Chalk Talk Sept. 23, 2015

Published 5:06 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2015

DISTRICT

The fourth annual Back to School Fun Run/Walk was Saturday, Sept. 12, with 58 runners and walkers participating from stroller-age to senior citizens. Congratulations go to Riley Martin, a freshman at Sequim High School, for coming in first place.

Thanks to Anytime Fitness for providing prizes and resources for event expenses. Thanks also to the Sequim Education Foundation and board members Jodi Olson, Elna Kawal, Kathy Gilles and Matilda Henry for their support. Thanks to awesome volunteers including David Henry, Ryan Chen, Dick Hughes, Kerry Wyman–Webb, Betsy Zumkeller, Valorie Knieper, Teresa Thorson, Susan Dufner, Bettina Hoesel, Kaylee Kinsey, Al Friess, Jim Stoffer, Katie Woodin, Ann Soule, Cheryl A. Daniels, Riley Martin, Susan Hasenpflug, Dave Hasenpflug, Stu Marcy, Ione Marcy, Mike Dashiell and Patsene Dashiell. Special appreciation goes to Matilda Henry for entering registration data so faithfully!

We also greatly appreciate the Sequim High School cheerleaders, under the direction of Julie Romberg, who did face painting duties and cheered runners at the finish line. Jane Dominguez and Li Gordon from Sequim Gym did a great job leading a pre-race Zumba warm-up. A huge thanks to That Takes the Cake, Jose’s Salsa, Domino’s Pizza, Applebee’s, IHOP, The Home Depot and Caroline McAndie for donating prizes.

This event brought in $603 for SEF teacher grants and a large box of canned food and bottled drinks for the Sequim Food Bank.

In the recent Recycled Water Art & Writing contest, Amber Lamb (Sequim High School junior) took first place in the high school art division, Kianna Miller (Sequim Middle School eighth-grader) took first place in the middle school writing division and Ruby Coulson (Helen Haller Elementary fifth-grader) took second place in the elementary school writing division.

This year’s theme was “A Drop of Water Never Dies.” The challenge for students was to “tell the stories of its many lives.” Winners were invited to attend an awards luncheon on Sept. 15 and received a $50 gift card and many other prizes.

Copies of the entries were displayed during the Water Reuse Symposium held at the Sheraton in Seattle from Sept. 13-16.

For more information, visit the WateReuse Association website at www.watereuse.org/symposium.

Sequim Community Orchestra strings teachers and musicians recently visited Haller fourth-grade classes. “How many of you know the video games ‘Skyrim’ and ‘Minecraft’”? Port Angeles college student Daniel Manwell asked the students. Almost all students from Sue Caron’s, Jaysa Hill’s, Patrick Caron’s and Cheryl Daniels’ classes responded enthusiastically in the affirmative. Manwell informed them that music is a very important factor to video games because it creates feelings of excitement, tension and suspense.

Jasmine Gauthun, a Running Start student at Peninsula College, shared with the fourth-graders that she has been playing the violin since she was 4 years old. Orchestra strings teacher and cellist Emma Mitchell talked about how music was an important part of her education. Mitchell now teaches privately and coaches the Sequim Community Orchestra cello section.

Orchestra co-founder Lilias Green has enthusiastically promoted strings education for years. Green wants parents to know it is important that the instrument needs to be the correct size and properly set up for the student. Parents are highly advised to go only to recommended dealers. SCO has several donated instruments and always is accepting good quality instruments to provide to those families with financial restrictions.

This is the third year of string classes offered to all Sequim School District students by SCO. Classes are held after school in rooms provided by the district and are taught by experienced string educators. Greywolf students will be bused to Haller for first- and second-year classes. Third-year students will meet at Sequim Middle School. Classes are free to all students; the only financial cost to families is that of a book and instrument rental.

Students are encouraged to attend the Port Angeles Symphony Pops Concert on Friday, Sept. 25, at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club. Gauthun and Manwell will perform with the orchestra. For more information, e-mail info@sequimcommunityorchestra.org.

GREYWOLF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Washington Reading AmeriCorps members will provide a reading tutor training for folks interested in becoming volunteer reading tutors at Greywolf from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Sept. 23 in Room 142.

HELEN HALLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Teacher and reading specialist Betsy Smith will hold the second of two training sessions for prospective volunteer reading tutors from 3:15-4:15 p.m. Sept. 29 in the school library. Questions about the reading tutor program may be directed to Smith at bsmith@sequim.k12.wa.us.

Susan Dufner’s second-grade class has a homework assignment to talk with their families and find out the story of “How I Got My Name.”

Here are some of their answers:

I am named after my great-great grandmother on my father’s side and my parents liked Violet. I like my name, too. Violet Phillips

My mom named me Austin because it’s a good strong name. Austin Schilling

Clayton was my grandpa’s name. William is my dad’s best friend. Clayton Abrams

My mom named me Willa because she thought it was pretty. Willa Gradillas

SEQUIM HIGH SCHOOL

Sequim’s first home varsity football game was Friday, Sept. 11, against Coupeville. There was a pre-game salute to 9/11 victims and first responders. Boy Scouts Michael Klein (senior), Dylan Perreira (junior), Devon Biehler (eighth-grader) and Christian Nicholson (eighth-grader), under the guidance of troop leader Michael Cobb from Troop 1492, bore the colors onto the field as the high school choir, under the direction of John Lorentzen, sang a heartwarming version of “God Bless America” and the high school band, under the direction of Hall of Fame director Vern Fosket, played our national anthem.

A College Fair is from 12:45-4 p.m. Sept. 23 in the gym. Juniors and seniors will attend the fair from 12:45-2:45 p.m. Interested freshmen, sophomores and parents are invited and encouraged to attend from 2:45-4 p.m. Representatives from four-year and two-year colleges/universities will be on hand, as well as representatives from vocational/technical schools, career training programs and the military. Information on topics such as Job Corps, AmeriCorps and FAFSA also will be available. For more information, contact Mitzi Sanders at mitzi@sequim.k12.wa.us.

The Sequim High School Open House is from 6-8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28. The event begins in the cafeteria with a brief overview. Parents and guardians will then follow their student’s regular six-period schedule throughout the remainder of the evening. There will be 10 minutes per period allotted, with a 5-minute passing time between each period.

Parents/guardians who would like to spend additional time with an individual teacher are requested to schedule a conference at another time. Following seventh period, refreshments, supplied by Carol Wagner’s cooking classes, will be served in the cafeteria.

We look forward to having you join us for this evening!

Building Successful Learning Communities in the Classroom is a method used to develop a classroom environment that fosters engagement in learning by creating a classroom environment that is physically and emotionally safe for the student and promotes academic risk-taking.

Dana Minard’s sixth-period class is taking the challenge of the learning communities and has begun with warm-ups and setting rules to activities that allow students to be less self-conscious and more willing to trust classmates. The conclusion activity is a team building “Spider Web,” where classmates must get from one side of the web to the other without touching the web and only using each hole in the web once.

Jorden Reed said, “Working together and trusting each other is important!”

“I can get help from the people in my class and ideas when we are working on classwork,” Shawnta Henry said.

Minard added, “This sets the classroom atmosphere for the remainder of the year. The rules are fairly simple, the students have had to trust each other and work together. This will pay huge dividends for them when working on academic real world projects.”

Matt Duchow, school psychologist, trained Minard and other teaching staff in the application of learning communities. More information on Learning Communities can be found on the Sequim School District’s website (www.sequim.k12.wa.us/) under “Staff Resources.”