Ocean Avenue Elementary School

Principal's Message

I would like to welcome you to Ocean Avenue Elementary School and give you a brief overview of our wonderful school.  Ocean Avenue Elementary School is a warm and welcoming learning community where students learn through experience.  Our curriculum is carefully framed on knowledge about children’s physical, social and intellectual growth.  It is based on what children need to learn and research about how they learn. 

Several years ago our District embarked on a journey to embed Responsive Classroom philosophy and practices into our schools.  Responsive Classroom is not a program, but rather a philosophical belief that the social and emotional curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.  How students learn is as important as what they learn.  Research shows us that great cognitive growth occurs through social interactions.  

 At Ocean Avenue we believe knowing the students we teach – individually, culturally and developmentally – is as important as knowing the content we teach.  Knowing the families of the students we teach is as important as knowing the students we teach.  We believe in a careful balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated learning and strive to develop problem-solving ability both socially and academically.  Our teachers provide an orderly, consistent and predictable approach to learning that nurtures empowerment and self-respect and the social skills of cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control.  Our goals are respectful, relevant and realistic.  Each student is viewed as an individual with a unique learning style.

We at Ocean take tremendous pride in our caring school family.  We provide exciting, productive and enjoyable learning experiences for all of our students.  We thank you for your interest in our school and invite you to explore our website.  Your comments and questions are welcome and appreciated.