The shark’s eyes and all its teeth swept past 11-year-old Isaac, trailing its fins in the shimmering blue-green water, close enough to touch if not for the aquarium glass between them.

Here was an indelible image he could now fix onto the work he and his classmates had done days earlier in his fifth-grade classroom.

LINC and the principal and teachers at Trailwoods Elementary in the Kansas City Public Schools had collaborated to take the fifth-grade class to the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium Nov. 6 to bring that classwork to life.

“There’s stuff we can do to harm the oceans, and stuff we can do to help the oceans,” Isaac said outside the aquarium.

He was thinking back, remembering the work that math and science teacher Jordan Traub had them do on the earth’s hydrosphere and biosphere. From their reading and class time they’d broken up into groups and put their ideas down under headings of “Help,” “Harm,” and “Uses.”

Now, to have wandered through the new aquarium’s immersive experience, with the sharks, and sea turtles, eels, manta rays and brilliantly colored exotic fish around them, even above them, the lessons became real.

“It helps me more to know about the ocean,” he said, “and how I can help . . . and what else we can all do to help.”

At times, the crowd of children seemed awe-struck, with their eyes searching about. And other times they squealed aloud, laughing together and looking at each other’s reactions.

It was a beautiful sight, said Trailwoods Principal Leah Starr.

“I’ve seen a lot of kids have this experience for the first time,” she said. “I love hearing them laugh and point and scream out of excitement.”

LINC’s Caring Communities, in its before- and after-school programming and community programs in the Kansas City Public Schools and several other area districts, is constantly looking for ways to strengthen education and enrich children’s lives.

“We’re always looking for ways to connect kids with educational opportunities that are hands-on and more experiential,” said Melanie Scott, the LINC Caring Communities Coordinator at Trailwoods.

“Being able to come to this zoo (and aquarium) and help support them is a great way to connect the learning to real life,” she said.

“It was cool,” said 11-year-old Karla. “It was something new.” The sharks “were scary,” she said. The jellyfish “were weird, shaped weird, different colors, different shapes . . .”

The places inside where the walkways became almost surrounded around and above by the fish-filled water made it seem like the students were in the ocean itself.

“We went into this little place where the curved glass and all the fishes went around,” 10-year-old Arturo said. “You could sit down and it covered all my vision,” he said. “It was really good.”

And the lessons are going to continue, their teacher, Jordan Traub, said.

They’d spent time ahead of the field trip talking about the hydrosphere and the biosphere, their importance and how they interact, especially with the impact of humans, he said.

“To actually come here and see these things contextualizes it and lets them see the beauty around them and why we need to make sure that we are protecting . . . and being mindful of our role as caretakers of the planet,” he said.

“It’s going to be exciting time for the kids to share what piqued their curiosity and what got their interest going. Hopefully they’re able to take something away and realize they are part of a much bigger world and that they need to be responsible for it.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer

More photos below, click on the image to enlarge.