¿Hablas español? Language program for kids takes flight in Issaquah
January 31, 2012
Students in Marta Ramos’ first-level Spanish class take a make-believe shopping trip to Spain for an educational game to help them with clothing vocabulary. By Celina Kareiva
Students riffle through articles of clothing in “La Tienda de Ropa,” a make-believe clothing store in a first-level Spanish class.
“La bufanda!” and “El vestido!” they shout as their teacher instructs them to repeat after her.
Newcastle Elementary School organizes inaugural geography bee
January 31, 2012
Winner Colby Vuong has chance to enter state competition
Colby Vuong, a Newcastle Elementary School fifth-grade student, waits to reveal his answer to a written question during the final round of the school’s Jan. 13 National Geographic Bee. By Christina Lords
Just slightly and not at all.
That’s how much runner-up Bridget Ury and first-place winner Colby Vuong said they studied for Newcastle Elementary School’s National Geographic Bee — which concluded in a showdown of 14 contestants vying for the top spot in front of their instructors, classmates and family members.
Newcastle Mayor Rich Crispo and Deputy Mayor Lisa Jensen served as official judges at the Jan. 13 event.
Each fourth- and fifth-grade class held a geography bee of its own — sending two representatives of each class to go head to head with their peers for the school’s National Geography Bee.
“These questions were a lot harder than the ones in class,” Ury said. “Then we had multiple choice answers of A, B, C, D … here you just pretty much had to know them.”
Because Newcastle Elementary’s bee is a part of the National Geographic Bee, Vuong will have the opportunity to take a written test to qualify for the state bee.
Vuong and Ury, both residents of Newcastle, represented the top-two qualifiers from Mariel Hanna’s fifth-grade class.
The other 12 participants were Olivia Lesnik, Andre Wax, Brooke Ury, Dillon Gyotoku, Joey Eigo, Trisha Jaggi, Tristan Brecht, Jacob Robblee, David Heyward, Toshin Rao, Tommy Todderud and Nathan Jackson.
Local students compete for slots in high-tech aerospace residency
January 31, 2012
One memorable assignment so far was designing a space shuttle, according to Spencer Schiefelbein.
“I really like my robot,” Alison Chiu said.
Both age 16 and juniors at Skyline High School, Schiefelbein and Chiu are just two of five Issaquah School District students taking part in this year’s Washington Aerospace Scholars program. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say, they hope to take part in the program scheduled for this summer at The Museum of Flight in Seattle.
Starting near the end of December, students accepted into the first round of the program have been completing essay, math and graphics projects every other week, said Melissa Edwards, WAS director.
Learning delayed by snow days
January 31, 2012
Hall Monitor Michael Payant Liberty High School
As a senior at Liberty High School this year, I often feel I have experienced about everything there is to experience in high school.
I have seen nearly every school sports team play, seen multiple school drama productions, participated in numerous band concerts, attended numerous school dances, taken many of the most difficult classes Liberty has to offer and seen many things I could never have imagined.
Yet a couple weeks ago, as semester finals were set to begin, it started snowing. After having Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. day, the snow gave us Tuesday off, and then Wednesday, and then Thursday and then Friday. A whole week off, during finals no less.
Suddenly, teenagers around Issaquah turned back the clock. As snow built up, student stress everywhere melted away, and we were all little kids again.
Cramming for social studies became “Snowman-building 101.” Cramming for physics became a real-life application of physics — sledding down snow-covered hills.
Though many of my senior peers are counting down the days until they get to fly away and start their post-high school lives, the snowstorm a few weeks ago brought us all back.
In a world of ever-mounting pressure, college applications, job interviews and a fast-approaching future, the early January snowstorm gave us all one last chance to turn back the clock and be kids again at least one more time before we have to grow up.
Local high schools’ music programs shine
January 24, 2012
Early bird jazz band is in fine tune
Iman Baghai Issaquah High School
Most students dread the 7:25 first-period bell. But a small group of students might really dread the 6:25 zero-period bell. These students drag themselves to school in order to practice America’s music — jazz.
Under Issaquah High School Director of Bands Patrick Holen, the Issaquah Jazz Band is an audition group of about 25 members. They play a variety of tunes from the swing big-band era, Latin salsas and hard-driven rock music that allows members to fine-tune skills and awaken sleepy minds.
“The experience is worth the lack of sleep,” said Madison Kelly, a pianist and junior.
But the sleep deprivation does kick in at times, according to Alli Gillett, a guitarist and senior.
“The vibe is laid back and chill … though that might be because no one is really awake yet,” she said.
Junior Jack Gentsch chimes in that the students still work hard despite being tired.
Finding Kind campaign puts spotlight on girl-on-girl bullying
January 17, 2012
Molly Thompson (left) and Lauren Parsekian, documentary filmmakers with the Kind Campaign, will be speaking with local high school students. Contributed
There is no doubt that bullying in schools is a hot topic right now. There is a decided difference, however, in how girls bully each other as compared to boys, said Page Meyer, assistant principal at Beaver Lake Middle School.
Meyer was one of the driving forces behind bringing an independent documentary concerning girl-on-girl bullying to the Issaquah School District.
Issaquah School District to offer free preschool classes
January 17, 2012
The Issaquah School District is offering a chance for parents of preschool-aged children to enroll their youngsters in Early Childhood Education classes at no cost to the families.
The district is looking for typically developing youngsters to be part of Early Education classes that serve children with special needs at Apollo, Discovery and Sunset elementary schools.
Each classroom may have up to 12 children with special needs along with three typically developing peers – who will pay no cost to participate in the preschool program. Research shows that such combined learning opportunities benefit both special-needs and typically developing children. Students must be at least 3 years old by April 15 to participate.
Any interested parent can pick up an application and get more information at the main offices of any of the three elementary schools involved. Applications are due Feb. 10; peer volunteer screening is scheduled for Feb. 15.
City, schools use county grant to reduce student lunch waste
January 17, 2012
“We were really trying to get people to look at the waste stream differently,” said Mary Joe de Beck, resource conservation coordinator for the city of Issaquah.
In November, for national America Recycles Day, the city used a small King County grant to bring the idea of reduce, reuse and recycle to the front lines of five schools in the Issaquah School District.
Those five schools house some 2,650 students and spent several weeks gearing up for America Recycles Day on Nov. 15.
Reflections showcases students’ creative thoughts on diversity
January 17, 2012
These artworks were among the local works chosen to go on to the state level Reflections competition. This year’s national contest revolved around the theme ‘Diversity means…’ By Tom Corrigan
All in all, there were 247 examples of student creativity on display, according to Theora Dalupan, a member of the Issaquah School District PTSA Council board of directors.
Dalupan helped organize, and the district PTSA sponsored, the annual Reflections art show and reception the evening of Jan. 10 at Pacific Cascade Middle School.
Reflections is a yearly, nationwide PTSA art contest centered around a specific theme, which this year was “Diversity means…”
The work on display at Pacific Cascade represented the best entries from each district school, up to 12 per building.
“There’s some very creative ideas out there,” Dalupan said regarding the entries, which ran the spectrum from paintings and drawings to creative writing to musical pieces. Dalupan said there were also two short film entries.
Walking around the display at Pacific Cascade, one saw plenty of visual art with animal or nature themes in common. Plenty of creations had representations of people of all colors and ethnicities. Rainbows were another common symbol.
Dream on, because sleep is essential
January 17, 2012
Hall Monitor By Leah Thomson Issaquah High School
In order to remain healthy, sleep is essential. But it is strange to think that in order to function properly during our waking hours, we must be unconscious for about six to 10 hours per night. But that time seems to pass quickly, and part of the reason could be because we dream.
Dreaming occurs during the rapid eye movement stage of sleep. During this time, muscles tend to relax and voluntary muscles become paralyzed. While the muscles relax, brain activity and other body systems become more active. The REM stage begins as only a short period of time, but it becomes longer as sleep progresses. Based on an eight-hour night of sleep, about two hours will be spent in the REM stage.
Contrary to some speculations, everyone dreams. Those who believe they do not dream likely do not remember their dreams. Research has been conducted that proves such brain activities take place during sleep. A reason for forgetting dreams could be because of a lack or excess of sleep, high stress levels, sickness or unconscious fear of a dream’s subject.
