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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015
Garden to help special needs children grow in county
Project to help
preschoolers
learn colors,
numbers, more
By KATHERINE
LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — A grant to
the Early Childhood Spe-
cial Education Classroom in
Seaside will go toward re-
furbishing and planting an
abandoned garden bed to help
students learn about nutrition,
colors and concepts.
Meredith McGrath, an
instructional assistant at the
classroom, located on the
Seaside Heights Elementa-
ry School campus, applied
for the $200 grant from the
Northwest Regional Educa-
tion Service District Founda-
tion for the project. The class-
room, operated by the district,
serves preschool-aged chil-
dren with special needs from
Seaside, Gearhart, Cannon
Beach, Warrenton and Jewell.
McGrath said the garden
will be “a really great way to
help with academic lessons.”
“Gardens do a lot; they
have a lot of potential,” she
said.
From planting seeds and
starter plants to painting wa-
tering cans or other equip-
ment, there are numerous
learning opportunities related
to tending a garden that can
reinforce social, academic
and emotional concepts, she
said. The students can learn
simple science lessons and
use garden concepts to ex-
plore numbers and colors.
“It’s never too early to
learn all that stuff,” she said,
adding students of all ages
will bene¿t. “Getting up and
moving and touching things
is the best way for them to
learn.”
In the classroom, instruc-
tors try to use a variety of
learning styles. The garden
“will be a really good way
to incorporate space-based
education,” McGrath said.
Space-based teaching meth-
ods absorb a student’s sur-
rounding environment into
lesson plans and learning ac-
tivities.
Katherine Lacaze/EO Media Group
The Early Childhood Special Education Classroom in Seaside, which serves students
with special needs from Seaside, Gearhart, Cannon Beach, Warrenton and Jewell, will
refurbish and plant this abandoned garden bed and use it for numerous learning oppor-
tunities.
The grant money will cov-
er the cost of tools, seeds, soil
and starter plants.
The teachers will get the
project started by clearing the
raised garden bed and getting
’Tis the week to watch for whales
The Daily Astorian
Whale-watching week be-
gins Sunday and the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment is assembling trained
volunteers at sites up and
down the Oregon Coast for the
annual event through Dec. 31.
Volunteers with the de-
partment’s Whale Watching
Spoken Here program will be
stationed at 24 sites along the
coast from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
each day of the event to help
people spot gray whales head-
ing south to Mexico.
Local watching sites in-
clude the Lewis and Clark In-
terpretive Center, 244 Robert
Gray Drive near Ilwaco, Wash-
ington; Ecola Point in Ecola
State Park north of Cannon
Beach; and the Neahkahnie
Mountain historic marker turn-
out along U.S. Highway 101
north of Manzanita.
While watching, visitors
will learn about whale migra-
tion and feeding habits. The
winter migration typically
lasts until mid-January. View
a map of all 24 watch sites,
which extend from Ilwaco to
Crescent City, California, at
whalespoken.org
Astoria schools to honor excellence
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria
School
Board, in partnership with
the Astoria School Founda-
tion, has created a staff rec-
ognition program called “A
Tradition of Excellence.”
The program will annual-
ly honor one classi¿ed staff
member, one certi¿ed staff
member and a team collabo-
ration. The district will also
honor the 10-, 20- and 30-
year anniversaries of district
employees.
Nominations for awards
can be made by staff mem-
bers, parents, communi-
ty members and students.
Forms for nominations will
become available online
and at each school in Febru-
ary and be due at the end of
March.
A group of district em-
ployees, a school board
member and an Astoria
School Foundation member
will be selected to serve on
a nomination committee.
Award winners, employment
anniversaries and donors to
the foundation will be hon-
ored at a ceremony in April
or May.
it prepped. Once the weather
warms, the students will get
involved.
McGrath said she plans to
plant a variety of Àowers and
vegetables that grow quickly
Local nonpro¿ts receiYe ,
PORTLAND — In Novem-
ber, the Oregon Community
Foundation Board of Directors
approved more than $548,000
in 13 grants to North Coast
nonpro¿ts. Grants awarded in-
clude ones to support seniors
and people with disabilities, as
well as grants supporting arts
and culture in the region. In
total, more than $8.4 million
grants were awarded by the
foundation statewide.
Grants awarded on the
North Coast include:
• Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District Foun-
dation, Seaside: $80,000 to
provide positive and engaging
afterschool activities and men-
toring for middle school stu-
dents in South County.
• The Harbor, Astoria:
$30,000 to renovate a newly
donated building to create an
Americans with Disabilities
Act accessible community re-
The Harbor offers support group for women
The Harbor’s Sexual As-
sault Peer Center will be
offering a multi-week sup-
port group for women who
are survivors of sexual vio-
lence.
This group meets 4 to 5
Meet with
Herzig
Saturday
p.m. Wednesdays through
Jan. 27.
Group topics include the
importance of self-care, de-
veloping coping skills to
manage stress and anxiety,
identifying the effects of
and easily. The produce will
be used in the classroom, she
said.
She hopes to keep the gar-
den going in future school
years. She can reapply for
the foundation grant, and she
also will consider having the
students write requests for
donated materials from local
businesses in the future.
“There are ways of con-
tinuing it,” McGrath said.
In November, the North-
west Regional Education
Service District Founda-
tion awarded 22 grants —
amounting to more than
$19,000 — to local school
district for projects in special
education and at-risk pro-
grams in Clatsop, Columbia,
Tillamook and Washington
County school districts.
The grants are focused on
two funding priorities. The
¿rst is services for children
from birth through age 5 with
varying degrees of disabili-
ties including autism, hear-
ing and visual impairments,
speech-language needs and
those who are medically
fragile. The second focus is
school-age special education
and behavioral programs for
young children and students
kindergarten to age 21 with
developmental delays, and
psychological, emotional and
behavioral issues.
source center for individuals
and families experiencing in-
terpersonal violence in Clatsop
County.
• Liberty Restoration Inc.,
Astoria: $11,000 to renovate
and redesign the theater’s box
seats with the aim of reselling
the naming rights in support of
ongoing operations of the his-
toric Liberty Theatre.
• Bay City Arts Center,
Bay City: $12,500 to hire a
part-time, contracted executive
director to expand arts educa-
tion programs to three school
districts and increase services
for veterans, elders, and people
with disabilities.
• Community Action
Team, St. Helens: $250,000
for the Rose Avenue facility
that will house a senior center
and food bank in Vernonia.
• Newport Symphony Or-
chestra, Newport: $15,000
to build fundraising capacity
by conducting board trainings,
establishing a fundraising com-
mittee, strengthening donor
outreach tools and processes,
and developing new events.
• Tillamook Bay Com-
munity
College,
Tilla-
mook:$30,000 to partner with
Oregon State University to cre-
ate a Partners for Rural Innova-
tion Center, which will be home
to an agriculture and natural
resources degree program, an
open campus, a small business
development center, and more.
• Tillamook County Com-
munity Action Resource En-
terprises, Tillamook: $15,000
to provide short-term rental
assistance to 20-30 families in
Tillamook County who are at
risk of losing their housing.
For full lists of grants and
more information about Ore-
gon Community Foundation
initiatives, go to www.oregon-
cf.org
Open Christmas Day
sexual violence, and inner
strength identification.
For more information
and to register, call Sha-
ron at The Harbor: 503-
325-3426, ext. 106, or visit
www.harbornw.org.
6am-8pm
Serving
Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner
Prime Rib Dinner
Starting at 1 pm $ 26.95
W A NTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
The public is invited to
meet with Drew Herzig, Asto-
ria city councilor for Ward 2,
from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Saturday
in the Flag Room at the Astoria
Public Library, 450 10th St. All
are welcome to come and share
their thoughts, suggestions,
questions, and concerns about
Astoria.
Spaghetti For Kids
Merry Christmas
Courtney Ann
My Angel in Heaven
$ 3.95
Just 15 m in. from the Lew is & Cla rk Bridge on H w y. 30
August 21, 1982 - December 22, 2001
“God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble”
1 Peter 5:5
Hump’s Restaurant
50 W. Columbia River Highway
Clatskanie, OR. 503.728.2626
www.humpsresturant.com
Love always, forever
and ever and ever
Dadio
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