Center Happenings 2/29/16 - 3/11/16

Nature Walks by Amelia and Ava G 

Holly is an invasive species in Washington.
Photo by Kelvin and Sydney D   Caption by Cassie

In Soleil we have small groups that we go in every Friday for example there are the Banana Slugs and the Worms. In those groups we will go on something called a nature walk which is when Cassie takes a group out into the woods to look at different types of plants and animals. Last week in our nature walk we looked for invasive species like the Himalayan blackberry.

Olympics by Emma and Lowata

Here is a picture of Queen Elizabeth telling us about her life. Photo by Lane and Henry

 The Olympics are book reports that Soleil does. There are different medals such as the Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Pearl, and others. Currently in Olympics, the H.I.M.P.’s are working on their Sapphire medal, which we read books that were made into movies. The Super Pink Fluffy Unicorns are starting their gold medal. Plus working on finding their two nonfiction books for the Gold medal. * 

*Teacher Addendum

               The Unicorns are working on the Gold Medal one piece at a time as part of their weekly Language Arts homework packets.

Art by Kohl and Isa

Two students partner up to finish a marble maze with straws and popsicle sticks. Photo by Sophia and Melia
For this week in art, we are making mazes out of box lids. We are using straws, marbles and glue. The main goal for this project is to get a marble through the maze by tilting the box lid. Last week we started of by drawing a rough draft of what our mazes would look like. Some people already got to gluing the right size straws onto their boxes. Today most of us are starting on gluing the straws to the maze to make walls to guide the marble to the finish. Overall, this project is going to take some time and will be sort of difficult but it will be exciting because we get to use our imagination.

Unicorn Social Studies by Nicolai and Jacob

This is a photo of a list the Unicorns made. The list is about reasons to vote.

Photo by Ben, Josh, and Josh

This week, in social studies, we learned about how presidential voting works and the voting process. We also did writing about how to help more people vote. These are the ideas we made:

How can we get more people to vote?

• Give people the day off
• Vote by mail
• Make it a holiday
• Vote on the weekend
• More than one day
• Vote for one week
• Pay people to take others to polling places
• Let people vote at home and other people pick it up
• Bus stops by polling places
• Teach about voting and government in school and tell parents
• Government send letter telling people why they should vote
• Vote online
• More polling places 

Read Across America Week by Payton and Naomi

Unicorn's Door
Photos by Isabella and Livia

HIMP's Door

This week in school we celebrated Read Across America. Kids in our school have decorated doors of their favorite book. Most of them are Dr. Seuss related because two days ago (March 2nd) was his birthday! We took pictures in library with props (Lorax’s mustache Thing one and Thing two signs etc. It was so much fun!! Both kids and adults love his books and he brings smiles to our faces. He has made our hearts two sizes bigger.

Washington Caucus and Primaries by Bam and Zane

Graphic by Josh K

This year, Washington is using a primary and a caucus to help choose who their Candidate is. Democrats choosing through caucus, Republicans through Primary. Democrats can vote in Primary, but it doesn’t count.*

*Teacher Addendum
          Primaries and caucuses are how citizens can help choose their party's candidate for President.  Delegates are assigned to candidates based on the outcome of the primary or caucus. Eventually delegates will represent their state's party in the Democratic and Republican National Conventions where the president and vice president nominees are chosen for each party. Each state decides which system to use; in some states the Democratic and Republican parties use different systems. 

             This year Washington will use both primaries and caucuses. Republican's will use the Primary in May to decide how to allocate 100% of its delegates.  Democrats will use the Caucus on March 26th to decide 100% of its delegates. Every registered voter will receive a ballot for the primary. The Primary on May 26th will be a closed primary; this means that you must declare a party on your ballot and how you vote must match. Democrats will be able to vote in the Primary, but it does not affect how delegates are allocated.
         See this Washington Primary and Caucus Dates website for some basic information. See this video for the difference between primaries and caucuses. For more information about the process a candidate goes through during an election see this link.  Register to vote here. Democrats can find out more information about the Caucus here and follow a link to find their meeting place here.  Here is the Washington State Republican Party website. 
          

Final Salmon Update by Austin and Colin

The baby salmon are ready to be released back into the wild. Photo by Abby and Giselle

For the past few weeks we have been raising salmon in our school library. It has been really exciting getting to see the salmon’s growth every time we go to the library. We have seen them grow from eggs to fry We recently released the salmon at a hatchery in Edmonds. It was sad to see them go after spending weeks with them, but they will be happier in the river. It had been so fun seeing the salmon grow, I wish we would have been able to keep them longer.