Tuesday Notice
January 18, 2022
Dear Siskiyou School Parents,
What a wonderful long weekend! I hope you all enjoyed the extra time with your kids at home.
Things are moving along very nicely on campus. Last Friday was particularly busy in a wonderful way.
We started with a morning assembly to acknowledge Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Miss Benson spoke about Dr. King and reminded us how important it is to extend loving kindness to all beings at all times. Singing as a school community is always a gift, and Miss Benson and the 5th grade led us into the “Peace Chant”. This beautiful round is sung by all at the same time; the words blend like a watercolor painting!
The words are in four languages but all signify PEACE: Om Mani Padme hum (Buddhist: “the sound of silence, the jewel in the lotus”); La Illaha, il Allah hu (Islam: “There is no God but God”); Shalom (Jewish: “peace”), Shanti (Hindu: “peace”), Gloria in excelsis Deo (Christian: “Glory to God in the highest”). For a recording, go to: Contemplation Chant by Sara Thomsen & Echoes of Peace Choir It's worth hearing!
When we sing together, connection is built just by breathing and uniting voices. We feel this when we sing as a whole school at an assembly or in individual classrooms when a class teacher or Mrs. Archer leads a class. Feeling that togetherness through song is always uplifting, but particularly so in these times.
Friday we were also excited to have our Middle School Friday Program start up again; last year we had to omit it. The process began last Wednesday when the middle school teachers gathered the 64 middle school students in an assembly to present them seven offerings for this first Middle School Friday block. The students then filled out forms and listed their preferences among the classes available this block.
On Friday morning at 10:50, the students went off to classrooms around campus with their respective new teachers to discover and explore the new subject they had chosen. Each group had a mix of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Class sizes ranged from 6-12 students. The students will have five classes with the same teacher, each Friday through February 11. Each class will last 90 minutes. Then, in mid February they will be presented with another slate of choices, and they will again get to choose an elective to pursue over several 90-minute Friday classes. All together, there will be three blocks of Middle School Friday classes between now and May. Below the list of classes offered this first session.
LIST OF MS FRIDAY CLASSES FOR THIS FIRST BLOCK
- Acrylic Painting with Ms Tisdel, 6th grade class teacher
- Cooking with Ms. Franczak, 7th grade class teacher
- Crafting with Ms. Razi, 8th grade class teacher
- Strategic Games with Mr. Monda, Middle School math & geometric drawing teacher
- Guitar with Mr.Cord, Music teacher with Mrs. Archer
- Improv with Mr. Barret (Barret O'Brien, dad to Miranda in 5th)
- Coding with Matthew Beers (dad to James in 8th and Luke in 5th)
Last but not least, on Friday, thanks to the help of many, many parents, the new outdoor classroom tent was erected in the Glendale yard. The old tent had gotten blown over and crushed by the snow during the winter storm a couple of weeks ago. Amazing to see so many parents helping out; a huge, huge thanks to all who helped! You did it!!
Please join your class teachers this week for parent evenings. Teachers will talk about the main lesson curriculum they are bringing and other happenings as we all look ahead to this second big stretch of the school year. All these upcoming meetings will be on zoom; later this spring, we hope to be in person again soon.
Many blessings to all families!
My best, Aurilia
This Week:
Mon, Jan 17: No school. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Tue, Jan 18: Parent Evenings for classes 1, 7 & 8. Zoom, 6:30pm.
Wed, Jan 19: Parent Evenings for classes 2, 3, 4 & 6. Zoom, 6:30pm.
Fri, Jan 21: Read-A-Thon fundraising begins.Next Week:
Mon, Jan 31: Second semester begins.
Tues, Jan 31: Parent Evening for class 5. Zoom, 6:30pm.
Faculty Lunches
There has been a long tradition of parents providing faculty lunches at the Siskiyou School. Jennifer Holtzman-Maslow, a parent of 3 alumni, gifted this to the faculty for many years and we are happy to keep the tradition alive!
Our goal is to provide this every Wednesday throughout the rest of the school year. Please consider signing up through the link below. Feel free to partner with another parent if that works best for you. There is information about what to provide for lunch in the link. Thank you so much for considering!
Second Semester Hot Lunch Orders
Second Semester begins January 31st. Hot Lunch forms are here and in the front hallway for Falafel Tuesday and Pizza Wednesday. If you’re not sure your child is signed up for the full year of lunches, just email Kristin.Beers@siskiyouschool.org. Thank you for supporting the 8th grade trip!
Our Next Fundraiser Begins NEXT Week
We are very excited to announce that our second annual Read-A-Thon launches this month! Next week you will receive the necessary paperwork to make certain that you and your child/ren are ready for this fun and exciting FUN-draiser. The Read-A-Thon made nearly $30,000 last year!
**Please note that students will come home with a hard copy packet with all the information regarding the Read-A-Thon. Below is the digital version of the paperwork that will come home on Friday this week.**
The Read-A-Thon is a fundraiser and a great way to engage and encourage children in reading (with and without their parents). The fundraising can happen either online, in-person, or both. You will receive sample letters that you can send to family and friends, the online campaign can be shared via social media, there's an easy link to share, and so much more!
Read-A-Thon Important Dates:
- January 24-February 25: Read-A-Thon Fundraising
- February 18-25: Read-A-Thon Reading
How Does The Read-A-Thon Work?
This Friday is the start of the fundraising for the Read-A-Thon! You can learn more about the Read-A-Thon works, along with all the fundraising details below. Your child/ren will also come home with a hard copy packet this Friday. For easy access, you can access your class fundraising links below. These links can be sent to Friends & Family, via social media, text, email, etc. As a reminder, the ask is for your student to be "sponsored" to read for the Read-A-Thon. You do not need to collect money after they read.
Each class has its own class fundraising link with class-specific sample letters:
If you would like to donate to the general fundraising page, you can do so HERE.
Need Help with Online Fundraising? Please see the Online Fundraising Tutorial Here.
Class 2
We are as surprised as anyone to be out from under our recent blanket of winter and now finding ourselves stumbling upon the earliest blossoms of the year. With that in mind, Class 2 has been bringing the form of the floral world to our paintings. While not clearly defining these forms as plants, we have talked about how they seem to be reaching from one place toward another in a way that feels natural, as if encouraged by light.
We have spent our recent weeks reintroducing the four processes of arithmetic with the aim of seeing how they relate to story problems. In these weeks we’ve dedicated more of our efforts asking, what is the question we are trying to solve, or how else could we solve the problem, than we have actually seeking the answer. This practice of thinking all the way through our math challenges will build flexible thinking for all future problem solving. ~ Mr. Criswell
Class 7
In the next day or so we will be starting our simple machines block and are looking forward to learning how to make a simple machine of our own. ~ Ms. Franczak
More from the Office...
Our Illness Policy is as follows:
If your child has any cold symptoms (including cough, shortness of breath, chills, fatigue, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, headache or fever) please also keep the child's sibling(s) home and contact the office promptly. It is possible the child's sibling (s) may still attend school, however, in an effort to limit disruption to in-person learning for the class, our Health Coordinator will assess and advise on the next appropriate steps.
SYMPTOMS OF CONCERN:
- Feeling feverish or a measured temperature greater than or equal to 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit
- Loss of taste or smell
- Cough or difficulty breathing
- Shortness of breath or fatigue
- Headache
- Chills
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Shaking or exaggerated shivering
- Significant muscle pain or aches
- Diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting
Please contact our Health Coordinator, Sarah Collins, at 541-214-7015 or by email Sarah.Collins@siskiyouschool.org.
Test to Stay and Consent Form
Looking for Vacation Rental for February 15th-28th:
Mr. Dilansa Looking to Rehome Their Dog
Hello Siskiyou School Families,
Since our family of six (two parents, two kids, and two dogs) were displaced by the Almeda Fire, we’ve been in the same rental. We’ll be moving into a new rental at the end of January and will remain there until our rebuild in Talent is complete. That won’t be until May at the earliest.
Our older dog, Cember, has developed health challenges which make her difficult to house in the new rental. Our current place has hardwood floors. Our rebuild will have mostly vinyl. The rental in-between is almost entirely carpeted, and our landlords are particular about the care of the carpet. We need to rehome Cember at least until May and maybe longer. We are also open to a new forever family for her, as her health challenges have become a bit much for two working parents to manage, but that decision can be made later.
Here are the details about Cember:
Facts about Cember:
We’ve had her since she was seven. She’s eleven now.
We are her first experience of having a family, since she was a dame at a breeder and not treated as a pet.
She’s spent the past four years learning how to be a family dog.
She is meek, loving, and gentle. She might hurt a fly, but that’s about it.
Challenges:
She has seizures, which have been occurring at least once a month for the past year.
The seizures generally last a few minutes.
She loses control of her bladder during the seizure (hence the problem with carpeting).
She’s on medication for her seizures.
We’re still adjusting the medication, but the vet has told us that we’ll never really get rid of the seizures.
The medication makes her a little slow, confused, and clumsy sometimes.
The medication also tells her brain that she’s always hungry. She keeps her girlish figure by being strictly limited to two meals a day (plus treats).
Because she always thinks she’s hungry, she has to be monitored when she goes potty. She will eat poop.
She has an old doggy bladder. She’s really good about letting us know when she needs to go (basically, whenever she gets off her bed), but when she’s gotta go, she’s gotta go.
When we need to leave her for extended periods of time, she goes in her kennel. We find that if she doesn’t get up and move around her bladder holds better.
She may be starting to lose her vision and hearing. Either that, or she’s just become very selective.
She’s very bonded to us. She’s much less anxious than when we first got her, but we really don’t know how this transition will go. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that something will work out to help us through this predicament. Please contact Mr. Dilansa at the school if you can help in any way.
Thank you!
Mr. Dilansa and family
The Siskiyou School
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/
