The Tuesday Notice

In their eighth year of handwork, Siskiyou School students learn the ever-practical skill of sewing on a sewing machine. There are two main projects during their time with Ms. Bower, sewing a pillowcase and in the spring, sewing a pair of pajama pants they can actually wear. It's such a functional skill they leave the school with and one that will last them a lifetime, but it's also developing hand-eye coordination, patience, and the will to see a project through the the end!

Dear Siskiyou School Parents,

A heartfelt THANK YOU for all the collaborative efforts to make our Winter Faire such an amazing event for our whole community. From the vendors in the marketplace, the 8th graders helping with wreaths (see the advertisement lower down in this newsletter to purchase a wreath), alumni helping in the café and in the crystal cookie room, and everyone that came the day after to clean up - it's such a large undertaking and we're grateful for how each one of you showed up in such a beautiful way. Even with the weather less than perfect, the feeling was wonderful, we all helped together, and so many children had the opportunity of a magical experience. The BIGGEST THANK YOU goes to Sarah Collins! The event could only be what it was with her incredible leadership and organization, her care and love for the event, and her vision. Sarah, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

This week we are celebrating the 2nd Light of Advent:

“The 2nd light of advent is the week of plants;

the plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.”

All classes are preparing to present something wonderful at the big all-school Winter Assembly on Wed, 12/13 @ 6:30 p.m. Please look for more information in this Tuesday Notice and from your class teachers about where and when your children should be at the assembly. Please help your children to come to the Assembly in festive and beautiful attire. Thank you!

With warmth, wreaths and lights – Aurilia

This Week

Mon, Dec 4: Advent Assembly, during school hours

Tues, Dec 5: Teacher Holiday Cards and Gift Fund available in the music room, 8:10 to 10:00 a.m.

Tues, Dec 5: Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Thurs, Dec 7: Main Lesson Tour, 8:30 a.m. - Open to all! Please come!

POSTPONED to Fri, Jan 12: Middle School Dance, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Next Week

Mon, Dec 11: Advent Assembly, during school hours

Wed, Dec 13: Winter Assembly, SOU Music Recital Hall, 6:30 p.m.

Fri, Dec 15: Last day of school before Winter Break.

Looking Ahead

Tues, Jan 2, 2024: School resumes from break

Wed, Jan 3: Window into Waldorf evening talk with Nina Gallwey, 6:30 p.m. - Open to all!

We are excited to see you at our all-school holiday assembly. At Winter Assembly grades 1 through 8 will bring presentations of music, verse, and movement. The evening ends with the whole community singing together. All students are expected to attend and to come dressed in their best for this celebration.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• Kindergarten: Our kindergarten is not performing this evening and may sit with their parents.
• Parking: SOU Mountain Avenue parking Lot.

• Arrival at the Hall @ 6:00pm: Please walk around the front of the building facing Mountain Ave and enter through the main entrance of the music hall to wait in the foyer.

• Grades 1 & 2: Parents and kids of grades 1 & 2 enter through the side door of the big building facing Mountain Ave. Please see signs to drop your child off in an adjacent room with their teacher.

• Seating begins at 6:15pm

• Please make sure to keep your child’s coats and belongings with you.

• All children will sit with their classes and their teachers.

Please remember to make a restroom stop BEFORE handing them off to their teacher. There are restrooms on the 2nd floor as well.

• Assembly begins at 6:30pm and will end right before 8pm.

Details about Seating:

It has always been a tradition for the Winter Assembly to be open to our whole community, including alumni, grandparents, and friends. We have used many venues in the past that were able to accommodate this larger audience. The venue available to us this year is SOU Music Recital Hall, and as such we will need to keep our audience smaller. The music hall is a beautiful environment but has very limited seating.

The audience will be for immediate family (guardians, parents, siblings) of current Siskiyou students only.

The assembly will be videotaped and we're happy to offer extended family and friends the opportunity to view the performance online in the following weeks. Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions regarding this, please email or contact Kristin.

Look for more details about the assembly in the week of December 11th.

Join us in the new year for an evening with Nina Gallwey (ohanafamilyrecources.com) as we introduce the Waldorf pedagogy and how it nourishes students at the Siskiyou School in our modern times. We highly recommend this talk for incoming families and lower grades parents, but everyone is welcome and can find a gem of wisdom to take home.

Middle School parents - Does your child love trivia? Are they constantly bombarding you with random facts? Then they sound perfect for joining the Siskiyou School Brain Bowl team, please email coaches Kristin Beers at kristin.beers@siskiyouschool.org.

Practices will be one hour after school, once weekly, day to be determined. Matches take place during the school day (probably at lunch), once a week from Jan through Feb. Brain Bowl students are required to keep up with their school work, making up any material missed due to matches. Team members are also asked to do some studying on their own time. All that said, it’s so much fun!

Brain Bowl is an international competition hosted through SOU Youth Programs. The Siskiyou School Team competes with middle schools in the valley and are current Division B Champions! For more information see their page HERE or watch the 2019 competition HERE.

Please note if we do not have a coach that is available to travel with the team to away games during the week, we will need to cancel our team this year. If you're interested in coaching, please let Kristin know!

The second-grade room is filled with the sounds of song, and what a treat it is to hear them sing together! I am looking forward to seeing you at the Winter Assembly, and for you to hear them as well. As we enter our Fourth Block we are focusing on Math! We will be practicing double digit addition and subtraction as well as practicing our math facts and counting by 3's and 4's! The children, as always, are full of enthusiasm and joy. There will be a big email coming your way with all of the details for the holiday events ahead. Thank you so much for your attention to the details, and for supporting the class in the wonderful ways you do. Blessings on our class.

~Mrs. Bartow

In awakening to the vast complexities of something as seemingly simple as a candle flame, a sense of wonder is awakened - a newfound curiosity and discernment of the world around and within ourselves that heals the soul.

Chemistry has offered the Forest Class the opportunity to observe and discern the phenomena of their outer world on a substantive, transformative level. Through demonstrations of combustion, acids and bases, neutralization and the production of chemical salts and water, the students are tasked to gaze out, observe astutely, and garner even the subtle details of various phenomena.

In being tasked to gaze out, observe astutely, they train their skill of objective observation and are empowered to gain understanding of these phenomena from their own authority. What can I know for sure? For my own self?

As substances interact, combine, build up, break down, and entirely transform before our eyes, the children make true sense of the ever-changing world around them with objectivity at a time when they, too, are on a course of transformation and new possibility. To rightly observe the dynamic reaction between an acid and base, as well as their resulting balancing and neutralization,.is to experience the phenomenon inwardly.

In the process of transforming substance to new forms, we experienced the alchemy of life, and perhaps a glimmer of hope - that even from seeming chaos, something beautiful can be created.

~Miss Benson

Tools for Self-Parenting:

This coffee morning will focus on distinguishing between habits and patterns we collected as a child, which may unconsciously be running our parenting. As we enter the holidays wishing to create connection and peace within our family unit, it can be very helpful to have a few tools to soothe the triggers and pull out what you truly wish to bring to these “holy days.” This coffee talk will also dip into Attachment Styles so that we can use awareness to

co-create secure attachment for our children.

Morning Coffee includes coffee/tea/breakfast treats and handout to accompany the talk.

Sliding scale: $20-30

REGISTER ON-LINE: ohanafamilyresources.com OR EMAIL: ohanafamilyresources@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/