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Sunrise Waldorf School Newsletter
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A Newsletter for Family & Friends of Sunrise School
February 2010
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Greetings!
As we start a new year and to quote a parent
in our 3rd grade class, and turn the
page to a new beginning I spent a bit of
time pondering our little school and its
roots here in Miami. I reflected on the
birth of the idea and how it happened,
remembering the fine details of when the
decision went from an idea to a solid
commitment to the children of the community
and those yet to come. Memories only to
familiar of the long hours to transform the
classrooms our students now enter daily and
enjoy the warmth and security they feel, the
struggles on a personal level to meet all the
commitments of the students, faculty, parents
and our personal lives of children, husband,
house, family and friends we are in our
fifth year and with each new year brings a
new page to our biography here at Sunrise
School of Miami it reads like a great novel
our beginnings, the pain, suffering and
great personal sacrifice and the mirror side
with all the joy of the students, the parent
that thanks us for giving them back their
child or the student who pops into the
office to tell us how he just figured out how
the human body can support its movement as
he marveled in Mrs. Diehl's Anatomy Main
Lesson. All of these pieces make up the
whole of who we are and what we are striving
to do here in Miami to bring a quality
Waldorf education to the children in the
community. But, beyond all of this, I
learned that my own understanding and
appreciation for Waldorf Education has only
begun to scratch the surface. Just as we
aspire to create in our own children, I too
am becoming a life-long learner. There is so
much to learn about the philosophies of
Rudolf Steiner and how he came to develop
Waldorf Education. There is so much to learn
from our partner/mentor schools in how to
most effectively administer a Waldorf school.
There is so much to learn for the will
activities of the arts and the critical role
art plays in education. We are all paving
our way on the journey of a lifetime of
learning each of us come to Waldorf
Education on our own path and each may be at
a different location on the path but we
encourage you to continue your education
there are so many ways to become educated
about Waldorf Education and Sunrise School of
Miami and Marisela, Danaee and I look forward
to growing with each of you as we continue
our journey together along this path and our
new chapter.
With much warmth,
Patricia Russell
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Calendar of Events
February 12 Teacher Planning Day
Early Dismissal No Aftercare.
Early Childhood pickup is at 12:30PM and
Grade School is at 1:00PM
February 14th Happy Valentines Day
February 15th President's Day No
School
February 16th No School EARLY
CHILDHOOD ONLY
February 22nd, 23rd and 26th
Parent/Teacher
Conferences
See the Yearly Calendar online - Click Here
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From the Office:
On going fundraising activities reminder:
If you have a Target Red Card you can
register Sunrise School of Miami as your
charity and a percent of your purchase amount
will be donated from Target to the school.
One Cause.com. Register at One Cause, and
log on to do all your on-line shopping each
of the vendors associated with One Cause will
donate a percent of your purchase to Sunrise
School of Miami.
Box Tops for Education please remember to
snip off the Box Top printed on various food
items. Please cut off, place in a zip lock
baggie and drop off either to your class
teacher or in the office.
Old cellular phones and ink jet and laser
cartridges please drop these items by the
office.
These fundraising activities are easy to fit
into our families routines, for example -
many of us shop on line today and we are
asking that you do it through One Cause
(www.onecause.com/) it does not cost you
any extra and the vendors will donate a
percent directly to the school.
The school recycles used ink jet and laser
cartridges as well as used cellular phones,
not only does this help the environment, but
a percentage of each item is credited to the
school.
All of these fundraisers help to close the
gap between what tuition covers and the cost
to operate Sunrise School of Miami.
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Many of our students are arriving late in the
morning. Classes for grade school begin at
8:30AM after this time the student is
considered late. Early childhood children
begin their day at 9:00 am and should arrive
no later than 9:15 am.
Three tardy marks count as one absence. If
possible, parents should
plan to arrive about 5 to 10 minutes prior to
start of class to allow for a transition for
the student. Please remember, if you arrive
late, knock one time on the door and wait
with your student until the teacher opens the
door to receive the student.
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The school is in need of family volunteers to
help clean the classrooms on Sundays from
the middle of February through the end of the
school year. Ideally, we would like to have
4 to 5 family representatives to help the
staff that comes on Sundays to clean. We
begin at 2PM and with the additional hands we
anticipate that it will take only 1 ½ to 2
hours to complete the task. This past
Sunday, we were blessed to have 4 individuals
and with everyone that was present we were
able to complete the work in 2 hours. If you
have not already volunteered, please do so by
sending an email or let the office staff know
you are available to help.
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The Spring Fundraiser has begun, and if you
would like to contribute by helping create
the many beautiful hand made items that the
crafting group is working on, please feel
free to join them on Monday mornings at drop
off. Currently they are making hand made
faeries and angels. Orders are being taken
(first come first serve) for the Valentines
Faerie. The large faeries and angels are
$32.00 each.
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A Warm Welcome to our New Families:
Second grade welcomes Maereid (Mae) Shindell
and her family Michelle and James. Early
Childhood welcomes Bruno Vendrame and his
family Carolina and Wagner. First grade
welcomes Ethan and his parents Alex and Sofia
Granthon and little sister. Eighth grade
welcomes Vanessa Tezanos and her family
Rachel and Jorge. Please take a moment when
you see our new families on campus to welcome
them to Sunrise School of Miami.
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Classroom News:
- 1st Grade Math Block
- 2nd Grade Fables Block
- 3rd Grade Measurement - Time and Money
- 4th Grade Local Geography
- 5th Grade Botany
- 6th Grade Physics
- 7th Grade Africa Geography
- 8th Grade Civil War
Our fifth graders are diligently training for
the Southeastern Pentathlon which is being
hosted by the Linden Waldorf School in
Nashville, Tennessee. Our fifth grade
students will spend April 21 to the 23rd in
Nashville preparing and participating with
other fifth graders from the Southeast Region
about 100 other students all will come
together to recreate the ancient events of
discus, javelin, relay, long jump and upright
wrestling. The Pentathlon is one of the first
rites of passage for Waldorf students from
all over the world and one that will reside
in the students memory for a lifetime.
Pictures and update will follow in the May
newsletter.
Shakespeare is alive our seventh and
eighth
grade students are quite busy under the
guidance of Mrs. Diehl and Miss. Rosana as
they begin work on their presentation of a
Midsummers Night Dream. This presentation
will be open to the community at large and it
is expected to delight all that attend.
Woodworking Students in grade 4
through 8
will begin their Woodworking Block the last
week in January. 4th graders will be
constructing a bird house, 5th grade (time
permitting) will be making a carved figure,
candle holder and a game, 6th grade students
will be carving a spoon, 7th grade will be
carving a bowl and our 8th graders will be
making a three legged stool. No doubt, these
items will become cherished pieces to these
students.
The sounds of Africa our 7th grade
students
started hand drumming today. The group is
being led by Miss. Emily. The drums were
acquired through an earlier fund raising and
donation efforts. They look forward to
presenting their new rhythm to the community
in the near future.
Colors come alive in Early Childhood the
students are experiencing the quality of
color through their watercolor painting.
February will bring the color red.
The Early Childhood students received
a treat
in January. Mother Nature provided just the
right weather at the right time for the
students to live into the feeling of the many
activities and songs they are doing in their
winter circle. There were days it truly did
feel like Jack Frost was nipping at our
toes and nose.
The last few weeks have been one of balance
for these students balance activities that
is. We are working on gross motor movements
and balance. They have been busy walking on
the balance beams, stepping from one tree
stump to another, hopping on one foot,
skipping, jumping rope, galloping and more.
It is a joy to watch them master these body
movement skills.
Music in the air - our third and
fourth graders have started their violin
classes. It is quite sweet to hear them
practicing their scales together as a group.
In the Waldorf curriculum the students begin
their introduction to instruments through the
Violin - reinforcing fractions and the beat
of the music goes hand in hand with math.
Please be sure to encourage them to practice
daily - starting this behavior now at this
young age will help them develop it as part
of their habit life as they will play a
stringed instrument for their duration in
Waldorf education.
A time of discovery
The first graders have been enjoying their
walks in nature. January's cold spell
provided just
enough for Mother Nature to create a yard
full of leaves for the students to enjoy.
Several of them were spied laying in the yard
looking for shapes in the clouds.
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Gratitude
"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. - Albert Schweitzer
A warm thank you again to all the parents
that donated toward our Sewing Machine fund.
A warm Thank You goes out to Gary Arthurs
for all of his time and talent in preparing
our Woodworking space as well as working with
the Oak Foundation in receiving a grant to
purchase the supplies needed for both the
class and the space. Gary will be working
with our students in grades 4 through 8 in
their Woodworking block this school year.
Thank you to the Monday crafting group
their hard work and efforts in making the
beautiful handmade Star Babies. We raised
$176.00 which will be placed into the general
fund toward Operating Expenses.
A big thank you to the parents that
volunteered and came on Sunday, January 31st
to help with the classroom cleaning. Irina
Toyne, Yvonne Arias, Zaida Diaz, Michelle
Shindell. We will be posting a cleaning
schedule please let us know when you can
help remember many hands make light the
work. We start at 2PM on Sunday and with 4
parents we are able to complete the needed
work in about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
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Sunrise School of Miami
phone:
(305) 274-6562
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