The Tuesday Notice

Even when it's dreary and drippy, getting students MOVING is important to our faculty, especially just before the delivery of the Waldorf curriculum during morning Main Lesson. Each class finds a method of morning movement that works for them, from taking a class buddy-walk to dancing in Pine Hall. Our 8th grade class isn't too big for jumping rope, and the science has proven it's getting their minds and bodies ready for some great learning.

Dear Siskiyou School Parents,

Rainy days are great on campus – kids play four square, basketball and volleyball in the drizzle and love it! Our little ones are dressed in rain pants and boots and also enjoy the outdoors with the leaves and the rain. Good times all around!

The ground outside my office is covered with golden leaves, the sun is spreading light from behind the grey clouds, and colored leaves, still hanging on to limbs of trees, shine in golden and silver colors. This has truly been the most glorious fall!

The front office is humming with Winter Faire excitement! A big thank you to Sarah Collins for jumping into Winter Faire planning and preparations with a full heart and so much commitment; it will be a great event which brings magic to so many children in our valley. Sign up on the link below to help us run this special and heartwarming event and if you want to help with some crafting at home, pick up some bags from Sarah in the front office or join us tomorrow for social crafting time together. Thank you to all for offering help! It takes a village to run Winter Faire.

This week the 6th grade will perform their class play and we are all looking forward to seeing them shine!

Board, faculty and staff will gather for the annual conference on Friday afternoon. It’s an important moment when we all gather to celebrate the accomplishments from the past year and to look forward to the coming years and discuss the strategic plan for the school. All of this and – we enjoy a meal and coffee, tea and treats together.

Enjoy this week! With warmth, leaves and sunshine – Aurilia

This Week

Tues, Nov 14: Class meetings, Class 3, 6:00 p.m., Classes 1, 5, & 7, 6:30 p.m.

Wed, Nov 15: Morning Winter Faire Crafting, 8:30 -10:00 a.m.

Thurs, Nov 16: Kindergarten Lantern Walk, on campus, 5:30 p.m.

Thurs, Nov 16: Class 6 Play, 6:30 p.m. performance for the community

Fri, Nov 17: Class 6 Play, 8:45 a.m. performance for the school

Fri, Nov 17: Board, Faculty & Staff Conference, 1:30 p.m.

Next Week

Mon, Nov 20: Morning Winter Faire Crafting, 8:30 -10:00 a.m.

Tues, Nov 21: Food Drive Assembly, during school hours

Wed, Nov 22 - Fri, Nov 24: No School - Thanksgiving Break

Looking Ahead

Mon, Nov 27: Advent Assembly, during school hours

Tues, Nov 28: Morning Winter Faire Crafting, 8:30 -10:00 a.m.

Tues, Nov 28: Kindergarten parent meeting, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Fri, Dec 1: Holiday Market Evening for adults only, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Sat, Dec 2: Winter Faire! 10:00 am to 4:00 p.m.

We're so excited for Winter Faire on Saturday, December 2nd (10 to 4)! Thank you Sarah Collins for stepping in to be our Winter Faire Coordinator. Please help us by signing up to help out with the link below.

Sarah will send out volume 3 of our Winter Faire newsletter this Thursday. To contact Sarah, please email her at sarah.collins@siskiyouschool.org.

Once again, the ACORN classes will be making and selling Thanksgiving Centerpieces with real pumpkins filled with fresh flowers, greenery, and berries. All the proceeds will go to the Ashland Food Bank. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to support their local community, while being creative and resourceful. If you would like to preorder a centerpiece to showcase on your table or as a special gift for a loved one, please click the link below. Quantities are limited, so do order now.

They will be ready for pick up Monday, Nov. 20th & Tuesday, the 21st. The centerpieces will be a $20 per pumpkin. If you happen to have some fun things to clip and snip for us to use, please bring them by the garden any time. Some ideas are greenery, red berries, dried material like wheat, eucalyptus, yellow-orange roses, seed pods, fern leaves, rosemary, ornamental grasses, etc. Thank you for your support!

PLEASE HELP!

The Siskiyou School has a tradition during this time of year, donating to the Ashland Food Bank. The food drive starts today and will end on November 21. Students are asked to bring non-perishable food items: canned food, packaged food, and even personal hygiene products. The 5th grade is responsible for collecting the food and delivering to the food bank on the 21st. The 5th grade will collect food from the other classrooms each day. The Ashland Food bank is always grateful for our donation. What if every student brought a several items over the next two weeks of the food drive? LET’S MAKE THIS THE BEST YEAR YET!

The Siskiyou School is looking to fill the position of the Events and Fundraising Coordinator.

The Events and Fundraising Coordinator supports The Siskiyou School by coordinating fundraising events that engage and enliven the school community, support its budget, and help carry out its mission. The Coordinator will model and promote positive and healthy relationships to inspire school community involvement supporting the events, financial health and general well-being of the school. The job will require the planning, organizing and running of the school’s fundraising events, leading hospitality for end-of year events and execute marketing engagement for all our school events.

We ask for extensive experience with events planning as well as knowledge and experience working with outlook, google docs, other online platforms and learning the auction software. It also requires experience working with people in a positive and constructive environment and delegating and assigning tasks to volunteers to execute successful and wonderful all school community events.

If interested and for more details, please contact Aurilia McNamara for a full job description and more information. Please send your resume and letter of interest to Aurilia at Aurilia.mcnamara@siskiyouschool.org.

Our Middle School Brain Bowl team needs a coach! Brain Bowl is a competitive trivia game open to middle school students. We compete with school-based teams around the valley and have a lot of fun doing it! If you're interested, the commitment is one after-school practice per week (January through February) and travel during the day to one game per week. This will be our 6th year competing! If interested, email kristin.beers@siskiyouschool.org.

Greetings! The 8th Graders are gearing up to provide our community with wreaths for the holiday season. Please consider purchasing your holiday wreath from our class at Winter Faire as all proceeds will go toward our 8th Grade Trip next Spring. The students are working very hard to earn this class trip themselves, and they are ready to assist you on December 2nd. See you in the 8th Grade room. :)

We have just completed a Main Lesson block on Meteorology with the study of climate, weather, properties of air, air masses and fronts, clouds, the water cycle, and more. We now delve back into US History with the exploration and contemplation of westward expansion, the abolitionist movement, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, and immigration in the 1800’s. There is so much to learn and the 8th Graders are up for the task!

See you soon,

~ Mr. Beech

SUPPORTING RESILIENCY IN CHILDREN: November 16 9:00-10:30 a.m.

For parents of children of all ages.

Join us for a morning coffee covering this important topic on how to build and support resiliency for all members of your family. Resilence is a critical quality needed to meet challenges and to mitigate stress. Children (and adults) who lack resiliency can get easily overwhelmed and turn to unhealthy coping mechanism. Resilient people tap into their strengths and have tools to work through challenges. In this coffee talk, we will look at the core “pillars” of resiliency and how to strengthen them with your children.

Register on-line ohanafamilyresources.com or email ohanafamilyresources@gmail.com to hold your space.

The cozy two and a half bedroom cabin at Mindful Earth Farm will be available for lease in mid December 2023. The cabin offers a semi-private living space as it is attached to the main house but separated by a breezeway. It a 950 sq foot cabin with a simple functional kitchen, an open floor eating area and living room with a wood stove, and includes a laundry room with both washer and dryer. There are two bedrooms and one of the bedrooms has an additional office/nursery space that makes the cabin ideal for a family with littles. An east facing patio covered by wisteria and monkey vine surrounded by a private garden space and a private parking area give the cabin residents a self-contained feeling within the container of the greater community .Residents also have access to a wonderful playground, a recently completed climbing and exercise gym, a wood shop and soon a fabrication station.

Mindful Earth Farm is an evolving multi-family intentional community located on a six acre certified organic, biodynamic permaculture farm outside of Ashland Oregon. We currently have two families living on the farm as well as goats, chickens, ducks, bunnies, dogs and a few cats. Although the farm has worn many cash hats over the last ten years, from a market garden, to a hemp farm, a hemp seed breeding research facility, and most recently a heritage grain research farm, the more permanent aspects of the farm including the food forests and horticulture have continued to evolve despite historic droughts and high temperatures over the last couple of years. With the abundant rain we have received already this year, we are experiencing a bountiful harvest of fruits, berries and nuts in addition to plentiful veggies from our annual garden spaces.

As the focus from agricultural production has lifted, Mindful Earth Farm is now expanding towards using the existing farm as a teaching facility. We currently offer classes and workshops in biodynamic and “bio-resonant” farming and natural building as well as Detox and Cleansing retreats, kirtan, song circles and African drumming, and 3D Printing classes.

Rent- $1800/month
Pets- Cats yes, Dogs maybe... depends on the dog.

We are looking for a tennant(s) who are inspired to live in and participate in a multi-family community farm. As a certified organic farm with accounts at local stores for selling we have a growing opportunity for expanding our market garden next year. Due to the intimate nature of living in a small farm community, receiving a family with similar values, ethics and lifestyles is important to us. Please email mindfulearthfarm@gmail.com with a short introduction and your intention for joining Mindful Earth Farm and we will send you an application.

Please include what aspect of farm living you are most drawn to - animal husbandry, natural building, annual vegetable gardening, mushroom cultivation, food forestry, etc. Also please include past farm and community living experience, education and at least three personal references.

Applications can be emailed to MindfulEarthFarm@gmail.com

Email: office@siskiyouschool.org
Website: www.siskiyouschool.org
Location: 631 Clay Street, Ashland, OR, USA
Phone: 541-482-8223
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/siskiyouschool/