SIUSLAW NEWS SCHOOL NEWSLETTER ❚ MARCH 2016
SCHOOL
ZONE
A Monthly Newsletter for the Siuslaw and Mapleton Schools and Florence Community PTA
Nominate best
Oregon Teacher
of the Year
S TARS SHINE
AT PTA
T ALENT
S HOW
T
New local driving
school aimed at
teen drivers
Rob’s Driver Ed. LLC, a new driving
school in Florence, aims to educate novice
drivers with a program developed and over-
seen
by
Oregon
Department
of
Transportation. The school is intended to not
just teach teens the mechanics of driving, but
to develop good driving habits that will ben-
efit them for a lifetime of driving.
The teen program is a minimum of 47
hours long, including classroom, in-car and
home practice, and takes 10 to 12 weeks to
complete.
A teen program is currently being sched-
uled for students at Siuslaw High School,
beginning in April.
At this time, Rob’s Driver Ed. LLC also
offers individual instruction to novice drivers
18 and older and private lessons to any
licensed driver who wants to tune up their
driving.
For more information, contact Rob Griffes
at 541-999-9179.
Annual two-night
Siuslaw Elementary
show has been running
for more than 10 years
CYAN MAGENTA YELLoW BLACK
eachers all across the state are helping
prepare Oregon’s children to become
the leaders of tomorrow. The
Department of Education’s annual Teacher of
the Year award gives Oregonians an opportu-
nity to recognize teachers who are making a
positive impact in student’s lives.
The Department of Education is accepting
nominations for the 2016-17 Teacher of the
Year Award.
The Oregon
Lottery
is
proud to part-
ner with the
O r e g o n
Department of
Education to
honor Oregon
teachers
through the
Teacher of the
COURTESY PHOTO
Year award.
Anyone can nominate an
Once select- area teacher for the Oregon
ed, the Teacher Teacher of the Year Award.
of the Year and
his or her school are each awarded a $5,000
cash prize. Two runners up also each receive
an award of $2,000.
Anyone can nominate a teacher for the
award, but teachers may not nominate them-
selves.
To nominate a candidate for the 2016-17
Oregon Teacher of the Year, go to: www.ore-
gonteacheroftheyear.org.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, May
13.
Oregon’s current Teacher of the Year is
Heather Anderson, a fourth grade teacher at
Juniper Elementary in Bend.
Oregon’s Teacher of the Year will continue
to teach in the classroom and will have oppor-
tunities to speak and present around the state.
In addition, he or she has an opportunity to
apply for the National Teacher of the Year
award and attend several out-of-state events
including: International Space Camp, the
National Teacher of the Year conference and
the National Teacher of the Year Recognition
Week in Washington, D.C., where he or she
gets to meet the president at the White House.
To learn more about the Teacher of the Year
program or to make a nomination, go to
www.oregonteacheroftheyear.org.
COURTESY PHOTOS
Siuslaw students performed a variety of skills
throughout the two-night show, including
singing, traditional dancing, gymnastics and an
act all about Siuslaw Elementary staff.
S
tudents’ talents were
the main event at the
Florence Events
Center (FEC) on March 10
and 11 during the annual
Florence PTA Talent Show.
Crowds of more than
200 family members,
friends and community
supporters turned out in
full force to watch the awe-
some acts performed by
Siuslaw Elementary School
students.
PTA has sponsored and
organized the elementary
school talent show for
more than 10 years.
Alice Burns has been the
coordinator the past
few years, with elementary
school music teacher Debra
Dietrich and staff member
Alice Holden assisting with
auditions, scheduling and
managing the flow of the
show. Jennifer Wilks was
in charge of program
design again this year.
Members of local Cub
Scouts and Boy Scouts
opened the show with a
presentation of the flags,
followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance. The evenings’
entertainment included
pianists, gymnasts, vocal-
ists, Native Education
dancing, Mrs. Stokes’ sec-
ond grade choir led by
Dietrich, a scarf dancer and
an SES staff impersonation
dance.
Michael Harklerode,
principal at the elementary
school, emceed the show.
Friends of the FEC pro-
vided a grant to help with
costs of the facility use for
both nights, and FEC staff
were on hand to handle
tickets, lighting and back-
stage assistance.
“This annual event has
grown each year from a
one-evening show held at
the middle school com-
mons to the current two-
night extravaganza,” said
Diane McCalmont,
Florence PTA president.
“Our PTA organizes the
show as a service for stu-
dents to flash their talents,
and not as a fundraiser. The
funds raised from ticket
sales go to cover the
remaining balance of the
facility, as well as cookies
and punch served at the
end of each show.”
Find out more about the
Florence Community PTA
at www.florencepta.org.
Emeralds, tie-dye help Mapleton ‘Read Across America’
M
apleton Elementary
School celebrated
Read Across Ame-
rica from Feb. 29 to March 4.
During the week, MES had a
visit from the Eugene Emeralds
baseball team and its mascot
Sluggo. This visit kicked off a
reading program for students to
earn tickets to an Ems game by
reading 10 books.
We also had a visit from
Miss Gayle from Siuslaw
Public Library and the Rotary
Club of Florence. They were
so generous and brought
free books to our entire
COURTESY PHOTOS
Students read and play for
Read Across America.
student body.
The final highlight of the
week was making tie-dye
T-shirts which we all wore on
March 3 for “My Many
Colored Days” dress-up day. —
Submitted by Carrie McNeill