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Ocean Guardian School

Update on our Ocean Guardian School Grant

As you may remember, last school year, our school received an NOAA Ocean Guardian School grant. We are pleased to inform you that LCC Day School is officially recognized by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries as an NOAA Ocean Guardian School, Year 1.

The 2021-2022 Accomplishments:

  •  Our 2021-2022 project focused on our middle school students working with Tampa Bay Watch to restore seagrass habitat in the bay.
  • The 5th and 6th graders worked hands-on to learn about green vs grey shorelines using Tampa Bay Watch’s “Living Shorelines” mobile lab in the classroom.
  • The 7th and 8th graders worked alongside Tampa Bay Watch to plant seagrasses at MacDill AFB. With the hard work of our students, over 6000 sq ft of shoreline was restored by planting over 2,400 plugs of native grasses.
  • Our middle school students also designed and implemented fun and engaging lessons for our elementary students about ocean conservation.
  • 5th graders shared a lesson with the 2nd graders about Florida’s freshwater ecology.
  • 6th graders wrote children’s books and made edible coral polyps with the 1st and 3rd graders.
  • 7th graders played ocean-themed games with the 4th grade and made coral polyp cupcakes.
  • 8th graders visited the kindergarten classes with children’s books they made about ocean conservation.

In addition, LCCDS partnered with Keep Pinellas Beautiful to host 4 neighborhood cleanups to keep marine debris out of our waterways. We had about 400 volunteers throughout the year from our LCCDS community pick up 50 bags of trash with an estimated weight of 645lbs total collected. The project expanded throughout the school year to also include:

  •  4th grade participated in Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s “Trash to Toys” competition in their art classes. And other art classes competing in NOAA”s Ocean Guardian artwork competition.
  • A weeklong celebration for Earth Day and distributing reusable shopping bags to our entire LCCDS community.
  • LCCDS hosting our first Science Spectacular celebration, which was attended by local organizations to teach our students about ecology and conservation.

The Ocean Guardian School program is managed by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries with funding coordinated by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation