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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2017)
THE SIUSLAW NEWS SCHOOL NEWSLETTER ❚ December 2017 ❚ 3 SIUSLAW Candy Gram Wishes for SES Perfect light No child was left out this holiday, thanks to local busi- ness owners, families and school staff who made sure, through generous donations, that every Siuslaw Elementary School student received a Candy Gram greet- ing before leaving for Winter Break. Th e following sponsors donated towards the eff ort to ensure that every student received a special greeting card: Coast Road Con- struction, Skyline Roofi ng, Western Lane Ambulance District medics, Scott Ryland Plumbing, Evergreen Concrete, Harrison Plumbing and the Huff Family. Other individu- COURTESY PHOTOS Students in the Siuslaw Middle School Science Club are gearing up to start building Underwater ROVs. A grant from Ocean Guardians has allowed Siuslaw Middle School to continue to build the Underwater ROV program and give students the opportunity to engage in STEM activities. As a part of the design and build process, students must build a circuit board by soldering the circuit board components for the ROV control- ler. Before beginning to solder on the actual controller circuit board, it is good to get some practice in. So, in the spirit of the holidays, students began to practice their skills by soldering LED Christmas Trees. As a group, we learned where to put the resistors, the transistors, capacitors and the LED bulbs. The students soldered their trees and troubleshot any problems, such as soldering components to the wrong spaces. Overall, the students were successful and ended up with nice decorations to light up their holidays. They will be ready to begin building their ROVs when they return from Winter Break. — Submitted by Alexis Wells Spreading Christmas cheer On Dec. 8, 11 members of Siuslaw Middle School’s So- cial Justice Club visited Elderberry Square, an assisted living facility in Florence. Students, such as Elizabeth, Madison, Bailey and Natalisha, spread holiday cheer by giving gifts of homemade cookies and ornaments to the residents and sharing in their company. Sev- enth-grader Madison proposed the idea to give pres- ents to the elders at a club meeting the week before, and students immediately pitched in to help. The Social Justice Club at SMS strives to promote kindness and equality throughout its school as well as the Flor- ence community. — Submitted by Hilary Roach COURTESY PHOTO SUPPORTING NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION Thank you to the following supporters of this special monthly section Ada Grange Dorothy Allen Tom and Sharon Armstrong Dollie Austin Diane Bailiff Bob and Sophie Baker Mr. and Mrs. Bill Bauer Virgile Bechtold Band Of Brothers Anne Caples Catling Virginia Carroll Barbara Cavarno Donald Chapin Don And Ginnie Chehak Dick Childs Evelyn Cloyd William and Kay Craig Mrs. Joanne Crippen Joan Daoust Sharon David Marjorie Dalby Denise Dee William and Phyllis Dickson Mike Dixon Joseph and Frieda Doyle Jim and Sharron Dwiggins Donna Edgeworth Juanita Edwards Ivan and Diane Ellington Denny and Barbara Ellis Jacqueline Evans Don And Rhea Forum L. Furby Paul Gargis Kent & Teresa Gibson Leo Goddard Becky Goehring Alan Golob Dave and Becky Gould Dave Gruesz Bruce Hadley GL Hale Jerry Hammond Jim and Dee Hartley Vicki Higgins Robert and Barbara Hix Sharon Hobart Sally Hodgdon Barbara Holler Paul Holman/Tracy Smith Aaron Holmes Archie Hornfelt Delores Hopkins Lillian Hunter Laena, Ethan Brandon Jagoe David and Benita Jefferis Hazel P. Jennings Fred Jensen Brian Johnston Carol Jolley Frankie and Harry Jorgensen Ginny Kelly Eric Kirsten Elton Knutson Leroy Krzycki S. Lacer, B. Mealer Barbara Lamb Floyd and Deborah Larson Andrew Latoma Teresa Lichti Lloyd Little Aaron Longo Clarence & Nancy Lysdale Judy Madsen Don Mahardy Giles Maloof Doug and Deborah Manthe Raymond Manthe Jim and Carolyn Markle Nancy Mattice Peggy Mccullum Daniel McDivitt Bill McDougle Sharon McLeod Craig McMicken Ken Melnychak Sheldon and Mary Meyer R.g. Meyser Jim Moe Jack and Colleen Moore Sharon and Wallace Morey Harry Morgan and Scherrie Halfacre Leo Moyer Gerald Mulvey Mr and Mrs Wm Munzer Jim Murphy Teri and Mike Myers Natalie Nagrone (Key Realty) The Necklason’s Keith and Joanne Nelson Larry Newman Lanny and Roxy Nivens North County Lures Edward Ogle Don Olson Joan Owens Julie Peak Al Pearn Rachel and Paul Pearson Karen Peck Aubrey Pendergrass Karen Pendergrass John Pino Roger Poirier Linda Pugh David Rankin Martha Ransom Roger Ranta Patricia Reno Dusty Rhodes Dix Richards Gloria Richardson Fran and John Rickaby Larry Rosenbalm Lynn Ryan Diane Sábado Ronald Sherriffs David Smith MD Robert Spencer Leo and Shirley Stapleton John Stead Bill Stone Carol Thompson Ginger Timberlake Londi Tomaro Gary and Marian Trueblood Arils Ulman Clare Vanriper Lynda Verscheiden Susan Weathers Paul Webster Western Lane Ambulance Siuslaw Valley Fire And Rescue Heather Wiggins Rhode Willard George Williams Edward and Delores Wilson Veronica Zecchini and Tom Jackson a positive school cul- ture, celebrating suc- cesses while support- ing staff and students. Th rough PBIS, every- one works together to create and maintain a productive, safe envi- ronment in which all school community members clearly un- COURTESY PHOTOS derstand the shared Coordinators helped make sure that ev- expectations for be- ery SES student received a candy gram. havior. als sponsored entire A variety of posi- classrooms of stu- tive reinforcements are used to dents. encourage expected behaviors at Crystal Osburn, Siuslaw Elementary School, and fundraiser extraor- the program is widely successful. dinaire and Classi- A net profi t of $1,445 was raised fi ed Staff Hero of the Year, led the through this fundraiser, which campaign to raise funds for the will go towards providing train- school’s Positive Behavior Interven- ing for teachers and funding in- tions & Supports (PBIS) program. centives and supplies for the pro- Th e program is designed to create gram. Students excel at math in contest On Nov. 9, 23 students from Siuslaw Elementary School, led by Kassy Keppol, competed in the semi- annual Noetic Learning Math Contest, a national mathematics contest for elementary and middle school students. Th e goal of the competition is to encourage students’ interest in math, to develop their problem solving skills and to inspire them to excel in math. More than 23,000 students represent- ing 526 schools across the country took part. Th e following are team winners: • Wyatt Kafi tz, Mrs. Cargill’s team, 3rd Grade • Danin Lacouture, Mrs. Stokes’ team, 4th Grade — perfect score • Kaden Wood and Dylan Jenson (tied), Mrs. Riggs’ team, 5th Grade Th e following students won the National Honor Roll title. Th is title is awarded to approximately the top 10 percent of participating mathletes. • Wyatt Kafi tz, 3rd Grade • Camden Linton, 4th Grade (only missed one) • Danin Lacouture, 4th Grade • Kaden Wood, 5th Grade • Dylan Jenson, 5th Grade Th e following students received National Honor- able Mention. Th is title is awarded to approximately the top 50 percent of participating mathletes. A special thank you... • Leo Whisler, 3rd Grade • Jonathin Soiseth, 3rd Grade • Arlo Lauderdale, 3rd Grade • Brogan Hadd, 3rd Grade • Lance Peterson, 4th Grade • Olivia Moore, 4th Grade • Vegas Fell, 4th Grade • Gregory McCabe, 4th Grade • Alison Hughes, 4th Grade • Reid Harklerode, 4th Grade • Jordan Pitcher, 4th Grade • Lara Bullin, 4th Grade • Micah Blankenship, 4th Grade • Megan Alberty, 5th Grade • Joey Greenwood, 5th Grade • Holly Chen, 5th Grade • Ashlyn Hart, 5th Grade •Macali Lade, 5th Grade Congratulations to all the winners! Th e contest results demonstrate our students’ great problem solving skills and math talents. Th ey also show that our students can rise to the occasion and can meet the challenge. For more information, visit www.noetic-learn ing.com/mathcontest. — Submitted by Diane Mc- Calmont “Th anks to everyone who put Labels for Education in our collection jars,” said Coordinator Button Watkins. “We will receive $175 worth of Visa cards for the Florence Community PTA from our fi nal order with the program. Th e Labels for Education program offi cially ends Dec. 31, 2017. “We appreciate all of you who took the time to save and bring in the labels for our PTA. Th ank you,” Watkins said. For more information, visit www.fl orencepta.org. Pianoforte: A jingle story We have all listened to music and liked a certain song. Some- times, we want to learn how to play that song on an instrument. Some want to learn it on a violin. Others want to try it on a saxo- phone, but for me, I wanted to try the piano. According to an article on listontrap.com, the pi- ano is ranked number seven on the top 10 hardest instruments to play, which I didn’t know about when I fi rst wanted to play the piano, but I was destined to learn how anyway. On Christmas Day 2010, my family opened our gift s together. When I looked at the long pres- ent, I assumed it was for some- one else, but when I read the tag, it was for me. I decided to open it last, and when I did, it was an electric piano. At fi rst it was very exciting. I now owned an instrument. I gave it a couple of whirls. How- ever, I eventually became bored, and it ended up stored away un- der my bed. About a year later, while I was spending time on our fam- ily computer, I stumbled upon a video that showed the history of the Intel jingle. At the time, I was interested in Intel, as I really liked their iconic jingle you hear at the end of every Intel commer- cial. Th e video showed the music notes. I already knew how to read music so I quickly grabbed my piano, set it on the table and learned to play the song. Later at dinner, I told my par- ents I learned how to play the In- tel Jingle, that’s when my mother asked me if I wanted to take pia- no lessons. I decided it would be a great experience to learn how to play the piano, so I accepted the off er, however there was one problem. Where can we fi nd a piano instructor? We looked for a long time until August 2012, when we found one. Jason Wood would be my fi rst piano instruc- tor. At the time, he was the mu- sical director of CROW, and we already knew a lot about him at the time. I studied with him for four years. In the fi rst year, I was intro- duced to Alfred’s piano lesson books, and that would be my learning base. Over our time to- gether, I learned how to count notes, time signatures and dif- ferent music symbols, such as dynamics, slurs, ties, sharps and fl ats. In 2013, I performed at my fi rst piano recital, which would be during my vocal showcase. I was a quick learner and I then became the most advanced piano student. In 2016, I was fi nally reaching Jason’s level in piano. Th is caused lessons to be a little bit longer, and a bit more stressful. Even- tually, I reached a point where we would need to fi nd a new piano teacher. I then knew that a teacher that taught at the middle school could help me advance my piano learning abilities. Her name was Ms. Debra Young. She used to teach at both the middle and high school, but left this school year. However, she was able to help me and we made a great duo. Th ere was one small change though. Instead of only learning with the Alfred system, I would be learning classical music too. Th is would then make piano more interesting, as I would now start learning more music. We learned great pieces, including the famous “Für Elise.” We had good times together. Sometimes, we would talk about funny piano parodies, such as “Twinkle Twin- kle Little Star — 1 Million Notes Edition” and “Ode to Insane Joy.” In June 2017, I once again had to fi nd a new piano teacher. At B Y R AMIRO R AMIREZ Siuslaw High School Student fi rst I thought it would be the end of my music pursuing, as I already retired from taking vocal lessons. Th en my mother said she knew someone who also taught piano. When she was looking for a piano teacher in 2009, she found Florence resident Kathy Parsons as an option. However, Kathy said she only taught in- termediate students. My mother decided to try again if she would accept me as a student. Th is time, I was accepted. So now I would be taught by a very good teacher. For my fi rst lessons, I brought over all the music that I had learned previously with Ms. Young and Jason Wood to give her a taste of what I was currently learning. Aft er I had showcased all of the music I had learned, she decided that I should start learn- ing new music and a little bit of classical. Th e fi rst piece I learned was “Overcome” by David Nevue. It then became challenging, fun and convenient to learn new music. Th en I learned other pieces like “Wonderland” by Da- vid Nevue, “Vesuvius” by David Lanz, and “Have yourself a Mer- ry Little Christmas.” My favorite song that I learned was another song by David Lanz, “Behind the Waterfall/Desert Rain Medley.” Lately, I fi nished a piano recital and am now learning a new piece by David Lanz, called “Return to the Heart.” Overall, piano has taught me to be a critical thinker and keep on trying until it is perfected. Sure, piano may be the seventh hardest instrument to learn, but once you learn to handle it, it doesn’t even feel like it’s so hard at all. I encourage everyone to give piano a try. It is a beautiful instrument that if played in the right way, can attract a bigger au- dience than you expect.
