K–12 Education

Ocean Month at Olive Elementary

Olive Elementary, located in the San Diego County Vista Unified School district celebrated their first annual Ocean Month with an exciting kick-off event on April 19. Students were greeted on their arrival by a wet-suited surfer on the roof of the school....to the tune of Surfing USA playing over the PA. An Ocean Month assembly was held amidst newly painted murals, featuring the habitats of the featured in the K-5 curriculum...ponds, tide pools, wetlands, kept forests, and open oceans. A bilingual sing-along featuring "Octopus" and "Down by the Bay" started the festivities and highlights included the Scripps Institute of Oceanography's Birch Aquarium van--complete with a giant whale and other sea creatures (costumed volunteers!). Students each received their own blue Ocean Month t-shirt, designed by Assistant Principal, Kim Tullis.

Highlights of Olive's Ocean Month included:

• Student rotations among grade level teachers to learn a variety of lessons about their habitat throughout the month.
  
• Kindergartners created live pond habitats and made paper ponds murals in their classrooms. They learned about water and water homes.

• First Graders visited the rocky seashore at low tide and had the Birch Aquarium staff visit with live sea creatures. They made rocky seashore murals in their classrooms.

• Second Graders took a field trip to the Birch Aquarium and participated in an "I love a Clean San Diego" beach clean-up at Oceanside Pier. They investigated what kinds of things might wash up on a sandy beach.

• Third Graders took field trips to a local lagoon and a fish hatchery. They learned all about mollusks, birds, and crayfish.
  
• Fourth Graders enjoyed studying real fish and experienced "adaptation" when turning a student into a fish via fish costumes. They also visited the Birch Aquarium to see a real kelp forest.

• Fifth Graders enjoyed dissecting squid and studying marine plankton.

As a culmination, over 1000 members of the school community, including students, family members, teachers, administrators, and local scientists came together for an Ocean Month grand finale. Birch Aquarium scientists were on hand to teach about whale acoustics and deep sea fishes, and different grade levels set up activities from their habitat focus. Principal Hector Menchaca and assistants prepared a hot dog dinner for all and local musicians and Ballet Folklorico provided entertainment.