Chalk Talk — April 6, 2016

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, April 6, 2016

DISTRICT

The next school board meeting is April 18, with a workshop planned for 5:30 p.m., followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the boardroom. The boardroom is within the auditorium building at 601 N. Sequim Ave. An agenda is available on the district website under Board of Directors.

The public is encouraged to attend and time is set aside at each meeting for public comment.

For more information, contact Marilyn Walsh at mwalsh@sequim.k12.wa.us or 582-3262.

GREYWOLF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has been conducting a coin drive to collect money for new playground equipment. Darcy Lamb, secretary, says they have collected over $17,000 toward the playground fund. “Kids have been emptying their pockets every day!”

Sheri Burke’s and Shannon Green’s third-grade students recently completed a study unit on Rome during English/Language Arts class. The city of Rome is one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire and is regarded as one of the birthplaces of Western civilization. They learned about the religions, mythology, occupations, leaders, government and contributions of Rome. Students made clay dice, as Roman children did to play games with, and used them to play math games during Green’s Roman Math Hour.

The students brought props and garments from home in order to dress up like ancient Romans and feasted on grapes and apples while watching an animated Roman film. When in Rome, do as the Romans do!

HELEN HALLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Here are the winning Elks essays on Patriotism written by Eric Danielson’s fifth-grade students:

Patriotism is how you should honor people who served in our country. I think patriotism is very important.

Every year people should think of Veterans Day as a bigger holiday. Some people think it is good because they get the day off work or don’t have to go to school. I think Veterans Day needs to be celebrated more.

We should have a huge parade and have a giant flag and have veterans who served sign the flag.

Another idea is for the world to celebrate is a day when your community goes and does community service ether cleaning the town or volunteering at your local library.

I think if we celebrated Veterans Day as a bigger holiday veterans would feel honored very much and be thankful for the people around them.

Alliyah Weber, third place

Patriotism is a people’s love for their country. We want patriotism to go to everybody. Patriotism is a big thing.

So how can people show their patriotism? There already is a patriot day. It is on 9/11. It’s the memory of the 3,000 people that died on 9-11-2001. But, patriot day is not like Veterans Day. People treat patriot day like Valentine’s Day. You should get the day off. But, it’s not a day to play around, it’s a day to do good deeds.

For example, you could visit memorials with your family. Maybe you can put flowers on one of the graves. Also you can pray for the people who died at the memorial.

Another example is you can do special services. Like help your community. To help out your community you can clean up. Also have a food drive and volunteer at other communities.

Patriot day should be more important. On that day people should honor veterans and help your community.

Saul Williams, second place

What I can do to support Americanism and love of country?

Patriotism is written on our bones, to support our country and those who protect it.

I have an idea that could help our schools realize how much veterans have done for us and how much active duty personnel are doing for us.

Our schools could put together a Veterans Day lunch. Veterans will come in and have lunch with the kids, as the children sit with our country’s protectors they can ask questions about what our troops do.

Another special treat we could do is have all our younger grades create red, white and blue thank you cards for our veterans. Each student could make three cards, just to show their appreciation.

In conclusion this is what I could do to support Americanism and love of country.

Kali Biddle, first place

All fourth- and fifth-grade students are exploring our solar system in their science time with science specialist Dave Hasenpflug and making lots of discoveries. Our solar system is amazing because …

• Almost all of the planets have a satellite or moon. Only Venus and Mercury do not have even one moon. Kari Olson (Rachel Oden, teacher)

The sun’s average temperature is 5,500 degrees C, while Triton, one of Neptune’s moons, has an average temperature of -235 degrees C. Anna Gowdy (Rachel Oden, teacher)

• Halley’s Comet was last seen in 1986, 30 years ago, and it is made of ice, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, rock and dust. The comet is smaller than Earth. Julia Jack (Rachel Oden, teacher)

• The total number of moons in our solar system is 174, including Ida’s moon. Ida is an asteroid. Jennifer Slater (Rachel Oden, teacher)

• Some of the planets are named for Roman gods like Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Neptune and the dwarf planet, Pluto. Saturn is named after the Roman Titan. Danika Chen (Rachel Oden, teacher)

• Our solar system has an asteroid belt that separates the rocky planets from the gas giants. The asteroid belt is natural but it separates the two types of planets in our solar system. I wonder why? Karlie Viada (Rachel Oden, teacher)

• There are eight planets, two dwarf planets (so far identified), comets and an asteroid belt all orbiting one star. What is not amazing about that? Deakon Budnek (Rachel Oden, teacher)

• Halley’s Comet was last seen in 1986 and it visits every 76 years. Uranus has a ring but you can’t see it. Grace Fahey (Lisa Schermer, teacher)

• Neptune takes 165 years to orbit the sun, because it is 4,498,346 kilometers from the sun. Ida is an asteroid with its own moon. Hunter Gallauher (Lisa Schermer, teacher)

• Venus has no moons, it is the hottest planet at 462 degrees C. Pluto, a dwarf planet, is -223 degrees C, has 5 moons and takes 248 earth years to orbit the sun once. Trinity Gaither (Lisa Schermer, teacher)

• Jupiter has 63 moons and it also has rings, but not like the rings of Saturn. Cadence Johnston (Sue Caron, teacher)

• Uranus is 2,870,658,186 kilometers from the sun. That is amazingly far away. Summer Nall (Sue Caron, teacher)

• Halley’s Comet has not been seen since 1986. That was 30 years ago. It visits once every 76 years, so I will be 56 years old when it comes again in 2062. That’s as old as my science teacher, Mr. Hasenpflug, is now. Sheesh! Cohen Riley (Sue Caron, teacher)

In Elizabeth Hall’s kindergarten class, we have been working hard on our Kelso’s Choices to help us solve small problems! Every Tuesday, our wonderful counselor Joan Trindle comes in with her friend Kelso to teach us how to solve a problem by ourselves! He even brought his friends with him so we could teach them all about Kelso’s Choices! We are becoming great problem solvers!

SEQUIM HIGH SCHOOL

Junior Prom is Saturday, April 23, from 8-11 p.m. in the cafeteria. Tickets go on sale on April 11 for $10 each.

Mark your calendar to attend an ASB officer interest/intent meeting. All students interested in running for any office must attend one of the two informational meetings, either before school or after school on Tuesday, April 12, in the library.

Officer eligibility packets will be available at the April 12 meeting for executive candidates and at the April 26 meeting for class candidates. These are to be completed before a candidate will be considered eligible to campaign.

Spring break is not all Disneyland and fun! Andrew Juntilla, junior, canvassed responses from classmates about plans for spending their time over spring break. Andrew shared that he will spend all of his time working on assigned homework from his AP U.S. History and AP Composition classes. Here are comments from classmates:

David Calderon, freshman, plans to spend the majority of his time doing school work but any free time he has he will put toward making his own music.

Dani Chaudry, sophomore, plans to use all of this free time to finally relax and also go to the gym every chance he gets.

Jack Drennan, junior, chose to spend this week off of school in Mexico attending a mission trip aiding the people in need. Although it’s a break from school, he still is drenched with assignments from his advanced classes.

Porter Funston, freshman, said, “I am taking a trip to Ocean Shores with my grandma. When I return, I am going to complete my ‘Boys in the Boat’ project for language arts.”

The Robotics team has tasted a lot of success at recent competitions: at Glazier Park in Snohomish, taking second place out of 39 teams and fifth place out of 35 teams at a Mount Vernon competition. They are preparing for regional competition in Portland, Ore., on April 6-9. Robotics team members are Ryle Lindbergh (president), Makenzie Gale (vice president), Ryan Nestor (parliamentarian), Joe Benjamin (public relations), Danielle Arnold (safety officer), Riley Chase (secretary), Riley Scott (treasurer), Bryce Dryke, Max Koonz, Charlie Conroy, Xavier Conway, Owen Morton, Baylee Rux, Colin Neal, Porter Funston, Gabe Gruendell and Liam Peers. Faculty advisor is Brad Moore.

Here are comments from some of the newest members of the Robotics team:

Charlie Conroy: This is my first year on the team and I have little experience in the field, but I am looking forward to a wonderful year with the team and our robot. I can tell we will accomplish great things this year!

Colin Neal: I’m a freshman looking forward to working on the Robotics team. I’ve been fascinated by programming and electronics for years and it’s great to get a chance to work with both of them and apply them to real life.

Porter Funston: As a freshman, this is my first year in the club. However, I have prior experience with building small underwater robots and I’m excited for the challenge presented by FIRST!

Liam Peers: This is my first year in Robotics, that’s why I decided to participate in this club. I’m mostly interested in electronics and programming, that’s what led me here. Hopefully, I will learn a lot and meet new people.

On March 23, Mitzi Sanders, career and college specialist, and 40 sophomores and juniors traveled to Seattle Pacific University for a “College Planning Days” event, sponsored by the Washington Council for High School/College Relations.

About 25 colleges, universities and vocational/technical programs from across the state were represented. Students had the opportunity to attend three sessions of their choosing. College representatives went through the programs and opportunities their school offered as well as tips on submitting a quality application and how to access scholarships and financial aid.

The students reported gaining valuable tips and information to help them sort through the sometimes confusing and overwhelming college search maze. We’d like to extend our appreciation to the Sequim Education Foundation and Sequim Sunrise Rotary for sponsoring this trip.