More photos on the way!
Category Archives: STEM Science…
6th Grade Catalina Trip: Invertebrate Lab
Sixth Graders Arrive Safely in Catalina
Team 6 has arrived, settled in, and enjoying some down time after the long boat ride. Stay posted…
6th Grade On the Way to Catalina Camp Fox!
Music News from OTA • Why We Teach Music: Music Education Makes Kids Smarter and Keeps Their Brains Young!
- OTA Music Lab Teaching Intern & Choir Director Anthony Kaneaster is on his way to an International Choir Competition in Korea with his UC Irvine based choir group Men in Blacque. The group took home 3 gold medals at the 2010 world games. Good luck Mr. Anthony! Listen to sample from their repertoire: Shenandoah.
- In the OTA Piano Lab students in Grades K-8 learn to read music, play piano, and train the ear using Solfege (Do-Re-Mi).
- OTA orchestra builds on the ear training and music reading work that students do in Piano Lab. Watch and Listen to some selections from the OTA Orchestra repertoire.
Why 9 Years of Music Education at Old Town Academy?
OTA Student Simone’s brain-on-music at the “Mainly Mozart and the Mind” festival!
At the “Mainly Mozart and the Mind” concert last month we learned from Northwestern university professor Nina Krauss that 6-12 years of music education (playing an instrument) not only makes you smarter, it actually prevents the brain from aging!
More confirmation that we are on the right track at OTA with our focus on early learning advantage courses in the Kiwanis Club of San Diego Piano Lab and our schoolwide focus on Music, Math, & Science.
ST Math program (the innovative visual learning software that Continue reading
8th Graders on the Way Back from Yosemite
Thank You Mr. Major and Ms. Christensen for making this great Outdoor Ed experience possible. Thank you to our 7 parent-volunteers who drove, camped, and hiked with their children!
OTA 6th Grade Leaving Catalina Camp Fox for Home
We’re coming back!!!
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OTA Robotics Team Competes in “Mission to Mars” Botball Tournament
Come down and watch the action Saturday April 6 as OTA Students compete against middle and high school teams in the Greater San Diego Botball Tournament. Schedule is below.
Team Members Max, RT, Xavier (Not pictured: Judge Katz, George Riffle, Tom Doar)
This year’s model is the Mars Rover robot. Students must build and program two types of robots to work together collecting samples and returning them to base
“These are the sort of things that 10, 12, 15 years ago computer science PhDs were working on, and now you’ve got 12, 14, 15 year old students doing it.”
– David Lavery,
Solar System Explorations, NASA
OTA Botball Team’s Robots:
To learn more and get directions to the tournament…
Sixth Grade Campers all safe at the site, setting up tents
Mr Major says they’ve sighted 4 deer & 20 wild turkeys so far!! Given the overcast weather, this may be more of a nature study than a Camping with the Stars but the trip is off to a great start. Continue reading
8th Grade Marine Biology at La Jolla Shores
The 8th graders received a primer on marine ecology during their first Outdoor Ed/Field Science day at La Jolla Cove Marine Preserve this past week. Working with local outdoor adventure company Positive Adventures, our students were able to discover a little more about themselves, their classmates, and some of the creatures that live within our local marine habitat. Of particular interest, our students received an in-depth talk about the similarities and differences between California Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) & California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus):
For slideshow…