Tuesday Notice

Dear Siskiyou School Community,

I hope that all families are safe and well at this time of heightened health challenges with the virus.

All is well on campus. We are heartened to know that research shows that outbreaks mostly happen due to exposure during travel, in certain social settings, and in large group gatherings - not at schools where proper health & safety protocols are being adhered. We continue to be grateful that we have had no confirmed positive cases since the beginning of the school year and that we are able to keep kids grounded with the daily rhythm of school.

A few updates:

1) The Governor’s Holiday Travel Advisory: As you make plans for the holidays, we ask our school community to take this advisory into account, stay close to home, and celebrate within your family. By following recommendations as best we can, we increase the possibility that our school will continue to be able stay open. Additionally, our school’s COVID committee continues to meet on a regular basis to review our situation and to advise us on any health & safety recommendations.

2) Increasing Cohort Size and Open Enrollment: The ODE has changed its guidelines around cohort sizes; rather than 10 students per cohort, 20 will now be allowed. Here at school, we will expand our cohort size to a maximum of 14 students. This will open a few more spots in each cohort to kids who might want to return and new children who want to join our school but still keep cohort size relatively small and allow us to maintain all the health and safety standards.

Thank you for telling your friends and helping get the word out that we are admitting children at this time for all grades and that they should call the office if they are interested in joining the school.

3) Parent Handbook 2020-2021: Please see the link below to the 2020-2021 Parent Handbook. It’s also available on our website, making it easy for parents to use as a reference whenever you have a question about policies or procedures.

THANK YOU!

We can’t say enough how grateful we are for all you are doing for your children and for our community. Together we can get through this time! My best to you all, Aurilia

Please do your best to keep the office staff safe. When possible, email or call the office and drop off your tuition payments in the outside tuition box.

This Week

Tues-Fri, Nov 17-20: Food Drive continues.

Looking Ahead

Mon, Nov 23: Food Drive ends.

Tues, Nov 24: Last Day of School before Thanksgiving Break.

Wed-Fri, Nov 25-27: Thanksgiving Break, no school.

Aleta and Ross, parents to Brahn in 2nd grade, welcomed their baby girl this week. Congratulations, from all of us at the Siskiyou School!

Cohort B – Please arrive NO EARLIER than 11:15 for drop off. Wait WITH your child if you arrive early until staff arrives for the necessary screening.

Please make sure to read Aurilia’s section for updates around the Governor’s travel advisory and our current program. We are including the link to the travel advisory here:

West Coast Travel Advisory

Thank you to all parents for working with us as we have added the screening questions at drop-off time. We will continue this protocol for added safety for our school. When pulling up at the drop-off line, please wear your mask to answer the screening questions. As we are aware that many kids either walk or bike to school, or are dropped off on the street rather than at the drop-off line, we will make sure to be in touch with those families to check in with the screening questions. If you are one of the families not dropping off at school, please look for an email from the office in regards to this. Thank you.

We appreciate everyone’s diligence around keeping your sick or exposed kids at home and being in touch with your doctor and notifying the office.

When your child feels ill or is sick, please keep them home. Thank you for helping with this most important step in keeping our faculty and students healthy.

If your child will be staying home, please notify the office and your class teacher (a quick email is sufficient).

While we appreciate how important school work feels, our wish is that the time at home is spent being restful and getting healthy. We would like your child's energy to go towards healing and returning to the classroom.

"Livestream Zoom" (Zoom during a child's normal time in the classroom) is available to support:

• Touchstone at Home students (arranged with the class teacher and school administration)
• Children staying home due to Covid quarantine
• Children staying home because a family member is ill
• Children in recovery from an illness
  

If your child is staying home due to Covid quarantine or an ill family member, they will be able to join livestream Zoom of their in-person classes a day after notification. Contact your child's teacher for the link (generally the Zoom link on Canvas).

If your child is home ill, please give them a full 3 days of rest without school. After 3 days, if they are on the mend, but still might be contagious, you may contact your child's teacher for the livestream Zoom link.

The Annual Siskiyou School Food Drive is well underway! The 5th grade is so excited to count and weigh the food every day. We are collecting non-perishable food items between November 9th and November 23rd. This year we are partnering with Rogue Food Unites to help feed those that were impacted by the Almeda fire. Last year's 5th grade had a goal of collecting 200 pounds of food per class. Let's see if we can make this happen again! All donations are being dropped off in boxes in the classrooms. If your family is donating a large number of items, please deliver them to the front of the school and notify the office; they will make sure to deliver to the right classroom and cohort. Please note that we are only collecting food and no other items at this time.

Non-perishable items only: No fresh fruit, vegetables, or any food that could go bad over time should be donated to the food drive. Some things that would be great are canned foods, dry goods, boxed foods, etc. Gift Cards are also greatly appreciated to assist families without a kitchen at the moment.

Thank you for helping us help our community.

The enrollment process for the incoming 2021-22 has begun. If you have a child or know someone that is interested in enrolling with us, please contact Kristin to get onto our enrollment emailing list. Call the office at 541-482-8223 or email kristin.beers@siskiyouschool.org.

Please find your student's class schedule by clicking the link below.

The Holiday Market is cancelled, but we are working on plans to move things online. We are happy to announce that we are hosting an online auction. Are you looking for great gifts for this Holiday Season? Do you, yourself, need a little retail therapy? Make sure to check out our online auction and help support the Siskiyou School's fundraising efforts. Bidding will start on Friday, November 22nd and go until Sunday, December 6th. We are currently adding more items, so make sure you check the catalog throughout the week.

Looking for more special Holiday gifts? The students have been busy making their class projects. We will have handmade beeswax candles and holders, soup and cocoa in a jar (not the same jar), handmade lanterns, and more! You will be able to find those items at our school store. Coming soon! You will find their items on our Siskiyou School Store Here.

Our Holiday Market vendors can still use your support and many of the vendors are parents from the school. Please see their businesses on our website. You can order from their Etsy store or website.

Stay tuned to learn more about our next Magical Winter offerings! The Magical Winter News (formerly known as the Holiday Market News) will come full of updates tomorrow.

With the new restrictions in place, we have decided to cancel the cookie needs. Thank you for all who signed up!

Please make sure to bring your holiday market class offerings to school no later than Tuesday, November 24th. These items will be sold online! Thank you!

The first grade is clipping along with all things first grade! Last week we made lanterns to bring light into the darkening days. As we were unable to have a real lantern walk, we paraded around the school with beautiful lanterns mono-printed by the children and constructed by their buddies! It was a delightful surprise for the children to see their lit lanterns waiting on their desks on Friday morning when they arrived.

Now we step into the land of the number gnomes: the children will learn about the four processes through the antics of Pele Plus , Melody Minus , Dandy Divide, and Twinkle Toes Times! We give the children a playful introduction to all that can be done with numbers to give them a kind of flexibility in thinking before we tackle our math facts ! ~ Ms. McKissick

A week ago the sixth grade made lanterns for the Holiday Market. We were sad to hear the market was canceled (now it will be online). The silver lining was the sixth graders had a day to talk and laugh together, craft, and relax. It was such good medicine for the class. Thank you to Lora for your hard work organizing the Holiday Market. We hope our lanterns will still help out our school in whatever way they can ~ they are filled with so much love and light from the sixth grade.

The sound of many guitars simultaneously strumming filled the sixth grade today. Cordero, music teacher extraordinaire and Siskiyou School alum, is visiting the Hummingbirds this week. The students are enthusiastically absorbing his instruction. It's quite a treat!

The 6th grade recently finished their first Rome block. From the beginning epic, The Aeneid, to the foreshadowing Empire, the sixth graders were hungry for history! One highlight from the block was the story of Hannibal marching through the Alps with his 90,000 troops, tens of thousands of calvary, and 36 war elephants. The image of elephants trudging through the snow can take the mind on quite a journey, not to mention the treacherous climb and descent. During the block, we took a couple of days hiatus and learned about the election process. It's amazing to see the parallels between our 3 branches of government, its process for checks and balances, and the Roman Republic.

The sixth grade will begin a new block on Wednesday--- Business Math. We will learn about percentages, loans, economics, calculating interest, what is a profit, how to balance a budget, and how to market and sell a product. We will begin with the story of Hamdi Ulukaya who started Chobani It's going to be an exciting block!

Stay healthy, everyone. ~ Ms. Franczak

We are extending the dates for the Dilansa family meal train through November up to Thanksgiving break, Monday through Thursday. Please see sign-up below.

Have something to share on our Community News and Classifieds section?

Here are the guidelines for the Classifieds:

Please keep your classified ads brief and succinct. We will run ads for two consecutive weeks. Flyers and pictures are appreciated!
Send classifieds to Lora Wilde at lora.wilde@siskiyouschool.org by noon on Tuesday.

The Siskiyou School is not responsible for the content.

Nurturing, fun, holistic nanny available, over 20 years experience with all ages, lots of time outside, nature walks, creative play, and reading. CPR and first aid certified. $25 an hour for one child $5/hr more per child minimum 20 hrs per week. Contact Kamalla McNamara for more information call 541-488-6616.

Tutoring and Educational Support Services for Middle and High School Students

Middle School: English (writing, grammar, literature), History, Math, Science and French

High School: English, History and French

Any age: French (lessons, conversation, tutoring)

Hello! I provide virtual tutoring and educational support services to middle and high school students across the country. Along with academic subject teaching, my expertise includes helping students with study skills, time management, and homework support. With 10 years of classroom teaching experience, I aspire to instill a curiosity and love of learning in all of my students. In these times of remote learning, it is vital to tailor sessions to students’ needs and specific learning styles in order to help them connect to and become excited about the material.

Born and raised in Washington D.C., I have a BA in Political Science and Geography from the University of Vermont, and a Masters of Education from Antioch University. I have worked in Baltimore public schools, as a tutor and substitute teacher in multiple D.C. private schools, and as a Waldorf class teacher from 2012-2019 in Southern Oregon. I have recently returned to live on the Oregon coast after traveling the world, including a multi-month stint at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

I welcome the opportunity to support your child in their educational journey; give me a call or send me an email!

-Catherine Dixon

Email: catherinedixon1@gmail.com

Phone: (202) 669-2867

Hi! My name is Bryan Pistole, I am the father of three current Siskiyou School students (Wynn, Kuypyer, and Tennyson) and one graduate (Glory). I recently made a career change to mortgage lending and am offering purchase and refinance loans with Caliber Home Loans. Our office is in Ashland, and it would be my pleasure to assist anyone looking for information on home financing.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Bryan

My name is Olivia and I am a doula and long-time super nanny with over 15+ years of experience working with kids! In addition to being a nanny, I have been a co-circle facilitator for girls, worked in summer camps with Flipside, taught self-defense classes for kids, and been a volunteer PE martial arts teacher at North Medford High School.

I’m looking for a job with a family or group right now that is in need of tutoring support or care for their kiddos. Ideally, it would be 20-30 hours/week and I am able to help with food prep, light cleaning, and tutoring. I can provide an extensive list of references from the community.

Feel free to call or text me at 541-840-7297. Thank you!

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/