Full plate at El Morro School

Melanie Lewis

As busy as ever, the campus at El Morro is abuzz with springtime

events. The Talent Show was once again an amazing pool of great El

Morro third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students. At this sold-out

event -- directed by Chris Barton and Lisa Mansour and assisted by

many other wonderful volunteer parents -- the students continue to

impress us with their individual talents. The rain didn’t keep the

crowds from enjoying the singing, dancing and acting routines the

students put together. Thank you to all who participated in this

wonderful annual event.

One part of the fifth-grade curriculum is participating in the

Walk-Through American Revolutionary War. In costume, the students

each represent an important player in the American Revolutionary

period. By memorizing lines and acting out scenes, they came away

feeling a real part of history.

The fourth-graders completed the annual California Mission study.

Each student presented a project representing a California Mission.

Displaying them in the multipurpose room allowed all of the El Morro

students to see their craftsmanship. Once again our students

participate in what was an important part of our state history.

Throughout the campus, grade levels are participating in field

trips. These opportunities are important to the extended education

that El Morro offers our students, through our PTA program. Visits to

the Natural Museum of History, Ocean Institute, Crystal Cove State

Park, Discovery Center and many other sites allows our students to

stretch their learning capacity beyond the classroom.

Read Across America, celebrated each year on the anniversary of

Dr. Seuss’ birthday, March 2, involves many parents and community

volunteers who come to each class and spend an hour reading and

sharing experiences of the importance of reading with the students.

Mrs. Blanton, a third grade teacher who presented the program to the

school, continues to share her love of reading with all of us and the

love of reading is spreading like wildfire!

Every Tuesday and Thursday, frenzy has been occurring at

lunchtime. Our new lunchtime activity program has our students

playing organized sports with Principal Duddy, leading the way, and

parent volunteers are leading crafts and games. Our most popular item

is lanyard making, which we all did when we were kids.

The jog-a-thon is our largest PTA fundraiser. Chairwomen Melissa

Cavanaugh and Stacy Gavin have done a fantastic job of raising the

excitement and energy level of the community and students to make

this another successful event. With the donations by all involved,

many of our extracurricular activities provided to the students are a

result of this fundraiser. It is a wonderful way for the students to

participate in making a difference in their school.

Thank you to all for making this another fantastic year at El

Morro.

* MELANIE LEWIS is president of the El Morro PTA