🎉🍼 SURPRISE SUCCESS! 🍼🎉 For weeks, Hood Canal’s 2nd–8th grade small group students had been secretly planning a surprise baby shower for Mrs. Neal—and this week they pulled it off! She was completely surprised and overwhelmed with love.
Each student learned how to sew and created a handmade woodland creature for baby Thomas. They also designed and painted one-of-a-kind onesies, each as creative and unique as the student who made it!
The celebration was packed with fun, including:
👶 Estimating Mrs. Neal’s belly size
🍽️ Baby food taste-testing and guessing
🧠 A baby-themed word search
📜 Sweet and silly baby advice (“Don’t drop the baby” was a standout)
😂 Baby jokes
📅 Baby predictions—due date, height, weight, hair & eye color
🎯 Diaper pong (yes, it’s a thing!)
There were lots of laughs, smiles, and heartwarming moments as students celebrated Mrs. Neal and baby Thomas. The Hood Canal community is so excited to welcome a new little Orca to the pod this September! 🐋💙
For weeks, our talented Hood Canal students poured their creativity and effort into designing and carving a giant print block—and this weekend, their hard work paid off in the most incredible way at the 2025 Wayzgoose Kitsap Art Festival in Bremerton!
Using a steamroller as the press, our students took part in the full printmaking process—from inking and registration to pulling prints and showcasing their work in the Artist Alley. Fellow artists and festival-goers were amazed that such detailed, beautiful prints were created by students!
The day ended with a well-deserved treat—juice, snacks, and ice cream at Evergreen Park—made even more magical by a surprise visit from a breaching orca right offshore. A truly unforgettable experience for our Hood Canal artists!
☀️ W is for Water! 💦 Our kinders are soaking up the sunshine and having a splash-tastic time playing with water in this warm weather. Learning and laughter go hand in hand—especially when it’s this fun! #KindergartenJoy
We had a fantastic Reading Awards Assembly today led by our wonderful librarian, Melanie Lankford! Students were recognized for their achievements in AR and other reading milestones.
A huge highlight—six brand-new bikes were given away, thanks to the generosity of Union City Lodge No. 27 F. & A.M. of Valley Junction. Special thanks to Leonard Chavez and WB David Pierik (pictured) for supporting our students and encouraging literacy.
We are so grateful for community partners like the Masons who invest in the success and joy of our kids!
Something special is coming!!
🏗️ Paper Tower Challenge! 🏆 Our creative engineers put their design skills to the test in the Paper Tower Challenge—using only paper and tape to build the tallest freestanding structure. 🎉 Congrats to Hazel and Olivia for taking the win with an impressive 50-inch tower! Their teamwork and problem-solving paid off in a big way. 💪📏 Way to go, students! We love seeing your curiosity and collaboration in action.
Here are some great behind-the-scenes photos of our students creating the amazing bus wrap featured in the Mason County Forest Festival parade! Our students are so talented and creative!
We know this is a busy time of year, but we’ve only received 10 responses to our parent survey so far. Your input is so important to us that we’ve extended the deadline to June 10. This is a great way for you to help us improve and let us know how we’re doing.
The survey only takes a few minutes (10–15 tops!) to complete our annual school survey.
CLICK HERE TO BEGIN: https://ceeffectiveness.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8d0pPshogorRRUq
Here’s what to know: (1) Choose your preferred language on the first page.
(2) If you have more than one child attending, please fill out one survey per student.
(3) Submit your responses and you’re done! We truly appreciate your input and support. Thank you for helping us continue to grow stronger—together.
🚍 Bus Route Update – Starting Tuesday, June 3 🚍
Great news! Routes 207 and 214 will resume running as separate routes starting tomorrow, Tuesday, June 3.
In addition, N Tribal Center Road stops currently on Route 206 will return to Route 207.
Please double-check your student’s usual stop times and view updated route details here: https://tinyurl.com/y92ym4uh
Thanks for your patience and support as we made temporary adjustments. If you have any questions, give us a call at (360) 877-5463 x. 221.
What an amazing afternoon at the Hood Canal Spring Carnival! 🌞 It was a beautiful day, and we were thrilled to welcome hundreds of students, families, and community members who came out to enjoy the fun.
A huge THANK YOU to the West Mason Fire - WA for bringing the excitement—students loved getting behind the wheel of the fire trucks and trying out the fire hoses! 🚒💦
We also appreciate the Mason County Forest Festival Royalty for joining us and making the day even more special with photo ops and smiles all around. 👑📸
We’re so grateful for everyone who helped make this event such a success. Orca Pride was out in full force! 🐋💙
A little rain didn’t dampen our Orca pride! 🌧🐋🎉 Huge thanks to students, staff, and families who came out to ride, walk, cheer, and represent Hood Canal School in the Mason County Forest Festival parade today. The crowd’s energy was incredible—your cheers and shout-outs kept us smiling the whole route!
Special shoutout to our bus driver Megan, Pep Club coaches and parents, Mr. Max and our incredible student artists for the beautiful bus wrap, and the amazing Lin Spichiger for the custom Forest Festival buttons for every rider! 💚🚌
Hop on the Hood Canal bus and ride with us in the Mason County Forest Festival Parade today (Saturday)! Meet us in downtown Shelton at the corner of 10th & Franklin (Spot #50) at 10AM—parade kicks off at 11. 🎉 This year, our incredible new Pep Club will be leading us!
Everyone who rides gets a FREE Forest Festival button designed by our very own Lin Spichiger! 🚌💚🐋 Let’s show our Orca pride!
Some of our students had an unforgettable trip to Hoodsport Mechanical for some hands-on learning with Kevin Stanley! They were wowed by classic cars, a shop full of tools, a souped-up mini-car, and a museum-worthy collection of vintage photos and signs. Conversations buzzed with talk of engines, auto repair, and future career dreams—mechanic-fever was definitely in the air! A big thank you to El Puerto De Angeles in Hoodsport for generously providing a delicious lunch that fueled our students for the adventure. We’re so grateful for local partners who support learning in and out of the classroom!
First and second graders at Hood Canal took on an exciting clay unit led by art teacher Mr. Max. Students explored a range of sculpting techniques—starting with ball rolling, pinch pots, and coil pots, and advancing to slab work and relief carving.
To spark creativity, they watched Gumby and sculpted their own Gumbys from polymer clay. They also competed in fun challenges—like crafting the smoothest sphere and longest clay “snake”—and held mini art shows based on shared themes.
After plenty of practice, students designed and sculpted their own final creations using air-dry clay and Model Magic. Once dry, they painted and clear-coated their pieces to take home as keepsakes.
Hood Canal just wrapped up our annual Sports Banquet! It was a great evening of food, fun, and recognition as we celebrated this year’s athletic accomplishments. Student-athletes were honored with letters and certificates, and memories were shared from a fantastic season. Proud of our Orcas!
Our third graders are putting their engineering skills to the test! They’re designing and building bridges to see how much weight—in pennies—they can hold. It’s hands-on learning, problem-solving, and a whole lot of fun as they test their creations and improve their designs.
What a night! Our FTO/PEP Club Spaghetti Feed & Silent Auction Fundraiser was a big success—delicious food, generous bids, and a packed house full of Orca spirit! The evening wrapped up with a fantastic performance by our Pep Club, proudly showing off their sharp new uniforms. Thanks to your support, we raised nearly $2,000 to keep the Pep Club going strong!
Next up: they’ll be marching and competing in the Forest Festival Parade on Saturday, May 30—don’t miss it!
Huge thanks to everyone who came out, donated, and cheered us on. This was an FTO-sponsored event, and we’re so grateful to our Family-Teacher Organization for making it all happen.
On Friday, Hood Canal School completed our annual flood evacuation drill—an important safety exercise in case of a Cushman Dam emergency. With help from the Washington State Patrol, Skokomish Police, and our amazing Joe Stanley, students and staff safely crossed the highways and hiked to high ground.
It was not only a great practice in preparedness, but also a fun hike in the woods and a chance to enjoy the outdoors. Big thanks to our emergency responders for keeping us safe and ready!
📣 Reminder: Friday, May 23 is a regular school day for all students. This day is being used as a snow make-up day from earlier this winter. ❄️➡️📚
We’ll see you at school! 🚌📓
🏃♀️🏃♂️ Hood Canal track & field athletes competed against students from five other schools at the district qualifiers—hosted right here at Hood Canal! 💪 Twenty of our students qualified for districts in a total of 38 events, with 13 earning 1st place finishes! 🎉 They’re now headed to the District Championships at Shelton High School on Monday, May 19 at 3:30 PM. Come cheer them on! 💙 Go Orcas! 💙
