Appeal Tribune Wednesday, June 28, 2017 3B
CANYON VIEWS
Explore the outdoors, explore learning
Outdoors and Outer Space
CAITLAN FREESE
Even though many kids
think of summer as a
“time off” from school,
there are still countless
opportunities for hands-
on learning across Ore-
gon.
The warmer weather makes it a per-
fect time for families to explore Ore-
gon’s great outdoors and explore learn-
ing, whether it’s hiking the Pacific Crest
Trail or harvesting fruit at a u-pick farm.
According to the National Summer
Learning Association, children can lose
up to two months of essential math and
reading skills during the summer
months. Keeping children engaged in
learning over the summer break helps
them hold onto important knowledge
from the prior school year and prepare
them for the new school year. The Asso-
ciation sponsors National Summer
Learning Day, July 13, to raise aware-
ness about the importance of learning
experiences over the summer.
Learning can be even more effective
during the summer when students have
real-world outdoor experiences. Re-
searchers and educators say there are
many benefits for children just by
spending time outside, including en-
hanced creativity, self-confidence, and
relationship skills. The trick is to get
children out of the house, doing some-
thing fun, and keeping their brains ac-
tive all at the same time.
Fortunately, there are plenty of enjoy-
able outdoor adventures all over the
state for families to share. It’s been said
that nature is one of our greatest teach-
ers. Regardless of whether you venture
into a National Forest, or stick to your
own backyard, there are educational op-
portunities just about everywhere you
look. Here are a few ideas to spark your
student’s appreciation for our natural
surroundings while blending in key aca-
demic skills.
Most millennial parents weren’t alive
the last time a total solar eclipse touched
the United States 38 years ago, so when
this cosmic event happens again on the
morning of August 21 it could be a galac-
tic learning experience for the whole
family. Oregon is lucky to be the first
state in the country to see one of nature’s
most exciting phenomena as the moon’s
shadow makes landfall completely cov-
ering the sun around 10:15 am.
Leading up to the eclipse, ask your
students to research the phases of the
moon, understanding how and why it will
end up blocking all of the sun for approx-
imately two minutes on the big day.
NASA
has
a
website
(eclipse2017.nasa.gov) dedicated to the
solar eclipse, with lots of educational
materials about the sun’s electromagnet-
ic fields, space weather, and more.
After your budding astronomers have
done their homework, decide on a loca-
tion to watch the main event. There are a
ton of eclipse watching parties going on
around the state, just make sure to use
the special glasses to protect your eyes
while watching this special eclipse.
Parks and Rec
Whether it’s your local municipal
parks department, state or federal parks
agency, it seems like there is an endless
variety of outdoor learning adventures
available. The Oregon State Parks and
Recreation Department has a fun pro-
gram called “Let’s Go” (oregonstate-
parks.org) which offers several topics
families can learn about from State Park
Rangers. Everything from navigating
the water in a canoe, to making the most
of your hiking adventure, is available to
explore alongside outdoor experts.
Camping is a summertime favorite of
mine, even when I was a kid and my folks
let us pitch a tent in the backyard. If your
family can get away on a camping trip,
there are abundant learning opportuni-
ties, from building a fire, to tracing the
history of the campground location. Try
camping unplugged, leaving most elec-
tronic devices at home, and instead tell
stories around the campfire for enter-
tainment. Now that will be a learning ex-
perience!
High Tech Treasure Hunt
What do you get when you combine
technology, learning, going outdoors,
and physical activity?
Geocaching! Basically, this family-
friendly outdoor activity involves using
a smartphone mobile app or a hand-held
Global Positioning System (GPS) loca-
tion device to find hidden containers,
"caches”, across the world.
Not only do kids love to solve puzzles,
but this high-tech treasure hunt can en-
hance math skills, map-reading abilities
and of course geography skills, the
source of “geo”! The website geoca-
ching.com contains great information,
including maps and instructions on how
to play the game.
Geocaching is similar to “Pokémon
Go” but instead of tracking virtual char-
acters, players are pinpointing real
world stashes of objects and replacing a
trinket for the next person to discover. In
fact, in 2000 a Beavercreek man was the
first to establish a “geocache”, putting a
black bucket of items in the woods near
his house for others to find.
Garden of Knowledge
Sometimes it’s good for kids to go out
and get their hands dirty – especially
when it comes with teachable moments.
Gardening is one of the best hands-on
learning activities your students can do
over summer vacation and it doesn’t take
much space.
Even a corner of the yard, or just a
couple of pots of soil, will work for your
garden.
Let your children decide if they want
to plant flowers, vegetables, or some-
thing else. Teach them the importance of
water and sunlight, which of course in-
volves science. Your students will utilize
math and measurement skills too as they
create a garden plot and space plants
into straight rows. The national non-
profit KidsGardening.org is a good re-
source for novice gardeners who really
want to dig into this outdoor activity.
As an educator at a virtual public
school like Oregon Connections Acad-
emy, our families are learning outside of
the traditional school walls on a daily ba-
sis. They often incorporate class work
when they visit a neighborhood park or
take laptops on road trips to supplement
this experiential learning. There are sev-
eral ways you can enhance any learning
experience for your children:
Reading and Writing:
Before your students head out into the
wilderness, they should read up about
their destination or consider research-
ing a new outdoor hobby like geocach-
ing. Reading is an essential skill to main-
tain year-round.
Encourage young writers by having
your students keep a journal or establish
their own blog about their summer activ-
ities.
Creative Crafts
Pictures are one of the best ways to
capture memories from summer learn-
ing. Have your children collect elements
from nature to make into crafts, such as
pine cones, leaves, or sea shells. Your
children can get creative when they use
these items to make a collage, or glue
them onto a wooden picture frame to
hold a great family photo.
Caitlan Freese of Portland is Oregon
Connections Academy's high school spe-
cial education coordinator. She can be
reached through ORCA at www.Oregon-
ConnectionsAcademy.com, (800) 382-
6010.
House vote to repeal tax credit angers GOP
KRISTENA HANSEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND - After a fiery three-hour
debate that capped a contentious week in
Salem, the Oregon House approved a
partial repeal of a 2013 “Grand Bargain”
business tax credit in a 31-28 vote Friday
with three Democrats joining Republi-
cans’ opposition.
Republicans and businesses through-
out the state are vehemently opposed
House Bill 2060, which Democrats ad-
vanced out of a House committee by sur-
prise two days earlier.
It may also face a legal challenge, op-
ponents say, if it passes its final hurdle in
the Senate.
“House Dems just proved they don’t
need to follow the Constitution for reve-
nue votes as they raise taxes,” said Sen-
ate Republican Minority Leader Ted Fer-
rioli, referring to the supermajority re-
quirement for tax hikes that House Dem-
ocrats and the Legislature’s non-partisan
legal counsel say doesn’t apply in this in-
stance. “(House Speaker Tina Kotek) is
holding up the education budget, threat-
ening to derail a transportation package
and killing the credibility of the Legisla-
ture.”
HB 2060 would raise an extra $200
million for the 2017-19 biennium — an
amount some lawmakers have been try-
ing to cobble together for the record-$8.2
billion K-12 education budget that’s up
for final vote Tuesday in the House.
That’s less than half the extra revenue
they could’ve raised, about $500 million,
by boosting the existing corporate in-
come tax — a last-minute plan pitched
Monday by Senate Democrats that
might’ve held sway with enough Repub-
licans to pass on a supermajority and
boost funds for schools.
Hass’s plan excluded a Measure 97-
like gross-receipts tax, which voters re-
jected and Republicans opposed, so
House Democrats advanced HB 2060 out
of committee Wednesday.
The bill partially repeals a tax credit
for so-called “pass-through” entities,
meaning LLCs, S-corporations and part-
nerships commonly formed by small
businesses.
These entities are exempt from the
federal corporate income tax, so profits
and losses are taxed through the per-
sonal incomes of the owners, partners or
shareholders.
House Democrats like Rep. Rob
Nosse rallied support for the measure by
calling it a “cost containment” bill that
would “reign in” a “runaway” tax break
that benefits mostly wealthy doctors and
lawyers rather than modest mom-and-
pops.
“The projections are that this tax
break could end up costing $300 million,”
said Democratic Rep. Phil Barnhart.
“We should make smart, sensible re-
forms to this policy now, before it spirals
out of control.”
Kotek stepped away from her podium
to give her own floor speech about the
2013 tax credit, saying it’s “not having
the targeted impact we wanted it to
have.”
Those comments further exasperated
GOP caucus members such as Rep. Julie
Parrish, who noted the Legislature is
ending another session without address-
ing the state’s rising pension and health
care costs that are projected to continue
rising faster than revenues.
“My trust in the leadership in this
building is gone after today,” Parrish
said.
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