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Students visit Fire Camp to Thank Firefighters

9/21/2017

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​Southern Oregon​ has been under a cloud of smoke for the past month, yet Ruch students enjoyed some fresh air to visit firefighters on the Hamilton Road fire camp last week.  Fire crews ranging from Alaska to Colorado gave students a behind-the-scenes tour of the wildfire campsite as well as an up-close experience with the helibase.  Ruch students spoke with on-the-ground crewmembers to learn about fire suppression tactics, training requirements to be on a wildfire-trained crew, satellite mapping techniques of the area, and flight procedures used by helitrack pilots. 

The Miller Fire Complex, about 17 miles east of Cave Junction, has burned over 36,000 acres and is currently 65% contained.  Fire crews have kept residents up-to-speed on developments, including explaining what to expect with different evacuation notices and how the fires are progressing.  On August 31st, a level 2 evacuation notice was issued, meaning residents should either voluntarily relocate outside of the affected area, or if choosing to remain, be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
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As a token of their appreciation, Ruch students made hand-written thank you cards that were placed in the firefighter's lunch boxes.  The community is grateful to the many patrols who left their homes to make sure ours were safe and protected.

To learn more about the Miller Complex fire, please visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5514/

​To sign up to receive emergency alerts in Jackson County, visit www.jacksoncounty.org/alert. 
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Ruch Students Participate in Woodsplitting Fundraiser

2/19/2017

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A group of junior high students from Ruch Community School met with natural resource professionals from the US Forest Service to learn about forest ecology practices. On a private landowner's property in the Applegate Valley, students used increment borers to get core samples from native conifer trees, measuring their rings and assessing climatic reasons for periods of high and low growth.  They also met with a volunteer firefighter to discuss the benefits of natural wildfires and how firefighters manage them through controlled burns and suppression efforts.

In addition to the place-based learning, students operated two hydraulic log splitters to pack forty-four boxes of kindling to be sold to Ruch families and community members every Wednesday after school.  A box of kindling will sell for $10.  All funds will be used to support future junior high field trips central to the school's sustainability program.

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2015-2016 School Year Review

6/13/2016

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A Year of Fun Memories

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Wow!  What a year it has been.  Thanks to a number of grants from the Gray Family Foundation, US Forest Service, Medford Schools Foundation, and the Ruch School PTO, junior high students participated in a number of field experiences all over the state of Oregon.  Our place-based educational model promotes local stewardship, outdoor exploration, and a multidisciplinary lens to study the natural world. 

​Some of this year's outdoor field trips included:

​- Citizen science snowshoe project at Crater Lake National Park
​- Native tree planting on riparian restoration site along Applegate River on Earth Day.
​- Overnight coast camping trip in the Redwoods National Park.
​- Whitewater rafting on the Wild & Scenic Rogue River
​- Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail to Hobart Bluff
- Guided hike with the BLM at Lower Table Rock
​- Cob construction with House Alive! to build an outdoor classroom learning bench
​- Visit to White Oak Farm & Education Center
​- Releasing spring chinook salmon into the Rogue River through the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Eggs to Fry Program.

​Below are just a few snapshots and highlights from the year.  Have a great summer and we will see you next year for more advenutres!

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8th Graders get their hands dirty using cob

6/14/2015

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Thanks to a grant from the Medford Schools Foundation, the 8th grade class got down to earth - so to speak.  Using clay, sand, straw, and water, students designed and constructed a cob entrance to the Ruch School Garden.  Cob is used to build thick walls and is very similar to sculpting with modeling clay.  Because cob building requires no forms, it can be manipulated into any shape or pattern.  

In order to complete this project, Ruch School partnered with House Alive, an organization based in the Applegate Valley that offers regional and international workshops, seminars, and community-based projects about natural building and design.  Students got familiar with labor requirements, focusing on how to use local materials to complete their project.  The soil on campus provided an excellent source of clay.  Sand was used from the Applegate River, and straw was donated by a nearby farmer.  

Future plans include installing an informational bulletin to the cob entrance's wood roof frame and cob benches around the raised garden beds.

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Ruch Students Learn to be Firewise

4/26/2015

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On April 20th, a group of junior high students spent the morning learning about the science of wildfire and readying their school for the impending wildfire season.  The training is part of National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day on Saturday, May 2nd.   

Students participated in role-playing workshops covering topics such as fire ecology, emergency preparedness, climate change, and forest management.  Students identified three zones at the school to plant fire-resistant plants and reduce ladder fuels in the event that a wildfire were to enter the Applegate Valley. 

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The community project is organized by the Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative, the Applegate Fire District, and the Bureau of Land Management.  Ruch Community School was awarded a $500 grant from State Farm Insurance to host an on-campus wildfire safety education project.  


At the end of the day, students were asked to nominate someone in the community who may need help creating a defensible space.  This Saturday, a crew of local fire agencies will spend several hours doing fuel reduction around his or her home. 

Read more here.

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Students Help with Restoration Efforts Along Lone Pine Creek

2/11/2015

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In partnership with the Lomakatsi Restoration Project (a nonprofit group devoted to ecological restoration), Ruch School participated in a half-day field trip to Lone Pine Creek in North Medford.  This field trip was an extension of our sustainability curriculum to study the importance of aquatic habitat restoration and invasive species abatement.  Ruch students made many connections with current themes of sustainability:  biodiversity, native salmon populations, climate change, forest ecology, and natural history.  In just two hours, twenty-seven 8th grade students worked in small crews to plant eighty tree saplings including ponderosa pine, Oregon ash, Oregon grape, incense cedar and big leaf maple.  Students also observed features of a healthy watershed, removed parrot feather weeds from the creek, and met with natural resource professionals to explore job opportunities in ecological restoration.  Today was the beginning of a long-term partnership between Ruch School and Lomakatsi to participate in future hands-on, outdoor projects to connect students with nature.

Read more here.

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Salmon Egg Release:  A Day of Respect, Fun, and Farewell

12/18/2014

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After almost two months since students welcomed new salmon eggs into the classroom, Ruch students finally transported grown-up fry to the Rogue River for release into the wild. 
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As part of the Salmon Watch Project, students have been studying the salmon life cycle, habitat requirements, trends in native salmon populations in the southern Oregon, and the cultural significance of salmon to local communities including Native American tribes.  Joined by a fish biologist from the US Fish & Wildlife Department and parent volunteers,  students gave their farewell haikus to their incredible salmon friends as they began their long jounrey to the Pacific Ocean.  Hopefully some will return from the ocean to spawn in the gravel redds just as the middle school students are graduating from high school!

Learn more about the salmon class in the Mail Tribune and on KOBI-TV NBC channel 5.
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Olders and Littles:  A Full-Circle Model of Education

12/13/2014

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By:  Ryan King
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One of the many blessings of being a K-8 school is the opportunity to put the older students into the role of teaching their elementary counterparts.  At the end of every term, junior high students work in small teams to design and deliver an age-appropriate lesson around an issue of sustainability.  Through this activity, the older students must master the material in order to teach an audience of curious and excitable littles.  Important skills such as communicating effectively, managing time, cooperating with others, resolving conflict, and maintaining grit are just a few of the "take-aways" while the littles "leave behind" a positive experience, learning something fascinating about the natural world.  
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At Ruch Community School, olders step into the shoes of a teacher and act as ambassadors of the community, while littles interact with positive role models that help ignite a lifelong passion to learn new things relating to sustainability.  To date, olders have covered topics on composting, gardening, healthy eating habits, marine and stream environments, life cycle of trees, the importance of honeybees, and recycling.  

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A student 'Sanctuary' outdoors:  MailTribune.com

12/13/2014

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By Sanne Specht
Mail Tribune
March 13, 2013 2:00 AM


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"Real differences between micro- and macroorganisms become clear when students have their hands buried in the earth, says Ryan King, a student-teacher from Southern Oregon University.

"Is a worm a macro- or a microorganism?" King asks, after one of his students from Ruch Elementary School announces she's hit a writhing mother lode of organic recyclers.

The 10 seventh- and eighth-graders are on one of their regular field trips to Sanctuary One at Double Oak Farm — a nonprofit care farm in the Applegate Valley.

The worms are macroorganisms, busily creating beneficial microorganisms that will help grow the chard, lettuce and spinach being planted in the vegetable beds Tuesday afternoon, say King's students.

Partnering with the care farm is part of a larger plan to market Ruch School as a campus with a place-based learning approach that connects students with nature and uses community connections to improve programs for students, King says.

"We have totally changed our curriculum," he says. "And we have a lot of pride in this model. We've flattened the walls down and got the kids out in the community."

Getting students outside of the school environment and into the community has benefitted everyone, King says.

Della Merrill, Sanctuary One general manager, agrees. Every couple of weeks, the students visit the farm for a series of lessons in applied science. The symbiotic nature of the students' help and the care farm's healing and educational influence is a powerful mix, Merrill says."

Read more here.
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