El Morro Elementary School

Principal's Message for the 2008-09 School Year

Welcome to the 2008-2009 school year at El Morro Elementary School.  This is an exciting period in the school’s history as our school has just been named a California Distinguished School.  We also continue to grow and evolve.  We are currently in the process of building two additional classrooms.  The entire building project should be completed by this coming June.  Our school is also surrounded by change as the State of California constructs the Crystal Cove Campground next to our campus.  Eventually, the stop light in front of our school will be moved to the entrance road for the State Park.  This should take place sometime in the summer of 2009.  The Laguna Beach Unified School District and I have been making every effort to protect the safety of our students and school community.  We are working hard to minimize and mitigate any impacts from the campground.  Together with the State Park we are working to create operational procedures to eliminate and minimize any noise impacts on our instructional program.  We are also working to create a safe and efficient traffic circulation plan for entering and exiting the school parking lot.

Our instructional focus remains early literacy skills in grades K-3.  Reading, writing, listening and speaking are taught and reinforced daily.  The upper grades (4 & 5) continue to reinforce literacy, as well as focusing on more complex standards in math, science and social studies.  Our Teachers collaborate in grade level Professional Learning Communities (PLC) each week.  These weekly PLC meetings not only allow the staff grade level collaboration to review student data, plan instructional strategies and design common assessments, they also enable articulation from grade to grade.   Response to Instruction (RtI), is how we intervene with students when they do not understand critical concepts or how we extend learning for students who have mastered concepts.  RtI allows us to differentiate our instruction to teach all students at their appropriate level, whether it is advanced, intermediate or emerging knowledge.  The Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program allows us to build a safe social and emotional environment for students and reduce interruptions to the teaching staff to maximize instructional time. 

El Morro Elementary is a school where teachers have a passion for teaching young students and helping them to develop a lifelong love of learning.  I look forward to working together to inspire of love of learning in all students! 

Principal's Message

Creating a Climate for Learning!

El Morro Elementary School is a place where everyone is someone special.  Our school is organized and designed to facilitate and enable “teachers to teach and students to learn.”   The efforts of the staff create a positive climate for learning at El Morro and are reflected in the accomplishments and achievements of our students.

We are a Professional Learning Community (PLC) that is dedicated to its children.  Every child has equal access to and is challenged by a rigorous and rich core curriculum in language arts, math, science, social studies and physical education.  The hard working and nurturing staff is both highly qualified and fully credentialed to teach elementary age children.  The teachers are dedicated to meeting the needs and learning styles of each student.  Involved parents, an active PTA, and a supportive community are a visible positive presence of campus.  Our school-wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) system is identified as a "best practice" by the Orange County Department of Education, and our three school-wide rules of Respect, Responsibility and Kindness contribute to a positive school climate.

It is for these reasons and many more that El Morro Elementary School was named as a California Distinguished School in 2008!