This is Camas Ridge’s 15th year of existence. One of the foundational pieces of our school is a belief in the academic and social value of multi-aged learning.  One way we manifest this belief is through Community Time (CT), a K- 5 class centered on social/emotional education.

We are excited to begin our Community Time classes Monday, October 21, 2024!

Community Time will occur from 1:50-2:25 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. 

Students will be dismissed from their Community Time classroom at the end of the day. We are asking students in grades K-2 to check in with their homeroom teacher before going home with a parent or guardian.

*Please note that due to staffing changes from last year to this year, some Community Time classes have been rearranged.

 Students stay with the same CT for their whole time at Camas.  It becomes akin to family, where we grow together- be it in age, traditions or experiences. For our youngest scholars, this journey will span half a decade or more. Many will travel to a new classroom, with a new teacher and a new set of classmates from various grade levels. 

Camas Ridge Community School Values:

  • Inclusive

  • Welcoming

  • Respectful

  • Compassionate

  • Scholarly

  • Creative

  • Safe

Wonder, Explore, and Grow: Camas Ridge Community School

This mission is supported, by the following key Purpose Descriptors:

  • Creating a learning community dedicated to academic success, responsibility and life long learning

  •  Parents, staff, students and community form a partnership for success

  •  Individual worth, diversity and the role of all ages is key to creating a community

  •  Valuing learning opportunities that are inquiry based, art and project-organized

  •  Creating a caring environment that enhances self worth and responsible decision-making

  •  Preparing students to appreciate and contribute to a global society

To support this we have created Community Time

Real life is not spent isolated among people within a year of your age, while the best education takes place in a community of trust supportive of academic and social growth. Success in life hinges on far more than straight A’s, and students prepared to function in a community will most successfully take advantage of later opportunities for employment, relationships, and friendships.   

Community Time allows our Camas Ridge community of learners an opportunity to achieve something special and unique. By holding discussions, participating in activities, playing, sharing, and listening with a group that spans many years, we learn that we all have interests, fears, talents, and experiences—a story to tell.  Through better understanding someone’s story, we are able to shed generic labels based on age or behavior more rapidly, and inhibiting stereotypes of gender, race, or sexual orientation begin to erode with knowledge of a person’s story. We can create a true whole school community, where first through fifth graders see each other as whole people, not a mysterious, unfamiliar unknown. 

Not everyone will be friends: Any time 25+ people gather, someone is bound not to be your cup of tea. It is important to learn early on how to treat those with whom you don’t feel a connection with the same respect you give yourself and your friends. It’s easy to be nice to those we’ve chosen as friends; developing relationships with those we don’t click with right away is the foundation of our Community Time work, and we approach this from many angles. We mix intentional lessons about relevant topics with opportunities for interaction to occur naturally. We hold discussions, play games, create art, read, write, sing, dance, problem-solve, perform community service, and share parts of ourselves in many other ways. We see issues through multiple lenses. Problems like bullying, unsafe playground behavior, dissolving friendships, loneliness, and self-image are addressed with varying perspectives contributing to the discussion and solutions.

Mentoring relationships between older and younger students are a valuable teaching mechanism widely utilized. Community Time at Camas Ridge is devoted to breaking down hierarchies of age or talent and upholding and celebrating every individual as an essential component of our teaching, learning, and living community. The lessons learned during Community Time echo through the other instructional periods of the day and are instrumental to our educational atmosphere and approach.

The Five Ws:

Camas Ridge Community Time: Who, what, where, when and why?

Who is Community Time? A group of multi-aged students that meet four times a week with a Camas Ridge teacher.

What is Community Time? A time for students to meet and work together to build a working community.

Where is Community Time? Community Time meets in the community teacher’s classroom. That could mean that a 1 st grade student meets in a fifth grade teacher’s classroom or a 5 th grade student meets in a first grade teacher’s classroom.

When is Community Time? Community Time is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for thirty minutes.

Why do we have Community Time? To support the mission and descriptors of the school.

Community Time is what sets Camas Ridge Community School apart: We are a welcoming community of students, staff and parents that together are committed to supporting each other’s learning experiences.

CT Q & A Session with Camas Teachers.

How will Students Transition?

Our plan is to have a “delivery train” for our youngest students.  Primary teachers will bring their kiddos to their respected CT class.  A 4th or 5th grade student gets assigned to each primary student during our first class.  They are tasked with escorting their “buddy” safely back to their class.  From then on, the older “buddy” will pick up and drop off the younger “buddy.”  Staff will be in hallways, positioned between buildings and in the cafeteria to help anyone in need.