Ocean Park Elementary's fourth grade classes gave this colorful thank you note — err, poster — to the Dunes Pool, which hosted weekly swim lessons for the students in January and February.

OCEAN PARK — It’s been a busy start to 2025 for students at Ocean Park Elementary.

Fourth graders at OPE wrapped up a two-month program in late February at the Dunes Pool where they received weekly swim lessons, while the return of the March Reading Challenge will see students win prizes for showing off their reading skills.

And there’s more fun activities to come later this month, starting March 25 when The 5th Avenue Theatre visits OPE as part of the Seattle-based theater’s educational touring show.

Students will take in a performance of “Songs of the Moon: Fantastical Folktales from Asia,” a musical that follows three Asian American students who must decide which story to perform for their community at the annual Harvest Festival. The theater’s visit is being funded by Friends of Ocean Park.

A few days later, OPE students will also have the chance to show off their skills at a talent show. The show is scheduled for 1 p.m. on March 28.

Swim lessons

Every Wednesday morning in January and February, each of the fourth grade classes at OPE made the quick trek to the pool at the Dunes Bible Camp. There, the classes participated in rotations from 8-11 a.m., with students receiving lessons from instructors while lifeguards were also on hand to help ensure student safety.

The Dylan Jude Harrell Community Center assisted OPE in organizing and coordinating the instructors who taught the weekly lessons, OPE Principal Erin Porro said.

The lessons were made possible through funding from the Verna S. Oller Aquatic Trust, which has been supporting local swimming programs and projects since her passing in 2010. A separate charitable organization, the Verna S. Oller Foundation, has also been supporting educational efforts at peninsula schools for a dozen years.

Funds from the aquatic trust were initially set aside at Oller’s request to go toward the construction of an indoor swimming pool in Long Beach. After city officials declined a $5 million bequest to build the pool in 2013, much of the funds were distributed to the Ocean Beach Education Foundation, while some were set aside to fund local swimming and water safety-related programs and projects, including at the Dunes Pool and Astoria Aquatic Center.

OPE students in previous years have traveled to the aquatic center in Astoria for lessons, but Porro said the school was approached by the Dunes Bible Camp last year with an opportunity to hold the lessons at their pool instead — a proposal that OPE “jumped at” due to its close proximity, Porro said.

“Swimming lessons are an essential life skill, particularly in coastal communities, equipping students with vital water safety knowledge and the confidence to navigate the water safely,” she added about the value of the lessons that the fourth graders received to start the new year.

Reading challenge

This month sees the return of the March Reading Challenge at OPE, where students will earn tokens for the school’s giant gumball machine that is filled with fun prizes by reading Accelerated Reader books.

Accelerated Reader is an educational program that is designed to monitor and manage students’ independent reading practice and comprehension, assessing their performance through quizzes and tests on books they have read.

During the month of March, each token that a student earns gives them a turn at the gumball machine, where they will either score a small prize or find a special note that leads to a bigger reward. Prizes include the likes of LEGO sets, craft kits, bubbles, science kits, movie tickets, Play-Doh, and more.

Porro highlighted the following individuals and groups for their prize donations to help support the reading challenge: Eagles Auxiliary, Neptune Movie House, Ramona and Rick Ulbricht, Peggy Bleckov, and Allan Martin.

The reading challenge was started four years ago under then-OPE Principal Sheena Burke and Toni Fitting, the school’s librarian, with the goal of making reading even more exciting. The school also welcomes community volunteers to read with students daily through OPE’s Sandpiper Story Squad.

“The reading challenge nurtures a love for books, enhances literacy skills, and fosters a sense of community by bringing students, families and staff together,” said Porro. “It encourages students to see reading as an enjoyable adventure rather than just a task, helping to build their confidence and motivation as lifelong readers.”