Girls STEAM Ahead
Join us for a special event, as we partner with National Girls Collaborative Project and NASA to bring you a day of exploring Girls STEAM Ahead lessons and activities! Ten educators will be invited to participate in bringing "Recoloring the Universe" STEAM content and materials back to their programs.
Thursday, July 8, 2017
OregonASK
Wilsonville
9 AM - 3 PM
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Web Literacy Pilot
OregonASK will be starting a year long Mozilla Web Literacy pilot this August. The pilot will consist of three trainings, one at the beginning of each session from August 2017 to March 2018. Each training will go over new web literacy content for upper elementary and middle school aged youth. Participants will also learn best practices for teaching STEM and Computer Science.
Register for the first training to participate in the year-long pilot, which will also include webinar refresher training and coaching throughout the year.
Friday, August 11, 2017
OregonASK
Wilsonville
9 AM - 4 PM
For more information contact
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CryptoClub Pilot
The CryptoClub curriculum teaches cryptography and mathematics to middle-grade students (grades 6-8) in afterschool settings. This pilot will consist of a set of three trainings over the next year that will provide scaffolding to support educators over a year of exploring math and cryptography with CryptoClub materials. Coaching and webinars will also be included.
There will be two cohorts going through this pilot, one with OregonASK Master Trainer Rachel Kessler, and one with Colin Crane. Register for the first training with either trainer to participate in the year-long pilot.
For more information contact
Saturday, August 26, 2017
9 AM - 4 PM
OregonASK, Wilsonville
Trainer: Rachel
Saturday, September 9, 2017
9 AM - 4 PM
PCC Cascades Campus
Trainer: Colin
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New Skills for your Professional and Personal Development
This
program combines movement-
focused education with the
lessons and psychology of early childhood development.
Taught by one of Portland's leading expressive arts educators & somatic therapists, Lanie Bergin, M.Ed., RSMT.
Read the Bergin Learning Arts Newsletter
here
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Summer Resources
Summer break is less than a month away- here are some resources to help you make the most
of the summer months!
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HOST Coalition Letter
The Healthy Out-of-School Time (HOST) Coalition has drafted a letter to Congress in response to the Trump administration's full FY2018 budget. The letter sends a strong, unified message in support of the federal policies and programs that promote health and wellness for children across the country. In particular, HOST highlights the ways expanded learning opportunities provide a crucial link between federal health and wellness policies for children, and the real life actions that help children grow up strong and active.
National or state organizations are strongly urged to sign the letter in order to demonstrate the broad support for healthy out-of-school time programs.
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Afterschool for All Challenge
Join us on June 7 for a national Day of Action for Afterschool. Advocates across the nation are joining together to share their powerful stories of afterschool with members of Congress. You can engage in actions as simple as sending an email or as complex as hosting a policy maker for a site visit. Click here for resources, and more ways to get involved!
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Afterschool for All Challenge
Every year, hundreds of afterschool advocates gather at Capitol Hill in Washington DC to share the importance of afterschool with Congress. This year there is even more significance as we face a complete cut to the $1.167 billion dedicated funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the only dedicated federal funding for afterschool.
This funding directly supports over 10,000 youth, just in Oregon, in accessing quality out of school time programs.
Their fate is in Congress' hands, and we are asking you to join us and the Afterschool Alliance in telling Congress why afterschool matters.
We hope you will join us for the
Afterschool for All Challenge on June 7th. Afterschool advocates, parents, students, and supporters will come together to call Congress and send a clear message that voters won't accept these cuts. There are several ways you can speak out for yourself and the families you serve, use the links below to learn more.
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Secretary DeVos Testifies on the Administrations Education Budget
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testified on May 24th before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies in favor of the
Trump administrations education budget proposal for FY2018
. The hearing primarily focussed on school choice, vouchers, and state flexibility, with a question and answer period after Secretary DeVos' testimonial; several members of Congress spoke out against the proposed elimination of 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
The Senators who spoke in favor of 21CCLC highlighted the role of afterschool in keeping kids safe and in helping to close the achievement gap, as a quality education resource for the most vulnerable. Secretary DeVos did not address the proposed cuts to afterschool, but she did speak to the need for creativity in education. "I want to unleash a new era of creativity and ingenuity in the education space. My hope is that... we can make education in America the envy of the world." DeVos stated.
The afterschool field has long been home to innovation and creativity
, something we urge all advocates to inform their legislators of.
The subcommittee will ultimately determine the funding level for Community Learning Centers and all other education and human services programs. Earlier this spring, more than 80 members of Congress from all across party lines
submitted a letter to the subcommittee
calling for full funding for 21
st
Century Community Learning Centers.
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Summer Learning Block Party
OregonASK is working with the Gilbert House Children's Museum, the National Summer Learning Association, and local partners to host a Summer Block Party in Salem on
Monday June 26th, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
. The Museum will be open to the public for free and there will be various tables and activities set up in the adjoining Parking Lot in front of the Children's Museum. The goal of the event is to recognize the importance of Summer Learning, showcase what's happening in our community, and have fun!
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Summer Learning Day
National S
umm
er Learning Day is July 13 this year. Summer Learning Day is a national advocacy day aimed at elevating the  importa
nce of keeping kids learning, safe and healthy every summer, e
nsuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed in the year. Your participation sends a powerful message across the nation
that summer matters and
offers an opportunity to showcase how summers can make a life-changing difference in the lives of young people.
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Students Who Participate in YMCA Summer Programs Make Learning Gains
Students who participated in the Power Scholars Academy Camp through the YMCA last summer were found to have gained an average of
2 months
in reading skills and
1.5 months
in math skills. Parents and teachers surveyed about the program's impact reported that the students improved in other areas as well. Eighty-seven percent of teachers reported an increase in their students' self confidence, while 90 percent of parents reported that their child had a more positive attitude about school.
Click here learn more about the Power Scholars Academy Camp.
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Mentoring and the Summer Slide
A unique summer school program in New York City is helping disadvantaged students avoid the summer slide through working with mentors.
Practice Makes Perfect
pairs students in K-8th grade who need remediation and/or enrichment in the summer with high-achieving, older students from their own neighborhood. These students in 8th-12th grades serve as mentors and tutors for the younger children. In turn, the high school students are mentored by college students who plan to become teachers. For these teaching fellows, the program is an internship. The college students are then supported by veteran classroom teachers, who serve as teacher coaches or mentors for them.
Karim Abouelnaga, the CEO of Practice Makes Perfect calls this mentoring circle their "everyone wins" model. The younger students improve academically, the high school aged mentors are exposed to college students, the teaching fellows get real-world classroom experience, and the classroom teachers receive professional development hours through serving as coaches.
The program appears to be working. It has an average attendance rate of 85 percent, and an independent evaluation found that, on average, Practice Makes Perfect scholars return to school a month ahead in math and two months ahead in reading.
The teaching fellows and mentors work to make this experience different from traditional summer school. The focus is on academics, but the curriculum offered is tailored to each school. The students have spirit days once a week and participate in spelling bees and math bees. "The goal is to make learning and education fun, cool, and exciting, and I think that's what makes the difference for students," said Abouelnaga.
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Are Students Perceptions of Scientists Changing?
The National Science Teacher's Association
wants to know who students think can be scientists- do they think most scientists are white males or do they see potential scientists in everyone? Share your views with them in this
anonymous poll
.
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Congratulations Rachel!
OregonASK Master Trainer Rachel Kessler was chosen as one of the top 25 presenters at the National Afterschool
Association from their conference this year. Rachel led a session titled "Great Art Practices: The A in STEAM", a hands-on workshop that gives participants ideas for making the most of art in their STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) program and strategies for relating art and science through creative thinking. Participants explored the best practices for integrating art and design projects into STEM curriculum. Congratulations Rachel- we're glad to have you on our team!
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MESA Day
MESA Day is Oregon's state qualifying event for the MESA National Engineering Design Challenge. This year, more than 350 students were joined by teachers, mentors, and volunteers for a day of fun, competition, and learning. Students learned about "failing forward", invention, and that their ideas matter! It was an awesome and inspiring day.
Pictured to the left are students working on a design challenge at the OregonASK table.
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OregonASK | Wilsonville, OR 97070 | 503-689-1656 | oregonask.org
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