Loreto Street Elementary Events

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Orange County Marine Institute
Dana Point, California

Funded by Annenberg monies, students from the 8 Lincoln Family of Schools have been scheduled to take part in a variety of programs at the Orange County Marine Institute. The July 1998 activities were:

The Onshore Lab

At the Orange County Marine Institute’s Onshore Lab, students rotated among 5 stations including Touch Tank, Squid Dissection, Dock to collect data on water properties, Plankton Observation through microscopes, and Algae and its properties.

A highlight of the Squid Dissection was that it was telecommunicated back to Loreto for students who were unable to participate in the trip. These students completed a diagram of a squid’s internal and external anatomy as guided by our students doing the actual dissection. Our students then had a question and answer period to complete the teleconference.

The Pilgrim

Sixty 4^th and 5^th grade students, along with 9 Loreto staff members, experienced an exciting overnight adventure aboard a replica of the 1830 sailing vessel “Pilgrim.” On board the Pilgrim, they recreated the voyage taken by Richard Henry Dana from Boston to California, as chronicled in his book Two Years Before the Mast.

In preparation for this 18-hour journey, students had to prepare for their role as out-of-work farmers who are attempting to begin lives as sailors. They had to learn the ways of a sailor by learning how to tie a variety of knots, keeping night watch, telling time through ringing of bells, learning about sails, understanding the importance of the hide trade, understand the concept of pulleys and levers, sing sailor chanteys, and in general, work and live the life of a sailor.

Loreto Visits U.C.L.A.!

In June 1997, as part of Loreto's Career Awareness and Higher Education focus, second grade teacher Lucy Ligh arranged for all of our students from Kindergarten through 5th grade to take a tour of the UCLA campus. As Lucy shared with reporter Joe Rico on the local news, "One focus of our school is to provide opportunity for our children to see what's out there in the world." Among the highlights of the tour was learning the UCLA cheer, visiting campus libraries, the computer lab, Pauley Pavilion, Fowler Museum, the botanical gardens, and fountains. In response to an interview question, Principal Nancy Parachini stated, "Our goal is to motivate our students and open up that this is a dream that is possible for them."

Family Bubble Night

In the spring of 1997, over 150 enthusiastic parents and students participated in our first Bubble Night. Participants rotated among 6 stations including: swimming pool bubbles, bubble skeletons, bubble foam, bubble walls, bubble measurement, and frozen bubbles.

Mural of Independence

This mural of Goya's "Los Fusilamientos del 3 de mayo" depicts a scene from the independence of Spain from the French. It was painted by Jose Giron and dramatized by students in Roman Gutierrez's second grade class.