April 2012
Posted April 30, 2012
Spring has arrived and the students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades will venture off campus to experience first-hand what they’ve learned in the classroom and see how it can apply to their everyday lives.
The 3rd graders will visit the historic Getty Villa in Malibu, an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. Not only is the museum the home of an impressive art collection; it was also part of the home of a world famous businessman and has a history of its own. In 1954, oil tycoon J. Paul Getty opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades. Quickly running out of room, he built a second museum, the Getty Villa, on the property down the hill from the original gallery. The villa design was inspired by the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum and incorporated additional details from several other ancient sites. It opened in 1974, but was never visited by Getty, who died in 1976.
The 4th graders will be visiting the San Gabriel Mission. The mission project is an integral part of the 4th grade curriculum and the students will have the opportunity to experience the rich history and beautiful architecture in person. The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish missions in California.
The 5th graders will be visiting the Griffith Observatory where they will participate in a 2 1/2 hour program with exhibit, building and theater experiences. The program uses the Observatory’s telescope, exhibit, and building content as well as programs in the Samuel Oshin Planetarium and Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. Museum guides and observatory lecturers will guide students in standards-based learning experiences using the unique facilities. Each component of the program is designed to complement the others and to support the 5th grade education standards.
Special thanks to the Field Trip Committee for working with the teachers and administration to suggest and arrange such amazing experiences for the students.
Beginning Monday, April 22, the Elementary School will celebrate Earth Day for a whole week. Some of the planned activities include a garbage-sorting relay, studying trash around the world, and a group research project on the planetary biomes such as the tundras, forests, deserts, and grasslands.
On April 27, the 4th and 5th graders will break out their dancing shoes and sequined-covered clothes for the Annual Dance. The children selected a Disco theme and will boogie the night away from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at Overland Campus.