December 7, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
‘The Cove’ offers students calming space
A place for
students to get
back on track
By Katherine Lacaze
For Seaside Signal
Broadway Middle School
has an introduced a new pro-
gram to help students, par-
ticularly those whose history
involves trauma, acquire the
tools for identifying and reg-
ulating emotional extremes to
promote their overall wellness
and academic success.
Counselor Natalie Dyroff
and assistant principal Steve
Sherren gave a presentation
on the middle school’s recent-
ly established calming room,
which the students chose to
call The Cove, during the Sea-
side School Board’s regular
meeting Nov. 20.
The space — similar to ones
incorporated at The Heights
Elementary School and Gear-
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Broadway Middle School Steve Sherren, educational assis-
tant Amber McCanna and counselor Natalie Dyroff are the
driving force behind the school’s new calming room, called
The Cove.
hart Elementary School in
2017-18—is set up with vari-
ous stations and activities for
students who need to take a
10- to 13-minute break and re-
focus themselves. The middle
school team, which includes
educational assistant Amber
McCanna, developed on the
program implemented at the
elementary schools as part of
the districtwide embrace of
trauma-informed care practic-
es. They worked to tailor the
middle school space for the
older students and began roll-
ing out the program in early
November, wanting to ensure
they had “the correct processes
in place,” Sherren said.
Among the different grade
levels there is common lan-
guage regarding four “zones”
of self-identification. Students
are in the blue zone when they
feel sad, sick, tired, or bored,
and they are in the yellow zone
when they feel frustrated, wor-
ried, or wiggly. The goal is to
help them return to the green
zone, where they feel calm,
happy, focused, and/or ready
to learn. The calming room is
not designed for students who
are in the red zone and expe-
riencing extreme emotions
that limit their ability to learn
strategies for self-regulating.
When students reach that lev-
el, the primary goal is de-esca-
lation.
When students go to The
Cove, either by election or at
the direction of a teacher, they
identify the zone they are in
and select the station at which
they would like to spend time.
There are stations for move-
ment, art, sensory stimula-
tion, fidgeting, relaxation, and
playing brain games. Based on
what the student is feeling or
how they are struggling, Mc-
Canna gives them suggestions
on which station might be
helpful but ultimately allows
them to choose.
After their session in The
Cove, the students once again
self-identify what zone they
are in. The educators also
engage the students in a dis-
cussion about what similar
strategies they could employ
on their own at home or in the
classroom without being a dis-
ruption, Dyroff said.
Although they were con-
cerned at first the calming
room would be used merely
as a way for the students to get
out of class, the results so far
show otherwise.
“They don’t try to manipu-
late the system,” Dyroff said.
“It’s well-respected.”
Eventually, the administra-
tion plans to put small spaces
in each room that emulate the
calming room, often called
peace corners, where students
can move to for a few minutes
to “go reset,” Sherren said.
In other news:
• The board accepted a gift
offer from Rack Room Shoes
of $7,740.43 worth of shoes
for elementary students. The
administration takes recom-
mendations from teachers
about which students are in
need and then purchases the
shoes and distributes them.
• The board approved a
request from the nonprofit or-
ganization Council on Interna-
tional Educational Exchange
to place exchange students at
Seaside High School. The dis-
trict has established guidelines
for whether they agree to work
with an exchange organization
that include the organization is
a nonprofit; has local represen-
tation or coordination; requires
J-1 visas from students; and is
approved under the Council on
Standards for International Ed-
ucational Travel. CIEE meets
these guidelines.
Broadway Middle School students advance in tech contest
Students are
state finalists
in nationwide
competition
Seaside Signal
SAMSUNG
Broadway Middle School is
one of five schools in the state
to advance in a nationwide sci-
ence, technology, engineering
and mathematics competition
sponsored by Samsung.
Eighth-grade social studies
teacher Jeremy Hirsch submit-
ted the project idea on behalf
of the school.
In the months ahead, Hirsch
and his students will work on a
project to address congestion
of traffic during tsunami evac-
uations by working with local
agencies to identify multiple
evacuation routes as well as
ways to inform the community
about evacuation procedures.
Out of thousands of
schools that entered the con-
test, the 250 state finalist
Broadway Middle School stu-
dents are among those vying
for success in Samsung’s “Solve
for Tomorrow” competition.
classrooms — five from each
state — were chosen based
on their creative and strategic
proposals to solve compli-
cated issues that affect their
communities by using STEM
learning. All 250 teachers se-
lected as state finalists will
receive one tablet for their
classrooms and have the op-
portunity to advance through
future phases of the contest to
win additional prizes and edu-
cational opportunities.
The state finalist schools
were chosen based on their
creative and strategic propos-
als to solve complicated issues
that affect their communities
by using STEM learning.
Along with Broadway Mid-
dle School, the Seaside School
District is joined by Yoncalla
High School, Yoncalla; Waldo
Middle School, Salem; South
Salem Senior High, Salem;
George Middle School, Portland
State winners will be select-
ed to submit a video of their
project in action. For achiev-
ing state winner status, 40 of
those schools will receive a
$20,000 Samsung technology
package, including a Samsung
video kit to produce their vid-
eo. The other 10 will progress
as a national finalist
Ten national finalists will
be selected to attend a pitch
event where they will pres-
ent their project to a panel of
judges. For achieving national
finalist status, seven schools
will receive a $50,000 Sam-
sung technology package. The
other three will progress to the
national winner stage.
Three national winners will
be selected, and each will re-
ceive $100,000 in classroom
Samsung technology and sup-
plies.
With $2 million in tech-
nology on the line, the state
finalists will submit a lesson
plan detailing how students
will execute the proposed
STEM project and how it ad-
dresses the identified commu-
nity issue.
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