Elleda Wilson: Little fire of learning
Jan. 26—"When the sperm whale arrived last weekend, we discussed sperm whales and read some stories upon returning to school on Tuesday," Melissa Ooms, a kindergarten teacher at Warrenton Grade School wrote. "When the second whale arrived, we compared the different species
"... When I saw that the large whale had been tagged, spray-painted with the word 'EAST,' Thursday night, I was devastated." At first, she thought perhaps the Seaside Aquarium may have been marking the location, but no. The poor whale had actually been the victim of graffiti.
"I sadly informed the students on Friday, and they were so saddened, surprised and fired up! This occurrence was included in our literacy lesson as they asked how to write the words to express 'love' and 'whale.' They decided to draw pictures in support of the whales and to denounce the graffiti. At one point, they spontaneously broke out into chanting, 'No EAST on the whale! No EAST on the whale!'
The plan was for the class to go visit the whale, hang their whale support signs up for a bit, have a discussion, then take down the signs. "... Alas, the weather interfered," Melissa recalled. "It turned out to be the absolutely windiest day I've ever experienced! However, families still showed up to view the whale we'd been learning about all week."
"... The little fire of learning about our coastal animals and environment we are so blessed to live near has been lit," she added, "and I am very, very proud as a teacher."
