Sand! Comparing and Contrasting Pacific and Atlantic Sand

Today we have been comparing and contrasting sand from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  We observed each specimen with the naked eye, by touch and beneath a microscope.  Here are some of the things we noticed:

Pacific Sand is:

-fine
-colorful: yellow, orange, red, silver-gray and clear grains
-sparkly
-hard
-sticky

    

Atlantic Sand is:

-coarse
-hard
-colorful: gold, red, dark brown, orange, gray and clear grains
-sticky
-sparkly

We give looking at sand under a microscope two thumbs up!

S.D. discovers that a book he was reading had a picture that looked similar to what he was seeing under the microscope.

Second grader's feel the difference between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean sand.