The staff at Houlton High School wishes all a happy and safe holiday.
We have had a very exciting start to our basketball and hockey seasons. We hope everyone come to the games during the Christmas break and cheer on our teams. Our choral and band holiday concerts were very well received. What an abundance of talent we continue to have in our music program. With the cold weather, student will be enjoying snowmobiling, skating and skiing for the next week. Be careful on the snowsleds.
The Junior High Student Council sponsored a food drive in the weeks before Christmas. Although the number of items donated were not counted, a considerable amount of food was donated and delivered with help from the Jobs for Maine Graduates students.
Do you wish you could do something more for your community? Well, now is your chance. The Houlton High School Civil Rights Team is looking for a parent or community member who is willing to donate an hour or two every week to supervise and direct a Junior High Civil Rights Team. The Houlton High School Civil Rights team leads activities to promote tolerance and demote derogatory remarks throughout the school and community, and foster tolerance. We have also done many “mix it up” lunches, where students are encouraged to sit with students from different peer groups. If interested or with any further questions, please consult Christy Fitzpatrick at 532-6548.
Greetings from College Preparatory Chemistry and wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday! In the New Year, HHS will be gearing up for the 2009 science fair on March 17. Hope to see you in the large gym between 3-6 p.m. The HHS Academic Decathlon Team will be going to Portland for the Maine Academic Decathlon on February 28. HHS has a full team of 12 students and a manager. It is an exciting event and the topic this time is Latin America. So from all of us, Feliz Navidad to you.
Art students are finishing up their scratch art in the basic design classes, the photography class is preparing for a big test and the junior high art students are designing and building a gingerbread house village. The houses were displayed. Photography students will be designing and developing their photography portfolios after Christmas break. The basic design classes will be learning about shape/form, value, texture, color, and space following our break. We will be working on projects that incorporate those concepts.
Some 10th grade English classes are reading the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw.” The students are learning how to make predictions and recognize foreshadowing. They are writing a sequel to the story using the writing style of the author, W.W. Jacobs. Some 11th grade English students are finishing up their investigation of the American Dream through reading various American literature, which illustrates that theme. The last item they read, “Death of a Salesman,” summed up a semester unit on the topic.
Students have been working on a career session. We have researched jobs and analyzed them for skills needs. We have done serious thinking about what we would like to do in the future. We moved on to interviewing people both in and out of the school setting. Students developed their own questions and are seeking opportunities to learn about different kinds of jobs. By doing this unit we are starting our transition portfolio that will follow us through grade 12. If anyone would like to share his or her job/occupation with us, give us a call. The high school number is 532-6551. We are looking at how all the skills we work on in school are applied to real life. We are also learning how to use graphic organizers to help develop papers for the science fair, as well as other essays or papers needed during school.
