In the classroom -- A Back Bay lesson

Deirdre Newman

When author Joan Pizzo visits Sonora Elementary School in Costa Mesa

on Thursday as part of the annual Author’s Festival, the students will

know all about the habitat of the title character in one of her books --

“Amy Avocet, The Back Bay Ballerina.”

Sonora students from the school visited the Back Bay last week for a

guided tour of the wetlands and the various animals that inhabit them.

The field trip to the Marine Studies Center at Shellmaker Island was a

chance to gain knowledge of a subject close to home before Pizzo’s visit.

“We felt it was important to have the experience before the author

comes to build the language that’s specific to the Back Bay and all the

vocabulary she would be using,” Principal Lorie Hoggard said.

Donna Carroll, a naturalist with Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends,

shared her expertise of the Back Bay creatures with the Sonora students.

At Shellmaker Island, Carroll led a discussion on endangered species,

such as the clapper rail. Then she held up a poster board with different

bird and duck beaks, comparing a slender beak for probing mud with a

longer, broader beak for spearing prey.

Carroll’s timing was impeccable -- as she held up the stuffed head of

a great blue heron, describing it as the biggest bird to grace Shellmaker

Island with its presence, a blue heron appeared in the marshes, partially

camouflaged by the reeds.

The students stood spellbound, trying to discern the outline of the

bird in its native environment. Soon an egret flew overhead, distracting

the students’ attention.

Many students brought their cameras and tried taking pictures of the

different species.

Third-grader Jojo Hook feverishly took pictures and managed to get

some of a hummingbird and eagle.

“Everything here is cool,” Jojo said, revealing that he wants to be a

zoologist when he grows up.

His mom, Becky, who chaperoned the field trip, appreciated the

opportunity to become familiar with one of Newport Beach’s educational

and environmental gems.

“I think it’s great that they come out here and learn about this

stuff. I didn’t even know it was here, and I was born and raised in this

area,” Becky said.

After the field trip, the students wrote about their Back Bay

experience, Hoggard said. One student was chosen from each class to

attend the Parent-Child Author’s Tea with Pizzo on Thursday, the day of

the author’s festival.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Deirdre Newman visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa area and writes

about her experience.