DISTRICT

Ballots are due by Feb. 9 for the school facilities bond.

There is no school on Friday, Feb. 12, and Monday, Feb. 15. The district office will be open on Feb. 12, but will close Feb. 15 in observance of Presidents Day.

A School Bond Walking Tour will be offered at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6. The tour begins in the boardroom at 503 N. Sequim Ave., and includes campus sites that would be affected by the bond passage around Sequim High School, the district’s base kitchen and Helen Haller Elementary. For more information, contact Patsene Dashiell at 582-3264.

GREYWOLF ELEMENTARY

Family movie night is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9. Call the school office at 582-3300 for more details.

HELEN HALLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Gail Kite’s students have been working on poetry this past week. The class is learning about rhyming schemes, internal rhymes, stanzas, figurative language and repetition. Here are some examples they wrote:

If the world was crazy you know what I’d do?

I’d walk off the earth and sleep in a shoe

I would call myself crazy and look really cool

I would bounce and pounce and say I was new

I could say I was new but that’s not really true

That’s what I’d do if the world was crazy.

If the world was crazy you would what I’d be?

I would be a gorilla and smell like vanilla

I would be a pig and dance a jig

I would be a frog and dance with a hog

That’s what I’d be if the world was crazy.

If the world was crazy you know what I’d sing?

I would sing a croak and act like a dope

I would sing a song and play a cog

I would sing a horse and play of course

I would sing a frog and play a log

That’s what I’d sing if the world was crazy.

— By Abraham Torres

If I was a dog

I’d wag my tail

If I was a dog

I’d bite a whale

If I was a cat

I’d sleep all day

If I was a cat

On my side I’d lay

— By Callie Arnold

“Life”

No one cares who I really am

All they care about is my cute little lamb

No one cares about what I wear

All they care about is my pretty hair

No one cares about what’s inside

All they care about is what I have to hide

— By Savannah Minker

“The First to be Cursed”

If I was the first to be cursed

I would freak and be a geek

If I was a dork I would see a cork

If I was the first to be cursed

I would say I had no clue

If I was the first to be cursed

I would say I was scared

If I was scared I would be a chair

If I was a chair I would be sat on

If I was the first to be cursed

I would turn to hair

If I was the first to be cursed

I would be a house

If I was a mouse I would joust

If I was a gator I would hate her

If I was the first to be cursed

I would be a louse

— By Lacey Loewen

“Grey Mouse”

Walking to the garage I see

Small, black, beady eyes staring at me

The grey mouse scattling away

Then I saw it the very next day

Walking over my foot, real slow

Jumping away, then I know

It just wanted to be my friend

But I said, “I never want to see you again.”

By Claire D’Amico

Cats, I saw them in people’s houses

And on the streets

Getting near to a cat

It’s aroma is strong and disgusting

Dirt and tuna

Cats feel extraordinarily fluffy, slick, soft

They meow always

Cats, whenever they see me

They either bite me, run away or sit on me

Why do cats hate me?

Why do they like

To scare people?

— By Genesis Lopez

SEQUIM MIDDLE SCHOOL

Sequim Middle School students will participate in a new event, Eighth Grade College Exploration Days, to take place March 25 at the Peninsula College campus in Port Angeles. This event is sponsored by the Washington Council for High School and College Relations. Administrators and counselors at the middle school and high school are collaborating to organize this outing.

Mitzi Sanders, Sequim High School’s director of the Career Center, says, “I’m really excited that we have this opportunity to offer our eighth-graders. This is part of our mission to provide career and college readiness. We want each eighth-grader to learn about their options for continuing education after high school to help them plan for the future and make the best use of their high school experience.”

The Science Department is once again excited to announce the following students as “Catalysts,” this time for Term 2. Catalysts are those students who regularly display an exceptional level of participation in their science class. They are the kings and queens of questioning! They make those thought provoking statements which extend understanding. They are the igniters of inquiry!

For her students, teacher Marcia Garrett salutes the efforts of sixth-graders Ethan Hunnicutt, Jayda Lewis, Jaxon Cogburn, Chloe Peterson, Abigail Carlson, Kaiden Jones, Kelsi Bergeson and Charlie Logan, and eighth-graders Mikayla Geniesse and Zane Phipps.

Teacher Joe Landoni tips his hat to seventh-graders Tarrah Stipe, Taig Wiker, Olivia Preston, Trevin Oakes, Devyn Nordlie, Colby Keith, Skye Henning, Chase Bedinger, Anna Bell and Anthony Cortani.

Eighth-grade teacher Debbie Beckett applauds Misha Ostrovsky, Lesae Pfeffer, Brianna Jack and Kjirsten Foresman, and in her Science and Engineering Teams Investigations Class, Jace Francis–Wallace.

Keep up the fantastic effort, young scientists! You are excellent role models for your peers.

SEQUIM HIGH SCHOOL

Junior parent night is at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, in the cafeteria. This meeting includes information on how and when to plan for senior year, as well as post-graduation planning. Topics covered include an overview of SAT and ACT testing and the optional scholarship notebook, college application information, an introduction to the FAFSA and a timeline of events during the senior year. Students are encouraged to attend with their parents.

Congratulations go to Grace Hibler, Sonia Vidrio and Tim Porter, who recently earned four World Language Competency credits for demonstrating proficiency in a language other than English on a computer-based assessment. All three also have earned their Certificate of Academic Achievement which means that all three will receive a special Seal of Biliteracy on their official transcript.

Grace and Sonia both earned their credits in Spanish and Tim earned his in German. Additionally, Justin Porter (for German) and Cathy Yung Dao (for Chinese) earned four World Language credits but have not yet taken their English Language Arts test to be able to earn the seal.

For more information about the seal, see www.k12.wa.us/WorldLanguages/SealofBiliteracy.aspx.

Family Career Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is offering Valentine’s Day babysitting from 5-8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, by reservation only. They are now taking reservations on a first-come, first-served basis and space is limited. They offer snacks, hot chocolate and apple cider, kid-friendly movies, board games, Valentine’s Day crafts and possibly Xbox Kinect games.

Contact Michelle Mahitka, Sequim FCCLA advisor/teacher, at 582-3674 or mmahitka@sequim.k12.wa.us by Monday, Feb. 8. Call now, as space is limited. Donations will be accepted.

The group will have three parental adults and 10 high school students. They take up to three children ages 3 months-1 year, four children ages 1-4 years, six children ages 4-7 years and 10 children ages 7-12 years old.

Sequim University, an all-day professional development event for the district’s classified employees, was offered on Jan. 25, a non-school day for students, at the Sequim Middle School campus. A menu of 14 courses were offered, including First Aid/CPR training, Individual Emergency Preparedness at Work, at Home and on the Road, Autism Awareness and more.

More than 80 classified staff members, as well as some early learning providers from throughout the community, attended sessions offered throughout the day. Bus drivers, custodians, para educators and secretaries were some of the classified staff members in attendance.

A team of 30 Sequim High School Leadership students, under the direction of Jennifer Van De Wege, helped facilitate the event with a group of district staffers and taught the opening session titled Colorful Connections to all participants.

Colorful Connections identifies personality traits to promote better understanding of how others think and perceive things, as well as understanding how we think and perceive things ourselves, and enables us to work more effectively with others.

Leadership students who were part of the Colorful Connections presentation teams were Karen Chan, Ashley Rosales, Emily Bundy, Teya Nop, Waverly Shreffler, Zach Herbert, Madeline Patterson, Hannah D’Amico, Taylor Bullock, Jack Shea, Kayley Loftstrom, Danica Miller, Tatum Jensen, Audrey Shingleton, Katie Rogers, Flora Walchenbach, Allison Van De Wege, Quintan Johnson, Emily Webb, Kyla Rigg, Chiara Comes, Katrina Dolan, Haelee Andres, Kiara Pierson, Liam Payne, Christian Benson, Liam Stevenson, Grant Pierson, Andrew Juntilla, Annie Armstrong and Shaun Jones.