CHAPTER ONE AT THE BEACH beach Their family goes to the lake tia and Marcus love going to the There’s so much to do that it never gets old every weekend during the summer The sun seems to shine extra brightly today Tia and Marcus put sunscreen on Then they start building sandcastles Marcus wants to build a tall castle with a moat Tia will build a small castle with lots of details She even made flags at home to decorate it Building sandcastles is a fun family activity at the beach 5
Tia and Marcus set up their buckets and shovels near the water The sand here is wet but not too wet They pack sand into buckets and carefully flip them over Marcus starts with a big base Each level gets smaller as he builds higher Then he digs a narrow moat He connects it to the lake The water flows around his sandcastle Tia carefully draws lines into her castle’s walls She doesn’t want the sand to crumble She drips watery sand down the other side for decoration She builds small towers They’re perfect for her flags When she finishes her castle she looks at Marcus It will be tough to decide what to do next BEACH BASICS Beaches are strips of land along bodies of water such as lakes or oceans The materials covering beaches such as sand or rocks are usually shaped by erosion Erosion is the process in which water and wind wear down rocks Erosion from the ocean can create steep cliff faces 6
