ORVA Community Newsletter
December 2021
In This Issue
- Enrollment Open for Spring Semester
- 2021-2022 Family Income Surveys
- Fall Family Survey
- Attendance Policy
- Activities Coordinator Corner
- Learning Coach Corner
- Text Opt In
- Connect With ORVA Students/Families
- Scholastic Books
- Vector Solutions
- Elementary Spotlight
- Middle School Spotlight
- High School Spotlight
- Special Programs Spotlight
- Tips and Tricks from our School Psychologist
- Community Resources
- School Calendar
- Contact Us
Enrollment Open for Spring Semester!
2021-2022 Family Income Surveys
The federal government uses this data to determine the level of funding schools receive for important educational programs (Title I, etc.). Your completion of this form will ensure that ORVA receives the maximum amount of funding, thus enabling ORVA to offer more programs to assist students in math and language arts. Although you may have already submitted this information to ORVA at some point in the past (either on a form or in the ORVA enrollment application), federal guidelines require that this information also be collected each year after July 1 on a designated state form if it is to be used for school funding calculations.
Oregon Virtual Academy respects your privacy, and as such, you can be assured that we will not share this information with anyone other than the Oregon Department of Education for state reporting purposes only. Your provision of this information is confidential, safe, and secure.
If you have any questions about this form, please contact the ORVA office @ 541-751-8060 or oregonvirtual@oregonva.org.
Fall Family Survey
Attendance Policy
Absences are sometimes unavoidable. If a student is experiencing any issues that are or will affect their attendance, please let their advisor know. Students should reach out to their teacher(s) directly if they are only missing one day.
Activities Coordinator Corner
Turkey Trot
December ORventures
Our December ORventures will be winter-themed How-To Drawing Sessions (bring your own cocoa!) :) Sign now to make a piece of art to gift to a friend or family member or just work on your art skills!
Please sign up by the end of the day on 12/15 in order to guarantee you will be able to participate!
Sign your student up for ORventures HERE
ORVA Clubs
Club Sign-up Links:
**Club Participation Agreement:**
Below you find a link to the Club Participation Agreement that will need to be completed by the participating student prior to being added to the club. You will not have access to the club meetings or activities until this is returned.
Mental Health Assemblies
ORVA School Spelling Bee
1st-2nd Grades; 3rd-5th Grades; 6th-8th Grades; 9th-12 Grades
The Bee will be held in January and we will have the study list out before Winter Break.
Sign-Up forms will be coming soon!
Learning Coach Corner
Learning Coach Academy
Learning Coach Lounge
Text Opt In
When filling out the opt-in form, please be sure to include all of your students' names and student ID numbers even if you select no for student texting. This allows us to mark your opt-in choices on each of their accounts in our system. Additionally, please be sure to include the phone numbers for each person you are opting in.
If you are opted in and would like to opt OUT out or make any other changes, please contact Tiffany Folsom at tfolsom@oregonva.org.
Connect With ORVA Students/Families
Parent Connect
Student Connect
IMPORTANT:
- Form MUST be filled out by the student's Legal Guardian
- Please do not put gaming handles (Nintendo, Xbox, PS4, app games, etc.) on this form. Any gaming handles found on the form will be removed before info is added to the directory.
- What is shared between students over the phone or email is at the discretion of their Legal Guardians
- The Student Connect Directory will only be accessible to those who have filled out the Student Connect opt in form. Your student will receive a link to this form via their school email.
- To remove your student from the Student Connect Directory, you will need to contact Tiffany Folsom (tfolsom@oregonva.org)
If you have already filled out the form before 11/2/2021, please know that we have added an option for including an email address as another option for communication. If you would like to include an email address on the Student Connect Directory for your student, please fill out the form (completely) again. The email address must be a personal email address and not their school email as students are not able to email each other through their school (oregonva.org) email. Thank you!
Scholastic Books
Orders for December are currently being accepted. Because of the pandemic, Scholastic is delivering books directly to homes, rather than shipping them to the teacher to hand out. Scholastic is currently experiencing a delay in shipping books. They will send you a confirmation email when your order has been shipped.
When you use the school’s code below with your order, ORVA earns points with Scholastic. The points will be used to purchase books as incentives and prizes throughout the year. Our school account says MS, but it’s the account for K-12.
Website/ordering link: https://orders.scholastic.com/XQ8XT
If you’re asked for our school code, it’s XQ8XT.
Be sure to choose the ship to home option when you’re ready to order.
Orders will be placed for this month on December 31, which means that orders will ship after that date.
ORVA teacher to contact if you have questions: Tina Lowen, (541) 751-5410, tlowen@oregonva.org
Vector Solutions
VectorSolutions (previously SafeSchools Alert) is our online tip reporting system that allows students, staff and parents to confidentially report safety concerns to our administration 24/7/365 via:
1.Mobile App
2.Text
3.Phone
4.Email
5.Website
NOTE: Vector Alert is for
non-emergencies. For true emergencies, always call 911.
Elementary Spotlight
Dear Parents, Caregivers, and Learning Coaches:
We are approaching the midway point in the school year and our elementary staff has exciting plans and high expectations for your child’s learning. I know that you also have many hopes and dreams for your child’s success in school and beyond. To make sure those hopes and dreams are realized, I want to ask for your commitment to ensuring your child attends every class, every day. The evidence is clear: children with good attendance are more likely to be successful in school.
We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. But we also know that when students miss too much school—regardless of the reason—it can cause them to fall behind academically. Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent—which means missing 18 or more homeroom or small group sessions over the course of an entire school year. Every day counts. Missing school even 10% of the time has a significant negative impact on reading and math achievement as children progress through school.
Research shows:
- Children chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
- By 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of school.
- By 9th grade good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th grade test scores.
Absences can add up quickly. A child is chronically absent if he or she misses just two homerooms every month!
Clearly going to school regularly matters!
Here are a few practical tips to help support regular attendance:
- Make sure your children keep a regular bedtime and establish a morning routine.
- Ensure your students attend homerooms and small groups every day unless they are truly sick.
- Find a regular time every school day to support your student in completing his or her daily plan.
- Avoid scheduling vacations or doctor’s appointments when classes are in session.
- Talk to teachers and advisors if your children feel anxious about logging in or attending
- Develop back up plans for attending to school if something comes up or your internet is out. Call on a family member, neighbor, or another parent to provide a safe place with internet access.
We don’t want your child to fall behind in school and get discouraged. As your child’s most influential teacher, I am asking for your support in helping your child log into homeroom class on time every morning at 9:00 a.m. and, if required, each small group session on Monday-Thursday mornings. Take time each day to ensure your student has completed his or her daily plan and that his or her hard work and progress are recorded.
We realize that every family faces challenges. Please let me or your child’s teacher or advisor know if your family needs help dealing with a challenge to your child’s good school attendance. We will do our best to help you and your family ensure that your child’s school attendance stays on track.
Thank you for all you do to support your child’s school success and well-being, as well as our school. I look forward to working with you this year and to having your child learn and grow at the Oregon Virtual Academy
Leanne Moll, Elementary Principal
Middle School Spotlight
Dear ORVA Middle School Community,
Happy December to our ORVA Middle School Families! This can be a busy time of year for families with many events and traditions that bring both joy and stress to students and parents alike. I encourage each of you to take time to slow down and connect with one another. As we approach the winter break, please make sure you log in as a learning coach and check on tasks and learning that your student may need to focus on over the break. If your student has “saved” items to work on over the holidays, please help them accomplish small chunks of these assignments throughout the two weeks. We know that adolescent brains are amazing, and that they often struggle with organizing tasks into actionable goals-- we call this Executive Functioning. As always, please reach out to myself, teachers and advisors for support. We are here for you!
Reminder! Live CC Attendance:
Did you know that Middle School students who regularly attend CC sessions for their classes typically achieve higher levels of learning than students who do not? It’s true! Please encourage your students to attend all sessions to increase their learning and understanding of material. Additionally, please note that in Middle School, Learning Coaches should not independently log into CC sessions, comment or unmute in CC sessions. Due to school policy, these sessions are for students only.
Communication:
Please keep checking the ORVA Middle School Padlet Information Page for Learning Coaches to access important links in a one-stop-shop format. Please check out our Learning Coach Information Padlet linked here or visit https://tinyurl.com/ORVAMS
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and that we get some snow around the state soon!
Warmly,
Caitlin Klenz
ORVA Middle School Principal
High School Spotlight
Hello High School Students and Families:
2022 is just around the corner. Please feel free to talk with your counselors about questions regarding semester 2 (Spring Semester) classes which start the 7th of February. Student Leadership Council will begin semester 2; we’ll be meeting weekly, as a class, to work together to make ORVA High School better for all students. This class will be taught by Ms. Paulson, the HS Student Engagement Specialist. The ALEKS math tutoring app is still being rolled out for most Freshmen—please log-in and take your pretest. Thank you staff for all your hard work throughout 2021; we have been so fortunate to have each one of you here. We look forward to all that 2022 has to bring!
Student Work
Here is some art work from a couple of students in Ms. Danos' Art Class:
Special Campaign
Special Programs Spotlight
ORVA Special Education Services
Special education staff collaborate with general education teachers and learning coaches to provide necessary supports for each student within the virtual learning environment. This may include implementing a variety of accommodations or modifications in the general curriculum and differentiating instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners. Specially Designed Instruction at the student’s skill level also takes place in small groups or individualized sessions. Progress is monitored regularly, and plans are adjusted as needed to ensure that students meet their annual goals.
Common virtual Special Education and related services:
- Specially Designed Instruction: Reading, Writing, Math, Study Skills, Transition, Self-Management, Life Skills
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Physical Therapy
- Psychological Services
- Behavior Consultation
- Counseling
- Vision Services
- Autism Consultation
- Hearing Service
Tips and Tricks from our School Psychologist
Hello ORVA families~
Welcome to the short and sweet month of December! BURRRR…. If you had a moment to look at November’s Tip’s & Tricks, I had mentioned that there was a schoolwide lesson plan that would take place regarding mental health. Our team has provided three lesson plans to the teachers to support our students in understanding mental health and how they can be supportive to their communities. The series is titled, “Healthy Me, Healthy We”. I would like to reiterate that while we work with your students on understanding their own mental health and the health of others, know that what you say in your home, even in private, can easily be heard by your students. They also know stress and worry exist without actually hearing the words. It makes them stress and worry too. Check in with your student from time to time and support them by letting them know you “understand” their concerns too. Understanding goes a long way 😊
While this month is very short at school, our students are going to be at home enjoying a break. One thing I would like to stress this month while they take their breaks is the importance of keeping balance. As I am sure you have noticed, getting back into a routine after a long break can be difficult. To minimize the struggle you may encounter when trying to support your student in returning to school, here are a few things to remember to help your student maintain some balance in their lives:
- There might not be a school routine during the break but we have other routines in our lives that are important:
- Getting to bed at a decent hour! It is okay if their schedules get a little out of wack but try to help manage their bedtime routine so they’re not staying up all hours of the night. It can be really hard to go back to getting up early in the morning after so much time has passed on a completely different schedule. And being tired makes it difficult to learn.
- Talk with your student about allowing them to have a different bedtime than during school (if that is what you want to allow) but require some boundaries around this by telling them when they should get to bed during the break.
- Have them turn in their devices at a certain hour and pre-plan this before the break so it’s not a surprise. Help remind them of the times they need to be getting to bed or finishing up their preferred task.
- Self-care routines are important too:
- Instill the importance of getting up and doing the routine they did during school to get ready for their day
- Shower
- Brush teeth
- Eat
- Make bed, feed pets, whatever it was they did during school
- Chores and house expectations need to continue to happen:
- Any sort of expectation that you had during school should still exist over the break. This means they should continue to help around the house and do whatever was expected still. Having a conversation before the break about your expectations will help support their acceptance of your need for them when the time comes.
- If they had a time limit on devices before the break, set the expectation for how much time they can use them during the break. Again, have a conversation with them about what to expect, whether you are going to let them use their devices a bit more or whether the expectation is going to remain the same.
All of these suggestions may help support positive responses to the routine that is expected when the break takes place. Additionally, this will really help you to have a similar conversation when they are preparing to return to their school schedule. Transitioning back into any old routine can be hard on anyone. Some of these strategies should help facilitate a smoother transition.
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I’ve added again, some simple resources here to have on hand if you are concerned about yourself or others and need some support. Remember it is okay to give your student numbers to text/call if they ever feel they need support. Many students may not be ready to talk to their parents. Don’t take it personally. They’re still learning how to be a human! If you would like access to more resources, please ask. Our staff is one phone call or email away!
Community Resources
School Calendar
Contact Us
Instagram: @oregonvirtualacademy
TikTok: @oregonvirtualacad
Email: oregonvirtual@oregonva.org
Website: oregonvirtual.org
Location: 400 Virginia Avenue, North Bend, OR, USA
Phone: 541-751-8060
Facebook: http://facebook.com/OregonVirtual
Twitter: @AcademyOregon