A science lesson in Amy Castaldo’s third-grade class took a creative turn when students put together dioramas that included many native plants in salt marshes that they were learning about. As they learned about the importance of salt marsh ecosystems and the benefits they provide to both humans and the environment, they discovered the distinct zones of vegetation determined by elevation and how they shield land from coastal storms. They were also taught many new vocabulary words including phragmites, photosynthesis and intertidal as well as many of the plants such as purple plume, glasswort and sea lavender that they used to dot the shoreline of their dioramas while seaweed seemed to float in the water on many of their projects.