January 23rd, 2009
ISSUE #7
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Weekly Reminders
Sunday, January 25th, 4:00pm - Child-centered performance by first grade teacher Deborah Williams Old Town Center for the Arts in Cottonwood (see Announcements)
Wednesday, Jan. 28th,
1:00 - 2:45pm - Joan Treadaway, Waldorf educator and consultant, will be presenting "Violence in America and How We As Parents Can Change This Culture." Joan will speak about how the electronic media affects the developing child and how this is connected to violence in society. She will talk about alternative,developmentally appropriate activities for our children. Parents with preschool children up to 6th grade parents are warmly encouraged to participate. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussions. Please call the office to reserve your space so we know what size room we will need. If you have any questions, please call Catherine Weld at school.
Thursday, Jan.29th - 6:30 pm - Sedona Showcase at Java Love Cafe to benefit Desert Star -
(See Announcements)
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Board News & Views
Kathy Klein, mother of Sefa who graduated from Desert Star last year and is currently in 7th grade, has submitted her resignation due to severe back problems. We wish to thank Kathy for her hard work on the board and are very grateful she wishes to continuing serving Desert Star. Kathy's areas of interest are gardening and farming as well as sustainability of a community. She will continue to word in these areas and will write grants and try to get funding for them. Thank you, Kathy.
Kathy's position on the Board is now open for any parent or community member to serve her remaining 1 1/2 year position. If you are interested on being on the Board or if you would like to nominate a person, please complete the nomination forms available in the office. Under normal conditions, the Board meets once a month. We would love to find someone with a financial background to help us through these challenging times.
A major challenge at Desert Star is our attendance record. The low attendance has caused the State to reduce the payments to Desert Star by $12,500 in the first four months of school. We encourage you to keep your child home if he/she is sick but we strongly discourage vacations during the school year. This is hurting Desert Star and our financial situation. Please, before you plan a vacation outside of school vacations, think about how this will affect your child as well as the school. Even if your child is not enrolled for a few weeks during a vacation it has the same effect on us financially. This have been a problem for three years at Desert Star. Please help us to solve this by sending your child (or children) to school everyday unless they are sick.
A reminder about Board meetings: The agenda is always posted on the office window and we try to have the dates of the meeting listed in the newsletter. At the beginning of every meeting is a time for the public to speak. Anyone may speak for two minutes on any subject that is not listed on the agenda. At that time the Board may not respond but will let you know how the issue will be addressed, either at the next Board meeting, by the administration, or others. We encourage your participation and you are welcome to stay for the entire meeting.
At the All School Mixer last week, we discussed the various possibilities for next year. We all expressed our desire for a kindergarten through 7th grade next year on the Desert Star campus. There are many ways we could achieve this. Some including remodeling the 2nd Earthship, a group of people purchasing the property on the corner of Cornville Road and Recycler Road and using it for a classroom, having a kindergarten off site, and many more. They all include finances which we do not currently have. If you or someone you know, is interested is making a donation to Desert Star, please speak to Susan Simon or Catherine Weld. Finances are the only thing holding us back. We have the faculty; we have the students; we have the space; we have the enthusiasm. Together, we can make this happen. Remember, we are a 501c3, a non profit so all donations may be deducted. We will be sharing more with you next week.
Thank you so much for all of your generous donations to the family who took in 8 members of her family in a time of need. At this moment they are doing fine but will let us know if more is needed. This is a truly caring community, one I am proud to be a part of.
Thank you.
Catherine Weld
Submitted By Catherine Weld, Board President
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Fundraising -
5 Easy Ways to Support Our School
1. We get credit for every single search
and every time you purchase something online! It really works!
GoodSearch.com and GoodShop donate to the organization of your choice
(hopefully Desert Star!) when you perform a search and again when you
buy online through GoodShop.
2. Next you can REALLY help Desert Star by using GoodShop to make all your online purchases!
Here's how: Make Good Search.com your home page with Desert Star
Community School chosen as who you GoodSearch for, then every time you
need to shop hit the Shop Now link on the GoodSearch page, in GoodShop
search for the store of your choice - there are hundreds! When you
purchase this way, Desert Star can get up to 37% of your purchase
donated to the school! Remember this for any large purchases you need
to make, it can really add up for the school.
3. Be
sure to use Desert Star's Amazon Link, located in the right hand column
of our website on the home page. We get credit from Amazon only if your
purchase through Desert Star's Amazon links, yet not from Amazon
directly. Please do all your Amazon shopping through our link.
4. You
can also order from our Waldorf book list right from our site! Go to
our website under Parent Resources and then to Recommended Books.
5. And
be
sure you, and all your Arizona friends and relatives direct a portion
of your state income tax (up to $200 per individual/$400 per couple
filing jointly) to Desert
Star. It's easy - just pick up a form in the office or to the Support Us page on our website then go to the State Tax
Credit page.
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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Greetings!
The world viewed one of the most honored traditions of the United States of America, when President Barak Obama was inaugurated this week. Traditions bring people together to experience pride in themselves and in their institutions. School traditions provide students, teachers and parents with opportunities to feel pride in their classroom and their school. Newer schools like Desert Star don't yet have rich histories of traditions to fall back upon. However, we are in the process of creating and building our own traditions. Read part 2 of Rituals, Traditions and Ceremonies in a Waldorf School to find out more about the importance of traditions in schools.
Susan Simon
Principal, Desert Star Community School
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Ritual, Tradition And Ceremony in a Waldorf School - Part 2
By Susan Simon, Principal
Rituals are actions or types of behavior that are regularly followed. Traditions are repeated rituals (e.g. graduation exercises) that eventually become integral parts of the culture and history of a school. They give a solid and well-established feeling to the school climate. Creating new traditions and building upon the old is one of the fun growth processes in schools. Schools that have been in existence for many years have developed meaningful and lasting traditions, often passed from one generation to the next.
Students involvement in school traditions nurtures and expands their feelings of pride in self and in their school. Feelings of belonging come with participation in classroom or school-wide traditions. Belonging nurtures our need for community and purposefulness and makes the daily school experience more meaningful. Traditions enhance relationship building, provide motivation for learning and validate students as important members of the Desert Star school community.
Newer schools like Desert Star don't yet have rich histories of traditions to fall back upon. Rather, we have the exciting opportunity to create new rituals and traditions each year as our school grows and matures. Parents play a vital role in developing and supporting classroom and school traditions, in conjunction with the class teachers. This is an important role of the Parent Council or PTSA in most schools.
We have a few burgeoning traditions at Desert Star School. These include:
-first graders bidding farewell to sixth graders at the end of the school year by presenting them with a rose
-each class performing an annual play for parents, friends and family
-fifth graders competing in the Greek Olympics
-upper grade students serving as "buddies" to younger students
-a fanny-pack hike once a week out on the land
We won't have a rich panoramic history of Desert Star traditions until we have a few more years behind us.
Whether a well-established or newer school, tradition ought to become a valued part of the school culture, as it will encourage student achievement and increase parental involvement. If ritual, tradition and ceremony together define the heart of a school, then schools should place a high priority on developing and maintaining programs that create and support classroom and school traditions.
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Teacher & Community Corner
Announcements
Deanna Robinson Leaving Desert Star School:
Deanna Robinson, who has served in several capacities since she joined Desert Star School during our opening school year, will be leaving the school on January 23, 2009. Deanna has run the afternoon kindergarten enrichment program since last year. She is often seen walking out to the playground with a riotous group of kindergartners. They love their Ms. Deanna and she loves them! Deanna is leaving to take a more full-time position with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Deanna will be greatly missed by all of us! During her time at Desert Star, she has thoroughly dedicated herself to the students, teaching various grade levels and different subjects. She is well-loved by the students who've worked with her. We hope that Deanna will be able to visit the school and keep in touch. Deanna, thanks for all you've done for the students and teachers at Desert Star!
New Student:
Welcome! Delaney Crawford - 2nd Grade.
Family Support Events:
Rudolph Steiner College - Informed Family Life
Spring Parenting Conference
"Educating Our Children - Changing the World"
April 25-26, 2009
Sacramento Waldorf School Fair Oaks, CA
Register at informedfamilylife.org
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FREE Local Creativity Group For Parents
Parenting Arizona Office in Healing Arts Center, Cottonwood
January 27, 28, 29, 30 5:00-7:00 PM
Veronica Vida (928)639-1227
Needed Office Donations:
Tissue boxes; Tall kitchen trash bags; Small office trash bags
House For Rent:
One-bedroom house adjacent to DS school. Freshly painted interior, unfurnished and available now. All utilities included. $800/month. For information call: Tomas Winn 301-3491
Mark Your Calendars:
You are invited to a child-centered performance by first grade teacher Deborah Williams, Magical Michael Steele, (also a substitute at Desert Star) and local musician Dave Rentz. Sunday, January 25th at 4:00pm - Old Town Center for the Arts in Cottonwood - 4 pm. For more info: Call Deborah at 649-9955. Hope to see you there for an opportunity for magic, merriment, and music.
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Java Love Cafe in West Sedona (owned by Bridget and Gianni Cardinali, 2nd grade parents) is hosting a wonderful evening of local music, poetry and dance to benefit Desert Star. The event is called "Sedona Showcase" and will be held on Thursday, Jan.29th at 6:30 pm. Please come, bring your friends, support our school and enjoy some wonderful local talent! There is no admission charge, the benefit is by donation. If you would like to perform call Daniel at
(808) 250-1021 ASAP.
Desert Star Teacher Biographies:
Find out who are our teachers and what are their backgrounds? http://www.desertstarschool.org/teachers.html
Desert Star Newsletter Archive Link:
Did you miss any of our newsletters? View them by going here: http://www.desertstarschool.org/newsletters.html
Parent Testimonial Link - Please Add To Our Site:
We are encouraging all parents of Desert Star students to participate in adding to our parent testimonials page. Just click and fill out the form by going to:
http://www.desertstarschool.org/parent-testimonials.html. Thank you!
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Artist Spotlight - Jacob Sanders, 4th grade
By Zenna MacGregor, Art Teacher
This week the spotlight is on 4th grader, Jacob Sanders. Jacob loves to do art and has a special ability with clay. Give Jacob a hunk of anything malleable and he will sculpt a flawless 3-D form. Jacob won first place in the recent drawing contest as judged by grades 5 and 6. His parents say he can spend hours sitting and drawing "cool" stuff, some realistic, some geometric. He can also be found in the yard finding anything to make artistic creations from such as sticks that become elaborate swords. Jacob likes art so much that he studies graphite drawing with Carol Hildebrand in private classes on Thursday afternoons with his brother David and some of his other Desert Star friends. Jacob can relax into his art projects quickly and stay absorbed in them long after others say they are finished. Jacob is always happy to see Mrs. Mac Gregor show up on Thursday afternoons, and he always puts in his best effort to produce color harmony and balance in his work. Jacob's color choices tend to be very sophisticated for a 4th grader. Great work, Jacob.
Submitted by Zenna McGregor, Art Teacher
Jacob Sanders' original rendering a la Van Gogh
Jacob Sanders - Sun-Face Acrylic Kachina Painting.
Teacher Highlight - "A Glimpse of Celebrations in a Waldorf Inspired Grade Three" By Pam Bruehl, 3rd Grade Teacher
Grade Three celebrates humanity on earth through practical activities. These activities include housing, gardening, farming, and weaving and clothing. Through the activities students gain confidence to work with their own hands and will, as loving caregivers. Here are some highlights of the work they've shared:
- The school year began with stories of creation from around the world. In late September, dressed in capes and crowns, students served apples and honey to everyone on campus to honor the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, a celebration of the world's creation. Singing Shalom Chaverim, students spread goodwill to commemorate a sweet new year!
- A trip to West Fork soon followed. Students formed themselves into teams to design and create shelters. Each was unique and successful!
- In October students were busily covering balloons and glass jars with colorful paper in anticipation of Desert Star's community lantern walk to celebrate light and courage. Students' glowing pumpkins lit the pathways.
- In November students performed a play adapted from Rudolfo Anaya's Roadrunner's Dance, in which every creature's talents are considered a gift and everyone is free. And somewhere in between this good work, students harvested prickly pears to cook prickly pear juice. Mmmmm, prickly pear juice served on yogurt. Yum!
- Next, students were off to Sedona Recycling Center for a morning tour. From there they traveled to a parent's workshop to see recycled bottles turn into colorful drinking glasses.
- Before winter break, students decorated candles with beeswax, to wrap as gifts for their families. With attention to delicate details Christmas trees, mangers, stars, menorahs, and more appeared to decorate candles in love.
- Most recently, students traveled to Camp Verde to Summer Place, where one thousand four hundred and forty pecan trees have been planted! The farmer maneuvered machinery to take hold of a tree's trunk. As the machinery shook the tree, students' jaws dropped. Hundreds of pecans showered the earth!
What is our next task? Pecan pie! And after that? We have a garden to tend to. Some vegetables are now ready to harvest.
Thank you to the Desert Star parents and grandparents who have supported our class trips and class play. Thank you to Biddles for our garden supplies, and to Laurie Mather for guiding us in our garden work. Thank you to Sedona Recycling for such a comprehensive tour and to Teri Allen for sharing her glass making studio and work. Thank you to Summer Place for your tour and pecans (and your tire swing, cornfield, and Verde River setting)!
Submitted by Pam Bruehl, 3rd Grade Teacher
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Thank you in advance for spreading the word about Desert Star Community School.You may forward this newsletter by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. For more information, please call or visit us on the web.
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