Thursday, February 28, 2019 • Vol. 134, No. 35 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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More than a pantry OAFP to be open weekly in April EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Before the Oregon Area Food Pantry got a new home on 103 N. Alpine Pkwy. a little over a year and a half ago, it was open for only four hours. That number will expand to 14 hours in April when the pantry will be open from 9-11 a.m. Tuesdays and 4-7 p.m. on every second and last Thursday of each month.
With that expansion may also come a partnership with Anderson Farm County Park for potential organic raised bed garden spaces, and Kwik Trip’s Feeding America program to obtain foods close to their expiration date, said managing director Diane Sliter. “(Pantry visitors) have to trust that we will be able to fill their food needs,” she told the Observer. “It’s their store.” Pantry board of directors chairman Tom Kirchdoerfer said with needs
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Proposal: Wolfe Street to 25 mph Speed limit drop to ease congestion ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
If You Go What: Wolfe Street speed limit public hearing When: 5 p.m. Monday, March 4 Where: Village Hall board room, 117 Spring St. Info: vil.oregon.wi.us
Traffic on Wolfe Street near Oregon Middle School might be slowing down soon, as police chief Brian Uhl has requested lowering the speed limit from 35 mph to 25. The public will get a c h a n c e t o w e i g h i n Village Board meeting on the proposal at the
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Inside The spring edition of Your Family Magazine
Photo by Emilie Heidemann
RCI students and staff participate in the NEST program, where they learn about social and emotional behaviors. Elizabeth Davison leads group discussions among students. From left, sixth-graders Tyler Brellenthin, Sasha Disch, and Kailyn Winterberg, talk about the class topic Feb. 5.
Oregon School District
NESTs that feel like home RCI ‘social-emotional learning’ program showing promise
SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Every Tuesday morning at Rome Corners Intermediate School, dozens of “NESTs” spring up all over the building. But they’re not the kind that principal Jason Zurawik needs to call an exterminator for – in fact, he couldn’t be more pleased with how they’re developing. The “Never Ending Support Teams” are a new way the Oregon School District is supporting students’
social-emotional learning this school year, with small-group, 40-minute sessions that seem to be helping students control their feelings and get along better with their classmates. Assisting students with emotional needs has been a part of school instruction for years, but in the past, those needs were addressed with sporadic meetings with counselors, and often those lessons weren’t reinforced by other staff. In the last few years, though, the school is increasingly using a new curriculum that covers students’
social-emotional learning, and this past summer refined that approach by training all staff members to participate. All fifth- and sixth-graders are randomly divided into groups of about a dozen students called a NEST, led by a teacher, administrator or staff member. The roughly 50 groups talk informally about their feelings, and cover lessons on understanding and dealing with emotions and other people. And while it’s only been going for
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NKE teacher wins ‘Save Our Species’ award Educator is nominated by students after ‘Water Protectors’ group efforts EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
To Netherwood Knoll Elementary third grade teacher Emily Anderson, her students are “her gift to the future.” It turns out, they’re also good at
giving back in the present. What started during a few recess periods last February as an “impromptu, short-term and student-led group” of fourth-graders known as “Water Protectors” turned into a Save Our Species Conservation Award for Anderson. The teacher was honored Feb. 12 at the second annual Henry Vilas Zoological Society Save Our Species Luncheon, where the organization presented her with its conservation award. “I am beyond honored,” Anderson
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told the Observer. The event features guest speakers Chris Dold, chief veterinary officer of SeaWorld, and John Calvelli, executive vice president of public affairs of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who both appeared in Anderson’s class the day before to speak with her students. “Each guest speaker shared their background… the pivotal moments when they realized their love for
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