Living North County

Students explored six different North County communities through the lenses of their different classes: Humanities, Spanish, Physics, & Math. We visited Carlsbad, Encinitas, Escondido, Oceanside, Vista, and San Marcos. Students not only visited the cities, but scheduled and conducted interviews, filmed activities that high school students engage with in these areas, created short films, designed info-graphics, and studied the culture of these various communities in depth. Ultimately, in groups of nine, students designed an eighteen box spinner that was displayed at our exhibition.

Teacher Reflection:

Taking a close look at what exists in our communities, in our own backyards was definitely the highlight of this project for us. So often, we think of history as what exists in books, but the truth is that we are constantly making history, and that history is living in our communities right here and now. One of the highlights of the field trips for us was watching our students hike through Annie’s Canyon in Encinitas. What was interesting for the students to realize was that the subjects that they are studying in school can apply to their everyday lives in the communities in which they live. We also really enjoyed having a challenging product for the students to collaboratively build with their hands. Student Reflection:

I liked getting to talk in Spanish during the exhibition. It was really fun. I didn’t know that San Marcos was known as a chicken park.

—Mariana

The Surf Museum in Oceanside was really interesting, and it was cool to see Bethany Hamilton’s surfboard. The building of the box was pretty fun too. There were times that it was stressful when things couldn’t fit and you had to request for more, but at the end, seeing the finished project was pretty cool. I mean, we made that.

—Jake To learn more about this project visit http://www.misscarolcabrera.com/living-north-county.html