In this edition:
What do fungi, planets, volcanos, rocks, reptiles and sloths have in common?
The answer is that they are among the subjects of nonfiction books that have arrived recently at the libraries in Alderwood and Cordata elementary schools thanks to generous grants from the聽.
Each school was awarded $5,000 based on grant applications submitted by library media specialists Nancy Hudson (Alderwood) and Susan Feemster (Cordata). Nonfiction books cost an average of $25 each, which means the grant added hundreds of titles to each library.
While the聽聽were made in Spring 2024, the selected books were ordered over the summer and were added to library shelves after the start of the school year.
The eighth graders in Jenna Samora鈥檚 STEM class at Fairhaven Middle School were busy on a recent Monday morning as they built prosthetic hands out of cardboard, straws and string. The glue gun was in constant use as the prosthetics were run through a variety of tests to examine their effectiveness and manipulated with additional tugs and pulls and creases until they worked.
Tests included whether the fingers could turn on and off a light switch, whether the hand was able to stack three wooden blocks or keep a 10-second grip on an empty LaCroix can. Once the hands passed these tests, students documented the results through video, then uploaded the video files to a class OneDrive as proof of success. The entire 50-minute class period was a whirlwind display of instant engineering and ingenuity.
High school career centers are key to helping students with post-graduation plans and supporting them to figure out the next phase of their lives. Each high school career center is filled with college and university resources, career pamphlets as well as job postings. Flyers and posters hang in the centers and around the school announcing college visits or trade field trips.
Career center staff are knowledgeable and flexible in their roles. They serve as college and career event organizers and field trip coordinators, in addition to their one-on-one support of students. Soon-to-be graduates get help with financial aid, scholarships, college applications and gap year information, while younger students may use the center to search out summer employment or volunteer opportunities.
Alongside teachers and school counselors, career center staff support students in 鈥渄iscovering and developing their passions,鈥 to use the language of The 海角社区 Promise, heading them in the direction of a 鈥渇ulfilling and productive life.鈥
海角社区 High Civics and AP Government classes partnered with the non-partisan League of Women Voters (LWV) to host a 42nd聽legislative district candidate forum on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
鈥淒emocracy is not a spectator sport,鈥 LWV鈥檚 Rebecca Johnson, who moderated the forum, said.
In this active spirit, this fall, LWV representatives worked alongside the BHS students and their teacher, Jen Reidel, to author strong, detailed, non-partisan questions about issues that matter to high school students and the greater 海角社区 and Washington state communities.
Topics for student-authored questions included: school funding, youth homelessness, the environment, mental health programs and services, and gun violence in public spaces.
海角社区 Public Schools board of directors, executive team and Superintendent Greg Baker visited Happy Valley Elementary School in October.
Principal Nick Hayes shared information about Happy Valley and highlighted one of the school鈥檚 goals this year: staff making connections between academic and social-emotional learning (SEL).
Like all of our elementary schools, Happy Valley uses the social-emotional curriculum Caring School Community.
Hayes says SEL helps build students鈥 social skills and deepens caring relationships with teachers and staff and between peers.