DISTRICT
There is no school on Friday, March 27. Spring break is March 30-April 3. The district office will remain open during spring break from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Students return to class on Monday, April 6.
The next board meeting is at 6 p.m. Monday, April 6, in the board room. The agenda is available on the district website at www.Sequim.k12.wa.us. Board meetings always are open to the public.
GREYWOLF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Fifth-grade students in Jennifer Lopez’s class recently completed research projects on Amelia Earhart. They were highly interested in researching her because of the mystery surrounding her disappearance.
These projects incorporated many of the Common Core State Standards of English Language Arts, including:
• reading texts with high levels of complexity
• comparing and contrasting conflicting sources
• describing how a point of view influences how events are described
• analyzing multiple accounts of the same event or topic, drawing on information from multiple print and digital sources
• integrating information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably, and
• reporting on a topic sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details
The students had access to a large number of books about Amelia Earhart, thanks to a generous donation by community member Peter Jackson.
HELEN HALLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
After a recent field trip to the Water Reclamation Facility, third-grade students from Carolyn Luengen’s class wrote thank you letters. Here are samplings:
Thank you for having us all. Thank you for showing us all that process. Thank you for helping our city. Marli Gagner
Thank you for giving us reused water. Thanks for the tour. I never knew that we could reuse water. Emma Lee Dunham
That was weird, but fun. Poop! Yuck, Smelly. All fun, too. It’s cool how it goes into all the stations to clean it. Thank you! Ben Elmenhurst-Jones
Thank you, it was a great field trip. I saw fascinating things like the process of cleaning the water and putting it in a thing so it won’t evaporate and that the purple sign means Don’t Drink. Sydney Hegtvedt
Thank you for telling us all about the way the sewage gets clean and how it goes to lakes and ponds at parks. Thank you for the water cycle chart and stickers. Thanks again! Anna Jean Anderson
Thank you for showing us how the water from Carrie Blake Park gets its pond water. I did not know it was cleaned waste. I learned how important the purple pipes are. Andrew Crigler
After learning about Tacoma’s “Ivan the Gorilla,” Gail Kite’s fifth-grade students wrote their opinions on keeping wild animals in captivity:
I strongly feel that animals should NOT be kept in cages. They need to be free. If animals are kept in cages, they won’t learn how to hunt. They would depend on people to feed them. Another reason that animals shouldn’t be kept in a cage is that if they were kept separately, they wouldn’t be able to reproduce. If they can’t reproduce, they’ll go extinct. One more reason I’m against animals in captivity is at the zoo there are already so many animals locked up. That is why I’m completely against keeping animals in cages and think they deserve to run free and be wild. Chelsea Carriveau
It’s not right and it isn’t fair keeping innocent, wild animals in captivity. It is cruel, horrible and sad. All wild animals should have a chance to stay at home with family or go on their adventures alone. Ivan the gorilla never had a chance and probably wanted to live free and protect his group/family. Ivan was lonely and wanted company of his own kind.
Also, humans carry disease that can harm animals. Sometimes the animals in captivity die or are not healthy because of the food they eat; human food is not good food for animals. I think that if all animals in the wild are held captive, there won’t be any in the wild. The whale population went really low. Animals should not be held in captivity except in a zoo. That is my very important opinion with awesome thought. Jordan Hegvedt
In my opinion, only captivity in the zoo is all right. I think that because animals still have to do what they normally need to do in the wild. For example, if a golden eagle was in a cage at feeding time, then a person would release a mouse or rat or small bird in the cage, allowing the eagle to hunt naturally. Another reason that captivity in the zoo is all right is the animals still have parts of their habitats that they need to survive and hunt. An example is that say a cougar was in the zoo and it sees a bird fly by, it would try to hide wouldn’t it? So, the zoo provides trees and rocks and bushes to hide behind. One last reason that zoos are OK is they help animals learn more. Out in the wild, the animals would only need to know simple things; in the zoo they have to learn new things like how to adapt to life there. So, I hope you see why zoo captivity is right. Blake Terry
I think that is cruel to animals to take them from the wild and put them in a box and keep them from seeing their natural habitat. It is incredibly rude because they are innocent. Try looking at a wild gorilla in the eyes; look at their emotions. What have they done to us to make us take them to use as a lure, an advertisement, show or even as a clothing piece? When I went to a game farm, we stopped to water a deer that was panting. In the wild, that deer would have found their own water. If I were you, I would think about the things I’ve mentioned. Please be on my side about this. I strongly disagree that animal captivity is OK. Because, it is not OK. They do not deserve this cruelty. Jadon Cass
SEQUIM HIGH SCHOOL
Principal Shawn Langston would like to congratulate senior Alex Barry. In addition to being a record-setting athlete during his high school career, he also is being recognized for his service to our community. Alex has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award through the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Good job, Alex, and thanks for your work to make our City of Sequim the place that it is!
Building Trades students, part of the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center program, continue work on the Guy Cole Center’s remodel. Currently they are framing for new interior walls in a small conference room area located at the east end of the structure. “We get people stopping by on a regular basis, wanting to know what’s going on,” said student Maya Dippert. “It gives us an opportunity to tell them about the project and our work.”
Riley Stites, work site coordinator and applied math/building trades instructor, says the remodeling project should provide the students with plenty of hands-on experience for the next few years.
Upcoming music student performances include a choir concert on March 25 and a band concert on March 26. Both concerts begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium.
OLYMPIC PENINSULA ACADEMY
The Destination Imagination team, comprised of six sixth-grade students, has won first place at the Olympic Regional Tournament and moves on to the state level competition in Wenatchee on March 28.
They have chosen the “Creature Feature” challenge, which means they had to create a story of adventure with a creature that plays a role in solving a problem. The creature has to have three technical elements and their world has to have two technical elements. The whole challenge also needs two team choice elements. Dee Dee Nielsen is their enrichment coach.
