SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019 | 7A
Register for Community
Chorus tomorrow
Register to sing with
the Florence Communi-
ty Chorus on Thursday,
Aug. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at
the Presbyterian Church
of the Siuslaw, 3996 High-
way 101.
Auditions are not re-
quired. Rehearsal will fol-
low immediately after reg-
istration until 8:30 p.m.
David Aakre will con-
duct the Chorus. All sing-
ers from high school age
and up are welcome.
There is a registration
fee of $70 to cover the
cost of music and admin-
istrative expenses. High
school students will au-
tomatically receive fee
waivers.
The Community Cho-
rus regularly rehearses on
Thursday evenings from
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the
Presbyterian Church.
The winter concert
will take place on Sat-
urday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m.
and Sunday, Dec. 15, at 2
p.m., both taking place at
the Presbyterian Church
of the Siuslaw.
For additional informa-
tion, call 541-997-3469.
Check www.communi-
tychorusflorenceoregon.
org for registration forms
that may completed and
brought to registration on
Aug. 29.
Come sing with com-
munity members.
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MAPLETON from page 1A up the classroom itself.
“I’ve been excited about
Tucker has a long his- working with Amber,” Ross
tory in working with pre- said. “It’s going to be fun
school-aged
children, working with kids on the
working from prenatal to building blocks for their
five years, including home whole educational careers.
visits, and 10 years ago … Mapleton really focuses
worked to bring Florence’s so much on giving individ-
first Montessori School.
ual care to all the students
“We started as a nonprof- because of the small class
it with a board of directors, sizes. They don’t have to
and myself and two oth- worry about their kid get-
er people were founding ting overlooked, there’s go-
members,” she said. “We got ing to be a lot of loving at-
that up and running and it tention and care. It’s a good
was really successful.”
school.”
Around five years ago,
As for the goals of the
Tucker moved into ma- preschool, Tucker said it is
ternal infant health and about, “getting those four-
was also a family resource year-olds who are turning
specialist, but when it was five this year ready for kin-
announced that Mapleton dergarten. We want to en-
would be opening up a new gage families and have them
program, she jumped back feel comfortable. This is
in.
going to be a great place for
“I really missed pre- their kids to complete their
school, it was probably one school experience, and use
of the funnest jobs I’ve ever it as a resource in the com-
had,” she said. “Their minds munity.”
are so absorbent. They’re
Tucker pointed out that
ready for everything, curi- she is also a family resource
ous about everything. It’s a specialist and will be able to
privilege to share that with assist parents in a variety of
them and expose them to aspects in helping parents
the love of learning and na- and children with educa-
ture and all there is to share tional needs.
with children. It’s a pretty
“We’re creating a building
special place to be.”
block for a lifetime of learn-
The program is set to ing here,” Tucker said.
open on Tuesday, Oct. 1,
A step up from preschool
with Tucker and communi- finds the Mapleton district’s
ty members renovating the next new recruit, kinder-
classroom space for the stu- garten teacher Dana Silvani.
dents in the meantime.
“It’s always been my fa-
“The parent involvement vorite grade. I just love how
has been extraordinary, but they’re coming into school
it wasn’t just the parents. It with really no experience,
was aunts, uncles, grand- and they’re just an open
parents and friends,” Tucker mind and willing to learn
said. “They have done most everything,” Silvani said.
of the work so far to get us to “I’m really looking forward
the place where we can start to working with them on
doing what we’re doing. I’ve social skills and creating
had a lot of parents helping friendships with them, and
all day long for three or four just teaching them how to
days to get our classroom be little humans that inter-
ready to build. So we have act with the world.”
just resurfaced the walls and
This will be Silvani’s first
freshened everything up.”
time having her own class-
The renovations are now room, having been a substi-
complete, and Tucker, along tute in Eugene.
with educational assistant
“I’m definitely nervous,
Natalie Ross, who graduat- I’m also really excited,” she
ed from Mapleton in 2012, said. “I love that Maple-
will be working on setting ton has smaller class sizes.
SEPTEMBER 26, 2019
Siuslaw News
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there, enjoy it, have some
fun.”
Middle and high school
students will be met by new
teacher Rachel Claric, who
will be teaching language
arts for seventh- through
12th-grades, as well as a
lifetime fitness course.
“I’ve been out of teach-
ing for a year, so I decided
I wanted to come back. I
grew up in Noti, so Maple-
ton is not completely un-
known to me,” she said. “I
thought it would be a nice
change of pace and a good
opportunity. I’ve never been
on this small of staff before.”
For Claric, teaching is all
about passion.
“I want the students to
come away with the idea
that they should have a pas-
sion for something, whether
it’s English or not,” she said.
“That happens to be one of
my passions, but it doesn’t
mean it has to be their pas-
sion. I want to help them
figure out what their pas-
sion is, as well as figuring
out what are they thinking
of doing after high school
and where they want to go.”
Finally, Mapleton is
bringing in its first school
counselor for all grades with
new hire Brittany Anderson.
“I grew up in Florence,
and my mom actually grad-
uated from Mapleton,” she
said. “I’m really excited to
be here because it’s so small.
The students won’t be just
faces, I’ll actually know
them. Most schools have
one counselor for 400 or
more kids just in the high
school. Here, it’s 150 for
all schools, so I think that’s
pretty cool.”
As to why a student would
come to see Anderson, the
reasons are complex.
“It could be friend stuff,
it could be family stuff, it
could be issues at school,
it could be just someone to
talk to or it could be having
issues with schoolwork,” she
said. “There’s a ton of differ-
ent things that students will
come see me for.”
And when students do
come and see her, Anderson
hopes that they will feel able
to talk about anything.
“I’m open and super
non-judgmental,” she said.
“I have an open-door poli-
cy, so students can come see
me for whatever they want.
What I’d like them to get
from me is feeling empow-
ered to make their own de-
cisions, and that they have
the ability to make good
choices all the time.”
Mapleton School District
starts school next week. For
more information about
the district, visit www.
mapleton.k12.or.us.
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You’re really able to per-
sonalize each student’s ed-
ucation. I really want my
classroom to be a welcom-
ing and accepting place
for these students, and to
be their safe space where
they’re comfortable to learn
and to share everything,
and come to me when they
have problems.”
The most difficult chal-
lenge for the grade is getting
all the students on the same
page — “Some kids might
know the whole alphabet,
some kids might know a few
letters,” she said. “You don’t
really know the academic
background they’re coming
with, and trying to match
all of their levels.”
But when those differ-
ences begin to mesh, “I re-
ally enjoy when the kids get
that ‘ah-ha’ moment and
something clicks for them.
I want a strong classroom
environment where they’ll
learn how to read and write,
plus social skills and how
to interact with other class-
mates. We’re making re-
sponsible citizens.”
The kindergarteners will
also be working with new
teacher Nathan Westerby,
who will be teaching K-12
physical education, as well
as middle school and high
school health. The Nebras-
kan native, who recently
taught in Willamina, Ore.,
in a temporary educator
position, is excited to be
building a program that can
follow through an entire
students career.
“I thought it was a unique
opportunity to teach K-12,
not a lot of other places you
can do that,” Westerby said.
“I get the kindergarteners
and the kids who are basi-
cally adults. Huge range,
with a lot of planning, but I
think in the end it will all be
worth it.”
On the physical educa-
tion portion, Westerby said
that he wants to ensure the
students are in shape and
healthy.
“I’ve been in places before
where kids have struggled
skipping up and down on
one foot in middle school. I
felt bad for the kids. I want
to give them a basis in order
to not be in that kind of po-
sition,” he said.
As for overall health,
Westerby said that he want-
ed to create strong relation-
ships between the students
where they will be physical-
ly and psychologically safe.
“For me, teaching is a
lot about relationships,” he
said. “Just being there for
the kids, having fun. I es-
sentially am a grown-up
child who plays games all
day. I just like to get out
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