COLONEL WRIGHT elementary school student Alex Nunoz, left, examines a sample of compost as fellow student Zain Hartsook looks on. They were participating in the new Gorge Explorers After School activity program. Mark B.Gibson photo

Exploring the gorge

New program starts in three elementary schools

By Keri Brenner
The Chronicle

     A new free after-school nature appreciation class is winning fans in The Dalles.
Gorge Explorers After School, a 16-week program sponsored by local education and environmental agencies, started this year at three elementary schools in North Wasco County School District No. 21.
    “We have quite a waiting list,” said Crystal Jaros, secretary at Colonel Wright Elementary School in The Dalles. “We hope to expand it next year, and get more kids into the program.”
    Colonel Wright offers the class on Thursday afternoons. Gorge Explorers is also offered at Dry Hollow elementary school on Wednesdays and at Chenowith elementary school on Mondays and Tuesdays
    “It’s really interesting,” said Omayri Cornejo, 10, a fifth grader at Colonel Wright in the current Gorge Explorers class. “The teachers are nice and they let us play.”
Naomi Hlavka, 11, another fifth grader, said her favorite activity in Gorge Explorers was the artwork and crafts.
    “We get to learn about nature and animals,” she said.
    On a recent Thursday afternoon, Omayri and Naomi were two of nine children making animal lifecycle wheels out of paper cutouts in the Colonel Wright cafeteria. Jenny Gilbert, Gorge Explorers coordinator, was supervising.
    “They’re making storyboards,” Gilbert said.
    Meanwhile, nine other kids inside the school’s outdoor geodesic dome classroom were engrossed in the book, “There’s a Hair in My Dirt,” by Gary Larson, read aloud by teacher Valerie Johnson.
    “They’re learning about composting and the different stages of soil decomposition,” Gilbert explained.
    After the first hour, the two groups of kids switch places so that all the children have the same opportunities for learning about the natural world.
    Hood River-based Columbia Gorge Ecology Institute is the program sponsor, along with the North Wasco school district, the Discovery Center and the U.S. Forest Service.
    After the first eight-week session wraps up this week, the second eight-week series of Gorge Explorers classes will start in early April.

St. Mary’s books fight illiteracy

Books provided to more than 50 needy children

By Shannon Schrecengost
For The Chronicle    

      In the homes of middle-income neighborhoods, it is estimated that there are 13 books for every one child.
      In low-income neighborhoods, this ratio is dramatically lower, at one book for every 300 children.
      Earlier this month, the students and faculty at St. Mary’s in The Dalles concluded their effort to narrow this book gap.
      The students gathered and dusted off the books they had outgrown to share with children living at or below the federal poverty line in the Portland area.
      This drive was headed by Lena Macnab, St. Mary’s athletic director and PE instructor.
      Macnab has taught at St. Mary’s for three years but has family ties at the school dating back to its establishment in 1864.
      Macnab found success in rallying her students behind the mission of The Children’s Book Bank, a Portland-based nonprofit that aims to place community donated books into the hands and homes of children in need.
      The students of St. Mary’s donated a total of 710 books. These books will be bundled and distributed by The Children’s Book Bank to more than 50 of Portland’s impoverished children.
      In the last six months alone, more than 2,000 youth in Multnomah County have received bundles of more than a dozen gently-used community donated books from       The Children’s Book Bank.
      The Children’s Book Bank strives to improve the literacy skill of low-income children by giving them books of their own before they reach kindergarten. To do this, The Children’s Book Bank collects, repairs and packages used books.
      The books are then made available to families in need, free of charge.

On the Net:
www.childrensbookbank.org.

School Calendar

Colonel Wright
      Tuesday through Friday- Book club, 7:30 to7:50 a.m., library
      Wednesday and Friday- Homework club, 7:30 to 7:50 a.m., room 9
      Tuesday- PE After School, 2:25 to 3:15 p.m., gym
      Wednesday- Homework club, 2:30 to 3:15 p.m., room 7
      Tuesday- WOM assembly, 1:45 p.m., gym
      Tueday and Thursday- Book club, 2:25 to 3 p.m., library
      Wednesday- PTA T-shirt orders due
      Wednesday- Site council, 2:45 p.m., library
      Thursday- PTA candy orders due
      Thursday- Gorge Explorers program, 2:25 to 4 p.m., gym
      Thursday- 4th gr. science fair, 6 to 7 p.m.
      Friday- 4th gr. field trip to Oregon Symphony, 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m., Portland

Dry Hollow
      Tuesday-2/3 reading reward, Portland Zoo; MDT meeting, 2:30 p.m., room 1; homework, chess and fitness clubs
     Wednesday- Homework club; select choir
      Thursday- Homework club
      Friday- Fire prevention, 1st and 2nd grades; 2 to 7 p.m. 4/5 math carnival

Mosier
      Tuesday-drama and spelling clubs.
      Tuesday through Friday- Spirit week
      Wednesday-knitting and film clubs, choir
      Thursday- MCS spelling bee, drama and marble clubs
      Friday-MCS band

Dufur
      Tuesday- Two week grade check; 3:30 p.m., high school baseball v. Lyle at home
      Wednesday- high school staff meeting, 7:30 a.m.; 8 a.m., fire prevention presentation; 9:30 a.m. pre-k storytime. library.; 1 p.m. staff development, early release.
      Thursday- end of third quarter; high school track at Mullen-Leavitt invitational,
3 p.m.
      Friday and Saturday-FFA state convention, OSU. High school baseball at Grant Union Tourney; In-service day
Saturday- High school track at Stan Thompson Simco, 11 a.m.

Sherman
      Tuesday- Author Jane Kirkpatrick presentation to junior English Class, 9:10 a.m. and to senior English classes, 11:05 a.m.; coed varsity tennis v. Riverside High School, 4 p.m.; Author Jane Kirkpatrick at library for book signing, 6:30 p.m.
     Wednesday-Invention Convention 7th period
Thursday- Co-ed varsity track at The Dalles Wahtonka High School, 3:30 p.m.; coed varsity tennis at Condon High School, 4 p.m.; school board meeting, 7 p.m.
      Friday- spring break--no school; state FFA convention through March 23, OSU, Corvallia; coed varsity track at Umatilla high school, 1 p.m.; coed varsity tennis v. Umatilla High School, 2 p.m.; boys varsity baseball at Lyle High School, 2 and
4 p.m.
     Saturday- Boys varsity baseball v. Weston McEwen High School, noon; boys varsity baseball v. Weston McEwen High School, 2 p.m.

Honors

      The Dalles Middle School has announced its honor roll:
Seventh grade:
4.0: Tanner Byers, Katherine Conklin, Kellina Coy, Ashelyn Edmisten, Marta Gamez, Morgan Goslin, Maria Guadalupe Madrigal, Katelyn Miller, Luis Montez, Shyanna Nails, Angela Perz Arceo, Kristin Pitt, Nicholas Romney.
3.9: Brennan Bell-Browning. 3.8: Aleena Cheadle, Josiah Duong, Angel Esiquio, Marisol Garcia-Vasquez, Eli Holeman, Rosenda Huteson, Nicole Parker, Alejandra Pena, Jonathan Richman. Daniela Rodriguez, Tai Rogers, Victoria Williams, Madison Wood. 3.7: Jennifer Estrada, Gordon Harris, Cheyenne Hulit, Tyson Batte, Coby Conlee, Annika Dobo, Daniel Kuechmann, Jabin Mondragon, Eric Mullins, Sierra Randall, Casey Slavens, Keana Woods. 3.6: Shawn Young, Jesus Munoz Mejia, Quinnton Upton. 3.5: Ian Corey, Ana Gonzalez, Jasmin Huila, Colton Lee, Mary McIntosh, Kimberly Mendoza-Segura, Trenton Molter, McKenzie Morrow, Alexis Pastor, Alissa Pastor, Ruby Rocha, Keaton Wallette, Billie Wilson.

Eighth grade:
4.0: Steven Bartells, Breanna Burke, Bailey Cordell, Carsen Cordell, William Gilbert, Hannah Hinshaw, Allison Jundt, Zachary Keimig, Seneca Lexow, Kody Limmeroth, Chad Lyddon, Alleta Maier, Kyle McCall, Cole McDowell, Erin Nelson, Tyler Potter, Tiffany Toda, Morgan Triperinas, 3.9: Magaly Arias, Dominick Campbell, Daniela Leon, Zhi Ou, Elizabeth Pascual, Erica Rodgriguez, Daniel Spurr, Ivonne Torres, Hannah Utley, Natalie Williams, Joshua Wolford, Daniel Zeigler. 3.8: Liliana Alvarez, Madeline Mullins, Riley Ann Nelson, Cheyenne Sherard. 3.7: Jordan Bailey, Vanessa Ford, Nayeli Lopez-Torres, Nolan McCall, Karina Moreno, Josefina Murillo, Ricardo Perez, Veronica Quintero Dorado, Ashley Robertson, Silvina Bustos, Nicholas, Glesener. 3.6: Stephanie Fleck, Cecelia Pincock Ariel Argueta, Brycen Carter, David Esquivias, Jordan Hinds, Tyler
Martin, Cheyenne Renard, Jenna Schnell, Michael Stephens, Elle Wallace.
3.5: Richard Brace, Alana Hanse, Zachary Nerdin, Samuel Wilson, Ulises Lopez.