Resources to support STudents

RESOURCES BY AGE

Key issues across all grades (you can’t start too soon!):

Tech Literacy and Safety
(Recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics)

  • 18 Months or Younger

    No screens are still best.
    The exception is live video chat with family and friends.

  • 18 months to 2 years

    Limit screen time and avoid solo use.

    Choose high-quality educational programming, and watch with kids to ensure understanding.

  • 2 to 5 years

    Limit screen time to an hour a day.

    Parents should watch as well to ensure understanding and application to their world.

  • 6 or older

    Place consistent limits on the time spent and types of media.

    Don’t let screen time affect sleep, exercise or other behaviors.

Vaping and Drug Prevention

Vaping is an unfortunate reality of growing up today. It is imperative that conversations with youth start in elementary school and continue through high school about the dangers of it. Marijuana can be vaped, and while it is legal in the State of Oregon, marijuana is a controlled substance and has significant harm on the developing brain. 

  • Oregon has also experienced an epidemic of opioid use. All middle schoolers and high school students (at least once) will encounter these lessons from ODE about synthetic opioids.

  • Truth Initiative is a valuable resource to consult when beginning conversations with your students about all the above topics. Additionally, OCSD is proud to partner with Oregon City Together, a substance use prevention organization composed of community members. OCSD also has prevention and intervention therapists placed at schools. Please see the Community Partners page for more information.

Attendance

While attendance can seem like an insignificant topic, it is critical to the success of your student. Good attendance habits start young and build the foundation for academic engagement and a feeling of belonging to the school community.

  • Chronic absenteeism is defined by missing more than 10% of the year–that’s about 2 days a month and 3 weeks out of the year.

  • You can help by knowing when to keep your student home, having morning routines that are predictable, reliable, get your student to school on time, and staying in close communication with the school if your student shows signs of not wanting to attend school so you can problem solve immediately. 

  • Here is why this matters at a young age. Keep in mind that by 9th grade, attendance rates are better predictors of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores!

    • If children don’t show up for school regularly, they miss out on fundamental reading and math skills and the chance to build a habit of good attendance that will carry them into careers and college.

    • Preliminary data from a California study found that children who were chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade were far less likely to read proficiently at the end of the 3rd grade.

(From the image to the left)

Who can read on grade level after 3rd grade?

  • 64% of kids with good attendance in K and 1st (missed 9 or fewer days both years)

  • 43% of kids with at-risk attendance (missed more than 9 days both years)

  • 41% of kids chronically absent in K or 1st (missed 18 or more days one year)

  • 17% of kids chronically absent in K and 1st (missed 18 or more days both years)

When things get Hard…

It’s important to keep in mind that struggle is part of growing up. As adults, we can help our youth know that discomfort is part of growing and stretching ourselves. We want to tend to challenges that are disruptive to functioning (losing sleep, school refusal, loss of appetite, lack of interest in activities previously enjoyed–are all examples) AND we don’t want to shy away from challenges. Here are some tools to help your student with that idea:

Fixed versus Growth mindset

Grounding techniques for kids

Coping skills for teens

Mental Health Resources

Mental Health Services: