The Mighty Endeavor
In 2016, OregonASK worked with Veteran Legacies to develop a curriculum for The Mighty Endeavor. This initiative engages school-age students, libraries, and veteran and youth organizations to gather the histories of our Oregon WWII veterans. The curriculum is scheduled to be introduced in the 2017/18 school year, but is already being used in communities to preserve our history . The Office of the State Library is also supporting the project.
The Mighty Endeavor will serve as a catalyst for community partnerships and exploration by participants of all ages. Through engaging with the curriculum, students will build skills, interests, and perspective while working on the project- perhaps inspiring the next generation of historian, data specialists, journalists, and documentary filmmakers! The curriculum is designed to give students hard and soft skills, and to increase listening skills, personal perspective, personal communication, computer, narrative writing, research, and documentation skills.
Click here to see a video of the program in action!
New Americorps Health and Wellness VISTA

Kassy Rousselle is the new Health and Wellness Americorps VISTA. She just moved to Oregon in October from Oak Harbor, Washington. Kassy graduated from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington with a degree in Food Science and Nutrition. She's passionate about the overall wellness and equity of others and the access to knowledge available to them. 
December is the time to Celebrate...Computer Science    

We are excited for #CSEdWeek this December 4th-10th! Computer Science Education Week is a grassroots campaign to demystify coding and work to build more inclusive opportunities for all.  This year, the national movement, CSforALL, is working to highlight several specific areas during the week. If you are participating, make sure to use the hashtags below to join the global conversation.
# National Movement on December 4th
#InformalED on December 6th
#Rural on December 7th

If you are not already planning to do your own Hour of Code, CLICK HERE to find other ways to participate & inspire your students!
Oregon Afterschool Conference: Choose Your Own Adventure

Photos from the 2017 Oregon Afterschool Conference have been posted on our Facebook page. Take a look and tag yourself here



Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities  

Program Management Series
Starting December 14th in Wilsonville
We are looking for Afterschool Professionals interested in building their program management skills. This series will take place on Thursdays this winter & early spring, in 7 individual trainings that build and connect to one another. 

Science Action Club: CloudQuest
January 5th in Wilsonville 
January 12th in Eugene 
Apply HERE to join the CloudQuest  cohort for FREE. This STEM program for middle school youth in out-of-school time uses games, projects, and hands-on activities within the context of citizen science to explore nature, connect with scientists, and design strategies to protect our planet. Cloud Quest includes, climate, weather and how youth can participate as citizen scientists to track them all!  Please Apply by December 20th and c ontact  Rachel Kessler  with questions.

CryptoClub Training
Saturday January 20th 9am-5pm in Wilsonville
Register Now for only $25
The  CryptoClub  curriculum teaches cryptography and mathematics to middle school age youth in afterschool settings. This training includes an educator manual and one youth workbook for  each participant, while providing st rategies to support the exploration of math and cryptography with CryptoClub Materials.

Mozilla Web Club Training
Friday January 26th 9am-12pm
Register Now for FREE
This training will prepare participants to use the curriculum and set of Web Literacy digital badges developed by Mozilla. The Web Clubs give middle school aged students an opportunity to learn how to research on, design for, and understand the world wide web. Facilitators will have access to Mozilla Web Literacy Digital Badges learn how to award them to students who can then share their experiences with potential schools and employers.

Service to Careers Pilot
February 16th in Wilsonville 9am-12pm
Be part of our pilot Service to Careers project, using curriculum designed by OregonASK for middle and high school youth. Participants will be trained in facilitation of the service learning model, emphasizing youth voice. The other key piece of this experience is the direct connection with local workforce through regional workforce investment boards and industry partners. Register Now for FREE



National Afterschool Association Convention
Lead the Charge
March 18th-20th in Atlanta, GA
 
This years NAA Convention will be a partnership with the National 21st Century Community Learning Center conference, bringing together state 21st CCLC teams with NAA participants for this 3 day opportunity to Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Brilliant. Click here to find more information about this unique opportunity to increase collaboration with local, state and federal partners. 
Virtual Dairy Field Trip   

Get a MOO perspective of dairy farms, with a virtual field trip from Undeniably Dairy ! This is a great opportunity to connect agriculture with your STEM and STEAM initiatives. Recently, students went behind-the-scenes of a modern dairy farm to meet the team members and people responsible for keeping cows comfortable. The farmers, veterinarians, nutritionists and cows are waiting for you to view the on-demand virtual field trip! Students will explore dairy's journey from farm to fridge, while learning about the technology and problem-solving techniques that make dairy farming possible. This 30 minute video is a compilation of four approximately 6 minute segments, allowing you viewing flexibility. There are companion activities for educators to download to prepare students prior to this udderly fantastic virtual field trip!
OregonASK Expanding Opportunities 

This fall, OregonASK was awarded additional funding in the form of an Opportunity Grant from the CS Mott Foundation to support the expansion of our  TEAM Community  Innovation Project: Total Engagement Across My Community. Our TEAM Community initiative was designed to meet critical needs in Oregon's afterschool & summer systems, featuring two flexible strands of work: Family & Community Engagement and Equity & Access. Over the next two years, we will use a four prong approach to involve diverse stakeholders from around the state as we build community engagement strategies that blend workforce, youth voice, and access and equity.

We will be sharing more about our specific equity & access work plan, policy work and various other projects at our next Partner meeting on January 12th. We hope you will be able to join us in the new year. Contact our Policy & Outreach Coordinator  Bethany Thramer with any questions.

Oregon State Literacy Conference

The 2018 State Literacy Conference will be held in Portland on February 2nd and 3rd. This 2 day conference has a special focus on supporting ELLs across the content areas in K-12. The first day will feature small group sessions from literacy leaders, with focuses on classroom ready strategies for K-5 and 6-12, struggling readers, and STEAM. Saturday the 3rd will feature Jeff Zwiers from Stanford University, giving a talk entitled Powering Up Language and Literacy Through Constructive Conversations for All. Attendees will learn how to enhance students oral language and conversation skills, text based understandings, classroom engagement, and clarifying, supporting, and arguing skills.
National Summer Learning Day- July 12, 2018

Mark your calendars now for Summer Learning Day!  National Summer Learning Day is 
a national advocacy day aimed at elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed in the year. Your participation sends a powerful message across the nation that summers matter and offers an opportunity to showcase how summers can make a life-changing difference in the lives of young people.

2018 resources will be coming soon, check out the 2017 Summer Learning Day Resources  to start your planning now!
(503) 689-1656 | [email protected] | www.oregonask.org
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