
- Nautical Engineering Lab: Analytical skills and understanding of the knowledge required to safely navigate and operate a ship including & the hands-on experience of the engineering behind navigation.
Activities
- Guided Observation Activity: Baseline data and field science protocols
- Benthic Trawl Activity: Deploying our net and hauling in the day’s catch
- Trawl Data Activity: Measuring and logging each animal in the trawl
- Sail Handling: Raise the sails, harness the wind, and work as a team
- Sound Observations:Reflection and personal observation, with Captain-led discussion about issues facing the Sound
NGSS ALIGNMENT
SCHEDULE
PRICING
NEXT STEPS
PRE & POST TRIP ACTIVITIES
Arts to Life (After-School)
SoundWaters Arts to Life after-school program is a hands-on, interactive science enrichment and environmental education program for students in grades 3-5. The program combines science with a number of art forms – photography, painting and poetry – to emphasize key literacy in science, reading and writing. During the program twenty elementary students participate in eight three-hour, after school classes that take place outside in Cove Island Park and inside the aquarium and laboratory at the SoundWaters Coastal Center.
ACTIVITIES
The outdoor component of each session will focus on hands-on experiments studying the different habitats and organisms that flourish amid the salt marshes, beaches, tidal flats and forests of Cove Island Park. Activities in our lab and aquarium will vary to include arts (drawing, painting and photography) and laboratory science (analyzing organisms using microscopes). The media will differ from week to week but the focus will remain the same: exciting, hands-on activities that engage students in observing and studying the natural world through the lenses of arts and science. Each session will also include a sail on the schooner SoundWaters, where students can experience the thrill of trawling for fish, examining plankton, and learning about water flow though the ecosystem.
NGSS ALIGNMENT
SCHEDULE
PRICING
NEXT STEPS
Discovery Team (After-School)
SoundWaters’ “Discovery Team” After School Programs are hands-on, interactive enrichment programs designed to support and enhance learning in Stamford elementary school students. Up to fifteen students learn about the ecology of Long Island Sound in one-hour sessions, once each week, in series that last for six to twelve weeks. Typically, students in each after school series enroll in mixed age-group sessions for Kindergarten & 1st Grade, 2nd & 3rd Grade or 4th & 5th Grade. Different activities are presented each time to introduce students to the animals, habitats and watershed of the local area. Live animals, games that illustrate scientific concepts, related crafts, and simple experiments are among the types of activities included.
If you would like to book a program, have any additional questions, or would like to see a program in action please contact Alisha Milardo, Vice President, Education, education@soundwaters.org, 203 406 3312.12.
What They’re Saying
“Our students loved this trip and the teachers said it was one of the best trips they have been on.”
–Jasmin Martinez, Thomas A. Edison School,
Port Chester NY
