Ocean Week is a celebration of our marine environment and the work your students have accomplished through the MARE curriculum!
Students, teachers, administrators, and parents work together to transform an entire school into a laboratory for the discovery and exploration of the ocean. During the event, classroom walls and floors may disappear under 3-D tidepools and kelp forests; whales and giant squid may dangle from hallway ceilings; as textbooks give way to real experiences, posters, bones, puppets, library books and sand from all over the world. Most importantly, everyone at the school works together, sharing skills and resources, and teaching each other about the importance of the ocean to all life on Earth.
See the Getting Started with MARE document or the “Ocean Week Planning Cookbook” document in the MARE curriculum binders for more information about how to plan, implement, and enjoy Ocean Week in your school.
As you conclude your Ocean Week, consider sending out a survey or email poll to all participants in your school or club. Feedback is a key component of improving any program and while we all work very hard to design the best Ocean Week schedules…it is helpful to know what works and what needs to change for the future.
To deter complaints and criticism, send a request that participants complete this sentence: “For next year’s Ocean Week plan we should try ______________________.” For example, our Ocean Week Family Night was so crowded; we had trouble moving families through our hallways. One participant replied “For next year’s Ocean Week plan we should try a defined traffic pattern with arrows on the hallway floors to keep traffic moving one way.” A second great idea was born out of this survey: a participant replied “For next year’s Ocean Week plan we should try a T-shirt factory with parent helpers. Classes can come to the T-shirt factory and print their MARE T-shirts. It is often overwhelming to print 25 T-shirts in your classroom, so this would house all supplies and get parents involved in this fun activity.”
The feedback helps to cater the Ocean Week experience to your own school’s unique needs and it helps to keep MARE growing and moving forward!