The Third Grade at Captain Cooper School is taught by Helen Logan Hays, the newest credentialed member of the staff. The beauty of Big Sur invites young learners to explore their area to build understandings about their natural world. Since Helen began teaching at Captain Cooper, fourth graders have continued to emphasize learning language arts and math skills, but many writing opportunities and data analyses have been incorporated into the study of science. Helen has brought her interest and her experience in elementary science learning to her classroom and to the rest of the school. She has been active in statewide science education since 1987.
All classrooms have access to the Web as well.
In addition to studying environmental science on monthly field trips to local state parks, students use technology to deepen their understandings. They continue with research on The Net, write about their environmental studies using word processing, and are learning how to format their writings into a student published newsletter. In addition to providing rich opportunities for increasing scientific understandings, Big Sur offers learners historically significant sites to study, as well. The Point Sur Lighthouse is located less than two miles north, just off Highway 1. Andrew Molera State Park, where interpretive displays about ranching in the late nineteenth century are being developed, is even closer.