DISTRICT
_ Parents of children ages 8 months to 8 years: On Thursday, March 25, Block Fest is coming to the Sequim Community School gym, at 220 W. Alder St. To reserve a spot for you and your child, call 582-3428 or 681-2250 as space is limited. Two sessions already are filled, but there still are openings for the 2 p.m. session. This event is free. Children must be accompanied by a parent.
– Patsene Dashiell, First Teacher events coordinator
_ Parents: All branches of the North Olympic Library System will be closed from Monday, March 29, through Saturday, April 3, as a cost-saving measure. All employees will be on an unpaid furlough leave during this time. The library’s Web site will not be available, bins for returning library materials will be locked, community meeting rooms will not be available and all NOLS buildings will go dark. All NOLS libraries will reopen for business on Monday, April 5, at their regular times.
– Paula Barnes, library director
GREYWOLF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
_ The 2010 Music K-8 Cover Contest has a Greywolf fifth-grade winner. Every September/October, Music K-8, of Plank Road Publishing in Wisconsin, sponsors a music/art contest to design the cover of its May/June issues. Communications editor for the magazine Candy Schill says, "This music resource magazine for elementary and middle school music teachers has international circulation. Elementary and middle school artists from all over the United States, Canada, Central America and European countries comprised the 20,000 entrants this year."
Cortney Gosset, a Greywolf fifth-grade student, received Humorous Honorable Mention for "Hot Dog."
We at Greywolf are very proud of her achievement! Congratulations, Cortney! Congratulations to your daughter on being selected as one of the Most Humorous Honorable Mentions in our 2010 Music K-8 Cover Contest. Cortney is one of 392 youths honored from 20,000 worldwide entries.
– Gini Wuebold, music specialist
HELEN HALLER ELEMENTARY
_ Here are more limericks written by Andrea Slack’s third-grade class at Helen Haller Elementary:
There was a pot of gold.
One day it got some mold.
Although they say,
It ran away.
Too bad it was so old.
– Gabby Paulson
There once was a kid named Tid.
He thought he knew more than he did.
He saw a rainbow
And followed the glow
But he never found the gold – poor kid.
– Jacob Streck
There once was a shamrock named Fed.
Who tried to steal a bed.
But then he got caught
Which made him thought
He will steal a kite instead.
– Raymond Lam
There once was an old leprechaun
Who always rode a swan.
His name was Jake.
He thought he was fake
So he hid at early dawn.
– Madeline Patterson
There once was a clover named Pat.
She saw a scary, fat cat.
A cat can’t be scary
But it can eat a canary.
I can’t get away from that!
– Violet O’Dell
There once was a pot of gold.
My mom said it was old.
It broke one day
So I went to play.
And while I was gone it got sold.
– Austin Vorhies
There once was a leprechaun named Mick
Who made a great limerick.
He told it to his brother.
Then told it to his mother.
It made everyone very sick.
– Sawyer Nute
There once was a person so old
Who wanted to find some gold.
He didn’t find it.
So now he just sits.
Too old to find some gold.
– Yana Hoesel
There once was a leprechaun named Dean
Who was a little bit mean.
It will be a cinch
To give people a pinch
If they are not wearing green!
– Flora Walchenbach
There once was a monster named Fong
Who thought he was very strong.
I’m the best thing ever
I’ll be beaten never.
But he was very wrong!
– Jason Hall
SEQUIM MIDDLE SCHOOL
_ Read Beyond Reality – Teen Read Week … During the week of March 19-25, Sequim Middle School will be putting on Teen Read Week. Every day at lunch the library will be open to all for a bunch of fun activities like book Jeopardy, charades, book bingo, making bookmarks and tons of other fun things. In the language arts classrooms, students earn a chance to enter a competition to win books in several different ways. They can keep reading logs, answer daily trivia, create book blurbs and enter a class competition.
To cap it all off, Sequim Middle School will be hosting a Family Reading Night on March 24 (tonight) from 6:30-8 p.m. Noted author Suz Blackaby will read from her popular book, "Nest, Nook and Cranny." The book hosts a series of poems based on animals and their habitats. In the back of her book, she has a section that explains what poetic forms she used for the poems and why. She will also hold a special writing workshop from 12:45-2:45 p.m. for 15 students selected from a pool of applicants. That night there will be chances to win books, gift certificates and movie tickets. Two reading sessions will take place from 6:43-7:03 and 7:06-7:26 p.m. Punch, coffee and cookies will be provided. Come and join us in making Reading Beyond Reality!
– Elizabeth Lawson and Gina Hietpas, teachers
_ The Americanism Essay Contest is an annual event sponsored by the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. This year’s theme was "The American Dream: What Is It?" Students compete in the fifth-/sixth-grade division or seventh-/eighth-grade division. The lodge was excited to receive 66 essays. Winners, teachers and their families were guests at the St. Patrick’s Day social night sponsored by Sequim Elks Lodge No. 2642. Students submitting essays came from Greywolf Elementary, Jennifer Lopez’s class; Sequim Middle School, Mike Galligan’s classes; and Eric Danielson’s class, Helen Haller Elementary.
– Maura Mattson, essay coordinator
SEQUIM COMMUNITY SCHOOL
_ Timothy Wilkinson’s fifth-/sixth- and seventh-/eighth-grade classes are enjoying a complex financial education program. Students earn "Ideal School Supply Money" for coming to class on time with all their materials. The amount the earn depends on the grade they get on their assignments. They also are invited to run their own businesses or to participate in Random Acts of Kindness projects to earn additional funds. Every two weeks students pay "rent" for their seats in the room; more comfortable or spacious seats cost more than others. Students also pay fines for misbehavior or failing to clean up after themselves. The funds they earn can be used to purchase items at a quarterly auction. Students have a "virtual" bank account and must use deposit and withdrawal slips and balance their account each month.
_ This year’s Olympic Peninsula Academy drama production is "A Grimm Night for Hans Christian Anderson," featuring Addison Harris as Hans Christian Anderson, and Emily McFarland and Amariah Clift as the Sisters Grimm. In this production, Hans Christian Anderson gets a visit from the Sisters Grimm, leading to a comic face-off between the characters in their stories.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 4; and 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 5 in the Performing Arts Building at Sequim High School, 533 N. Sequim Ave.
– Terralyn Dokken, OPA secretary
__First Teacher Happenings:
Wednesday, March 24 – Kids Craft at 10:30 a.m. Create an egg carton caterpillar
Thursday, March 25 – Parent Connection with Nicole Brewer at 10 a.m. Come meet other parents and talk about relative parenting topics while your children play together. For more information about Parent Connection, contact Nicole at 461-9992
Beginning Friday, March 26 – First Teacher will be closed for spring break until Monday, April 5
Tuesday, March 30 – WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) is set up in the First Teacher room from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information about the WIC program, contact Pam Walker at 417-2275
For more information about the First Teacher program, call 582-3428 or 681-2250.
– Patsene Dashiell, First Teacher events coordinator
SEQUIM HIGH SCHOOL
_ Five students in Brad Moore’s CAD class have qualified for the semifinal round of the West Point Bridge Design Contest wherein they could win a trip to West Point Military Academy in New York to compete in the final round. This is a national contest with thousands of students that involves designing a truss-type bridge on the computer and competing against students from across the country. Our teams placed very high in the qualifying round and consist of the following students:
First in Zone Four – Ben Clendening, Jared Forshaw (second nationally)
Third in Zone Four – Byron Boots, Blake Bryant (ninth nationally)
Fifth in Zone Four – Evan Hill
If they are able to finish in the top five at the end of the semifinal round competed on Monday, then they will qualify for the finals in New York where they will compete for a $5,000 scholarship to their school of their choice; plus all finals teams will come home with a laptop computer.
– Brad Moore, CAD teacher
_ Sequim High School will offer online course selection for next year’s classes. Students will select classes during English on Thursday, March 25. For absent students, a workshop will be from 2:45-3:15 p.m. on Monday, April 5, in the library. A counselor will be available to answer questions about registration.
– Maria Roragen, counseling secretary
