Ashland Connect Newsletter

Hello families!

It is so hard to believe that summer is so close! I hope you all are helping your students finish up and feel good about the things they accomplished this year. We have a few very important things to keep in mind for the end of the year, including:

-End of year iReady assessments (students can start now!)

-Turning in laptops (Due no late than 12pm Monday, June 13th)

-End of year celebration at Garfield park

More information about each of these things will be widely available here in the newsletter as well as in my weekly updates (which I missed this week, I am so sorry!). I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a productive 14 more school days!

Sincerely,

Amanda Groover

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success. Visit their site here for access to Care Package, the Asian Pacific American Center's online exhibition curated with love in difficult times. This exhibition includes short films, poems, music, and meditations.

Teaching for Justice also has wonderful resources on Asian American Identity and History here. The article has related links at the bottom are suitable for a variety of grade levels.

Social Justice Books has a great children's book list separated by age level here.

Oregon Statewide Assessments in Mathematics and Language Arts return for all 3rd-8th graders. There is also Science testing in grades 5 and 8. JMOS students will participate in the assessment between April 25 - May 31. Your child's teacher will reach out with the specific testing days for your child.

We know that an end-of-the-year assessment cannot possibly tell us everything about a child’s academic progress. However, the results do act as a snapshot of each child’s strengths and areas for improvement and can be used as a way to ensure he or she is getting the supports he or she needs. Additionally, the assessments help Ashland School District’s efforts to equitably distribute resources and support student learning. When fewer students take the assessment, we are left with an incomplete and inaccurate picture of how our students are performing, and this limits our ability to address issues, better serve students, and continue to improve our educational system.

House Bill 2655 permits parents and adult students to annually opt-out of Oregon’s Smarter Balanced ELA and Math assessments by submitting an annual form to the school the student attends. More information can be found here: https://www.ashland.k12.or.us/page/assessment-opt-outs

In Ashland School District, we are deeply committed to ensuring each and every student in our schools has the supports they need to achieve at high levels and graduate prepared for their next steps. Our ultimate goal is to make sure that all students are set up to be successful from grade to grade and that will remain the focus of our district throughout the rest of the school year.

Anytime your child gets a vaccine, don't forget to update their immunization record with the office. You can email a picture to lindsay.wiegel@ashland.k12.or.us or drop a copy by the office.

This includes all state required vaccines for school age children as well as any additional vaccines (Covid-19, flu, etc.) Thank you!

Ashland has a new food recourse for families in need.

At GracePoint Church of the Nazarene
1760 E Main St, Ashland

2nd & 4th Wednesdays of the month.

2:00 - 3:30 p.m.

What: Creative Writing Workshop: Find Your Voice!

When: June 27-July 1 / 9am – 12pm

Where: Decker Studio, SOU Campus, Ashland

Who: Students entering grades 4-6

Cost: $140.00 / full scholarship support for students enrolled in Ashland,

Eagle Point, and Medford School Districts

Register Today!

Love to write? Want to polish and publish your work alongside other young writers? Through daily free writes, fun writing games and activities, regular feedback, and the opportunity to share writing, campers will discover their writer’s voice and refine their writing talent. We will focus on the genres of nature writing, poetry, fiction, and memoir to help us all grow as writers. Come write with us!

Bonus! Campers receive a copy of an anthology with their work published, and the opportunity to share their writing at the Young Authors Reception in November at SOU.

Starmites concerns a lonely teenage girl who magically finds herself in the comic-book world she adores, where she must lead the Starmites in their efforts to save the earth and battle the evil Shak Graa.

• May 19th - Opening Night Show @ 7pm
• May 20th - Friday Night Show @ 7pm
• May 21st - Matinee @ 3pm & Closing Night @ 7pm

Come Learn How to Row with Rogue!

Camps available for youth ages 10-18.

Details and registration at roguerowing.org

Sabichsel3@gmail.com

An amazing opportunity for current 7th and 8th grade Latino/a/x students!

July 10-16, 2022

Academia Latina is a summer academic residential program for Latino Youth in southern Oregon. The program offers of a broad range of classes, lectures, cultural experiences, and recreational activities for Latino students who have completed grades 7 through 9. Students selected for the residential camp will live on campus at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. They will interact with other Latino students from throughout southern Oregon while being challenged by creative, imaginative instructors and activities.

Please visit the website for more info and to fill out an application.

All application documents (online application, letter of recommendation, academic transcript, Covid attestation, and essay) are due May 27, 2022.

Who: Parents and guardians of students (any age) who identify as gender diverse.

What: Monthly discussion, support and resource group facilitated in a circle format by Kimberly Wasserman, LCSW (Behavioral Health Specialist at AHS).

Where: Ashland High School. Come to the front office and you will be directed.

When: First First Thursday of the month through the remainder of the school year (May 5 and June 2).

Please RSVP to kimberly.wasserman@ashland.k12.or.us

Or call 541-482-8771 x 2291 with questions

You are warmly invited to bring your experience, questions, wisdom and feelings to a new support and resource group for families of gender diverse students. Raising a trans or non-binary child presents unique complexities, and it is easy to feel alone with challenges and concerns. Connection can make all the difference! One of the best ways we can support our children is to empower ourselves with community support and resources from others on the journey. We hope you will join us!

The Family Connection

Flyer

3rd Monday of the Month

6:30pm – 8pm PST on ZOOM

RSVP: tinyurl.com/TFCworkshop

Zoom.us Meeting ID: 840 3707 4428
Passcode: TFC21

March 21st – Active Listening as Communication
April 18th – Communication
May 16th – Safety
June 20th – Brain Development
July 18th – Positive Discipline
August 15th – School Readiness
September 19th – Stress and Coping
October 17th – Parenting Styles
November 21st – Sibling Rivalry & Family Conflict
December 19th – Self Care and Boundaries

The Family Connection

Flyer

For parents of children ages 11-18
April 15 – June 3, 2022
Fridays 6:30-8:00pm PT on ZOOM
RSVP: tinyurl.com/TFCparentingyourteen

Application & Information

ACADEMY is a camp experience tailored to the needs of academically talented and highly motivated students who love to learn. Participation is open to students who have completed grades 5-8 to explore a broad range of classes, cultural events, and recreational activities. ACADEMY provides an opportunity for intellectually curious youth who want to be around like-minded students and deepen their love of learning.

ACADEMY 2022 will return to the beloved in-person model you all know and love. After 2 years of online and/or hybrid programming, our residential program is back! Students will stay on campus and take classes in person.

"A six-year old sifting for shark teeth on a British beach found the four-inch long tooth of a megalodon, buried for at least three million years.

Sammy Shelton found the tooth with his dad Peter on Bawdsey Beach, at Gorleston-on-Sea in Suffolk; it’s a spot where many people come to look for different shells, sharks’ teeth, and fossils from recent times and those long gone.

Semi-professional fossil hunters with trowels and knee pads for kneeling in the mud told the father and son it’s nearly unheard of to find megalodon teeth in Great Britain, despite the fact they have been found nearly everywhere on Earth.

“Sammy was very excited as we’d seen fragments of shark teeth on the beach, but nothing as big and heavy as this,” Mr. Shelton told the BBC, adding that the little boy had become “very attached to it” and that he even sleeps with it.

“Now that Sammy has found this it has really piqued his interest [in paleontology] and he took it to school to show his class,” Mr. Shelton told the Great Yarmouth Mercury." Read more here

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We are offering resources that may be helpful to you and your family. During these times, it is important to support children in naming their emotions and what they are experiencing. It is equally important to focus on what they are doing well, what they can control, practice gratitude, and offer opportunities to build resiliency skills. Here are some resources that may be helpful to you and your family.

Calm, Cool and Connected:

Raising Regulated, Resilient Kids

With Hanna Bogen Novak

Complete Parenting Series on the ASD website

https://www.ashland.k12.or.us/page/parent-seminars

The Center for Connection, https://www.thecenterforconnection.org/

Your child’s abilities to learn, play, plan and problem solve rely upon their brain feeling safe and comfortable. When the “downstairs” survival and feeling parts of the brain are well regulated, the “upstairs” thinking brain is available to activate executive function thinking skills in order to be flexible, adaptive, and successful. As the safe adults in your child’s life, you can use a developing understanding of brain connectivity to support your child’s regulation, improve your own regulation, and empower members of your child’s social networks to cultivate the kinds of relationships that lead to success.

Mental Health Services

If you need support accessing mental health services, please contact Amber Langer or Jennifer Parks who can put you in touch with our Options School Care Coordinator.

If you are looking for a mental health provider in the area here are some resources that my help.

Mental Health Education and Resource Network

http://mhren.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-2023CompleteBook.pdf

Psychology Today

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us

Kairos

10 Crater Lake Avenue
Medford, Oregon 97504
Phone (541) 772-0127
Fax (541) 772-0966

https://www.kairosnw.org/jackson-services

Options for Southern Oregon

200 Beatty St
Medford, OR 97501

(541) 476-2373

http://www.optionsonline.org/therapy-1

Jackson County Crisis Services

Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling the crisis line at 541.774.8204. Walk-in services available Monday through Friday 8 am to 5pm at 140 S. Holly St. in Medford.

1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Risk of fentanyl overdose deaths in school-aged youth: Guidance for parents and schools

The Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) is warning Oregon schools and parents about the threat of overdose due to counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 40% of all counterfeit pills in circulation contain fatal amounts of fentanyl. Please read the linked bulletin below.

English

Spanish