by Mary Knippel

Oceans Week mural, painted by the entire student body.

When Farallone View Elementary teacher Letha Pretre proposed making better use of local resources by using our Coastside for subject matter, she set in motion a 16-year-old lesson plan that has evolved from a special assembly into a full week of ocean-focused study. Months of preparation go into what has become known as Oceans Week where parents design, produce and present the curriculum and every student becomes a scientist, an artist, a poet, an environmentalist, and an archeologist. 

This year’s theme — Our Oceans: Work, Play, Respect! — took the students through a variety of parent-led experiences both inside and outside the classroom. Collaborating with both local and international organizations such as Save Our Shores, the Surfrider Foundation, the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, and the Pillar Point Harbor District, as well as the many Farallone View parents with expertise in related fields, students learned about water safety and marine rescue, commercial fishing and boating, and the effect of marine debris and pollution on our local watersheds. 

An interactive model built by Farallone View Elementary parent John DiNapoli represents 10 miles of the coastline from Pillar Point Harbor to Montara Beach and has become a popular exhibit which parents and students alike enjoy visiting. Plans are in the works for next year’s Oceans Week to include classroom assembly of another section of the model, adding three new miles of coastline to incorporate Devil’s Slide and the tunnel now under construction.

Farallone View Elementary PTA president Teresa MacNaughton spent the week overseeing every detail of the varied exhibits and presentations. She even made an emergency trip to the harbor to replace dead kelp in the wave energy and kelp forest exhibit. “I improvised a temporary simulation with a cork and some twine,” MacNaughton said, “but I know the kids wanted to see the real thing.” The wave tank demonstrated to the students how a wave occurs and what happens on the surface as well as below the surface. 

Students experienced a unique ocean adventure through guided visualization and customized yoga poses designed by another parent and Oceans Week volunteer Elizabeth McLeod. “Engaging their imagination, we take an underwater journey,” McLeod explained. “We row out into the middle of the ocean, dive down into a kelp forest and see different sea creatures.” McLeod lead the students in real yoga poses aptly named dolphin, crab walk and starfish.

An elaborate Oceans Week mural is painted by the entire student body and supervised by Farallone View art teacher and parent Julie Mell. This year, the mural was a giant paint-by-numbers undertaking. Students also eagerly lined up to make their own silk-screened T-shirts with the distinctive Oceans Week 2008 design.

Recycled plastic bags and bits of ribbon were part of the whimsical art lesson Farallone View parent Christine Olivero used in which students made a jellyfish. While they fashioned their free-flowing creatures, students learned how the petroleum in the bags was poison for the ocean. “Yes, we can bring these bags back to the store,” parent and Oceans Week volunteer Lise Collard told the class, “but they break down, so it’s better for the environment if we bring cloth bags we can use over and over again.” Funds from the sale of “People Bags,” which are fabric bags sold by the Friends of Farallone View PTA, help support school events such as Oceans Week.

Oceans Week is funded by Farallone View Elementary PTA fundraisers, parent volunteers, community support and an occasional grant. In 1998, National Semiconductor Corporation awarded its Internet Innovator Award to Farallone View Elementary teachers Shannon Taylor and Letha Pretre for the Oceans Project called “What’s in Your Ocean?” Through hands-on experiential learning and the Internet, the students explore the ocean in their backyard and gain a new understanding of the world around them. More importantly, they learn to make the connection between where they live and what they do. 

For more information about Farallone View Elementary, visit the school on the Web at www.cabrillo.k12.ca.us/faralloneview.