Sunken treasure? Bags of gold and silver? Might sound like the work of pirates or like a missing scene from the classic movie "The Goonies."

But a group of sixth graders in northern California made a surprising discovery while picking up "trash" around Lake Merritt, near Oakland, as part of a weekly clean up project. Even the adults were shocked!

What did they find? Two 15-lb canvas bags filled with gold jewelry, silver candlestick holders, ancient coins and more.

This morning on Early Start, five of the students from Saint Paul's Episcopal School in Oakland talk about the shock of finding the loot.

"I saw it first. We all kind of pulled it out," says Leah Winer. "I just saw two canvas bags. I saw the handles kind of floating in the water. And, I mean, they were way down in the ground, I couldn't move them. But, the top of them were kind of floating up to the top."

"One of the bags said Wells Fargo on it," says Isabel Torrence. "I don't know if that had anything to do with it. But, it was kind of - we found all this treasure in a Wells Fargo bag, and it was kind of funny."

The kids are part of a volunteer program that helps clean up the lake every week. Zoraida asks the kids if they've ever found anything interesting before in and around the lake.

"Well, we've never really found anything as interesting that I would like to say on the air," Gabriel Lee says, "But there were some pretty interesting things."

The kids say they hope the owners get their items returned, but if not they would like to have it donated to their school.

"I think it will be great if the owners were found," Torrence says. "I know what it's like to like lose something, probably not that valuable. And it's great when it's returned to you. So, it would be really nice if the owners were found, but if they aren't found, then if it went to the school, that would be also cool."

Despite getting up super early to be on national television, the kids will be going to class today.