CARLSBAD -- Sixty officers and enlisted men of the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain spent much of Wednesday at Calavera Hills Elementary School rocking to live music, playing games, and chowing down with the children and parents they have come to know as friends over the last year.

"These are my kids," said the ship's chaplain, Lt. Diedrich Graham, finishing a fast swing dance with poodle-skirted Jessica Chestnut, 11, to a hot version of Elvis Presley's "Blue Suede Shoes" during a sixth-grade class performance in the Coyote Cavern multipurpose room.

The San Diego-based ship and crew are deploying Monday to Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and on to Korea in a cruise expected to take at least five months.

The ship and school have been working in partnership since last summer through arrangements made by first-grade teacher Chris Durnan. Her daughter, Lt. j.g. Erin Durnan, now of the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa, was serving on the Lake Champlain.

Durnan said she came up with the idea when "last summer, after we were in Iraq, the staff was sitting around saying 'what can we do?' "

Since then, students and crewmen have been exchanging e-mail messages, and crew members have repeatedly visited classrooms, reading, working on art projects, and playing with the children. Crew members brought videos to show students about life on a Navy combat ship.

Fifth-graders took a cruise on the 376-crew ship in January from San Diego to Seal Beach.

The short cruise "was really exciting because we got to see little dolphins and such," said Maria Lua, 10, of Oceanside.

"It was like really fun," said Jessica Greene, 11, of Carlsbad. "We could explore places and see how they drive the ship."

"We got to see how they live and work in their daily lives," said Trevor Fox, 10, of Carlsbad. "It can be fun, and it can be boring."

Parents, teachers, sailors and students said the visits and the relationships built over the months have been good for children and sailors. T-shirts handed out to the crewmen Wednesday bore both the ship's name and the school's coyote logo.

"These kids are great," said Chaplain Graham. "They're smart, articulate, and very insightful about world events and what we are doing. I can thankfully say the future is in good hands."

Spending so much time with the sixth-graders has also helped to fill a hole in his life. He hasn't seen his 14-year-old daughter, Diedre, back home in Mobile, Ala., in 18 months because of a tour in Japan and with his ship getting under way, it will be months more.

"I can't be where she is, and to be able to spend some time with these kids helps fill the gap. Hopefully, I'll be able to see her in October," he said.

Durnan said her first-graders eagerly await the visits in the program, recently named the most outstanding educational program in the city by the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.

"They are always asking 'when are they coming? When are they coming?' " she said.

Sixth-grader Jessica Chestnut said she has enjoyed the experience, but doesn't know if she will join the Navy. "I used to think it wouldn't be any fun, but they say they still get to live a normal life on ships -- pretty normal."

Tal Haflan of Carlsbad, 11-year-old lead guitarist for the program, said the sailors are "really awesome. They helped the kids who have parents who are out in Iraq. They set an example for all of the kids in school and what they should do when they grow up."

Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Suekoff of Baltimore said he's learned from the second-graders with whom he's spent most of his time.

"I have a young daughter (20 months) and it gives me a chance to see how she is going to develop," he said. "These kids are great. They are enthusiastic, energetic, and they are like sponges ready to absorb."

Petty Officer 2nd Class Vincent Enlow of Yuma, Ariz., said he spent most of his time with a third-grade class and "these kids are awesome. They learn about everything going on in the world, and it's great to give them something tangible, something positive. We serve the country when we are deployed, but this gives us something to do on the home front. It kind of reminds us what it's all for."

Parent Elsa Torres of Oceanside said her four children eagerly await the visits. "It means a lot to the kids." As for the sailors, "I think they really need to be around the kids before they leave," she said.

Carissa Helms of Carlsbad said her kindergarten son, Jared, 6, just had to go shopping for lots of red, white and blue hats and clothes for the day.

"He especially loved that they came to class and actually stayed all day and played with them rather than (like most visitors) an hour."

Teachers said the program will not stop with the deployment. Sailors have plans to read books on video to send to the students, and the children are planning letter-writing campaigns.

One of the last performances for the sailors was the old standby, "Moon River," with the line "Wherever you're going, I'm going your way."

Contact staff writer Tim Mayer at (760) 901-4043 or tmayer@nctimes.com.