THE SIUSLAW NEWS SCHOOL NEWSLETTER ❚ April 2017 ❚ 3
Siuslaw
Connections
A RT I S T O F T H E M O N T H
Lupita Figueroa — Creative Arts
B Y A UDREY L OWDER & B ENJAMIN C AHOON
Siuslaw High School Students
“The purpose of art is washing
the dust of daily life off our souls.”
— Picasso
L
COURTESY PHOTO
T
he Siuslaw School Connect class spent 45 minutes
a week cleaning up outside around the school and
community. They cleaned up April 18 and 21 for
a total of 1 hour and 25 minutes. Names from left to right
and front to back are: Sam Testa, Jennifer Hanna, Chris
Smith, Brodie Riesenhuber, Madisyn Miller, Jaide Carter,
Alex Kellerman, Skyler Winters and Joanna Gomez. —
Submitted by Stephanie Rogers
upita Figueroa was selected as this
month’s Artist of the Month by Mrs.
Kim Pickell and is currently a sopho-
more attending Siuslaw High School. She was
chosen for her talent in line drawings, but
enjoys painting with watercolors more.
Lupita explains, “You can combine colors
together and it’s faster to do.”
She has learned a lot in fifth-period Creative
Arts II, including how to incorporate balance,
shapes and the color wheel.
“(This class is) calm, everyone gets along there.
So it’s really fun,” says Lupita.
She enjoys Mrs. Pickell’s teaching because she
class covers not only subjects Mrs. Pickell likes,
but also subjects that students are interested in.
Lupita is the daughter of proud parents Jorge and
PHOTO BY CAROL JOLLEY
Belen Figueroa.
Seeing as this is only her second year in high
school, she is not yet sure what she wants to do
after, but hopes to continue with art as a hobby.
If you wish to see Lupita’s and other talented
student artists’ work, make sure to visit the
Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St., for the
Fresh Impressions art show this May.
Bio students construct a web of interactions
Spring
service
COURTESY PHOTOS
S
iuslaw sixth-graders
who are members of
the Knowles Creek
Crew will be helping U.S.
Forest Service fish biolo-
gists count and record data
on native coho and chinook
smolt and fry at the Knowles
Creek Smolt Trap this spring.
They will go once a week
through early May. Students
selected for the crew are
Faith Lumadue, Bailey
Myrick, Ian Sissel, Ava
Glowacki, Kyle Hughes,
Hunter Cole and Alize
Castellanos. — Submitted
by McKenzie Perry
In April, Biology students started with
community interactions. Food webs were
a part of the lesson where students learned
how each plant and animal interacts.
The students picked a plant and animal to
place on all of the desks and tables/stools
around the room and connected them to-
gether with yarn. White yarn was for land
interactions, colored yarn was for aquatic
interactions, and twine for mix between
the two, such as bears eating salmon.
A second lab covered Biogeochemical
cycles that are found on earth and includ-
ed water, O2, CO2, microbial, plant, res-
piration for both plant (photosynthesis) &
animal, rock and nutrient cycles.
The lab was to take the cycles students
learned about and have them interact with
each other in a logical way.
The students put the product of their
COURTESY PHOTOS
This biology class goes over food webs
and biogeochemical interaction webs.
labs on a chalk board and a painted black
space on the wall. The students then ex-
plained their drawings to their peers with
an informal presentation. — Submitted by
Stephanie Rogers
Florence Community PTA
PTA keeps up the momentum with letters, challenge
Look for
KID
SCOOP
Kid Scoop runs every
Wednesday during the
school year in the
Siuslaw News and fea-
tures educational stories
and fun activities for
families.
The activity page is
part of the Siuslaw
News’ Newspapers In
Education program, in
which teachers from
Siuslaw and Mapleton
school districts may
request copies of the
local paper to use as cur-
riculum in their class-
room. Call 541-997-3441
for more info.
The school year is in the final
If the kids hit their 25,000 Box
stretch and Florence Communi- Top goal, Siuslaw Principal Mr.
ty PTA continues to stay active H will find himself duct taped to
with more than a few fun activi- the wall by the “special forces!”
ties.
Box Tops for Education can be
turned in anytime throughout the
B OX T OP C HALLENGE : The year, so be sure to share yours
week of April 24 to 28 saw a with your favorite Siuslaw stu-
flood of Box Tops for Education dent or send them into the PTA
come into Siuslaw Elementary at P.O. Box 1140 Florence, OR
School as Sarah Nunez, Flor- 97439.
ence Community PTA Secretary,
led the charge to collect 25,000
T EACHER
A PPRECIATION
Box Tops as part of a “special W EEK : Florence Community
ops” mission for the kids.
PTA sincerely appreciates our
The goal of “Mission ImBOX- teacher members and all educa-
able” is to encourage students tors in our area — and we know
and parents to clip Box Tops for that the community does as well!
Education in a push to raise ad-
During Teacher Appreciation
ditional funds. $1,000 of “Mis- Week, coming up May 8 to 12,
sion ImBOXable” funds are PTA invites the local community
slated to be donated to ongoing to help us “thank a teacher.”
disaster preparedness efforts at
Since 1984, National PTA has
Siuslaw Schools.
designated one week in May as
The best part, though?
a special time to honor the men
and women who lend their pas-
sion and skills to educating our
children.
This year, help us show our
educators how important they
are by writing a note, sending
a letter, drawing a picture and
dropping it in the mail to FCPTA
Thank A Teacher, P.O. Box 1140,
Florence, OR 97439 or dropping
your letter in the drop box of any
Siuslaw School office starting
May 1.
“Teachers are the foundation
that our schools are built on, and
in celebration of Teacher Ap-
preciation Week, we’d like to
shower them with tangible thank
you notes,” said Tiffany Hold-
ahl, Florence Community PTA
president. “Whether you are a
student, parent, alum or simply
someone who recognizes the
value of our local educators and
all that they do for our commu-
nity, we hope to see a note from
you!”
General thank you letters are
welcome, or if you’d like to spe-
cifically address your note to a
certain teacher or school, please
note the intended recipient on
the envelope. Help us show our
thanks and start writing your
thank you’s soon!
M ARK YOUR CALENDARS :
Tuesday, May 16, at 4 p.m. is the
next Florence Community PTA
meeting in the Siuslaw Elemen-
tary School Library.
Community members will hear
from PTA convention delegates,
celebrate the awards and honors
PTA received — including the
Oregon PTA Unit of Excellence
— and elect next year’s officers.
For more information on Flor-
ence Community PTA, visit
www.florencepta.org.