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Washington State Department of Ecology

Washington Ecology — Padilla Bay Reserve Education

The Washington Department of Ecology's Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve offers on-site and virtual field programs for students from pre-K through college, backed by an Estuary Guide curriculum in three teacher-guide levels, Level 1 for grades K through 3, Level 2 for grades 4 through 8, and Level 3 for grades 9 through 12, built to complement a Padilla Bay visit but adaptable to other Pacific Northwest sites. The Reserve also periodically offers paid stipends for teachers who complete climate-science professional development and bring it back to their classrooms.

Visit Washington Ecology — Padilla Bay Reserve Education ↗

What you will find there

  • On-site and virtual field trips to the Padilla Bay estuary for pre-K through college groups
  • Estuary Guide teacher guides in three levels: grades K-3, grades 4-8, and grades 9-12
  • Lost and (Puget) Sound, a stormwater video and curriculum for grades 3 through 9
  • Periodic teacher workshops, some with stipends, such as a past ocean-acidification session offering a stipend and STEM clock hours

Our take

Three teacher-guide levels built around one real estuary give a teacher a coherent multi-year resource rather than a single stand-alone lesson. The Reserve sits on Padilla Bay in Skagit County, near Mount Vernon, so an actual field visit is realistic mainly for regional schools, though the guides and virtual programs work statewide.

Pairs well with our materials