January 30th, 2009
ISSUE #8
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Weekly Reminders
Get Involved!
Monday, Feb. 2nd - 3:00 pm - Parent Council Meeting- Meetings will be the first Monday of each month.
Wednesday, Feb. 4th - 3:00 pm - All School Meeting- All Invited. Topics to be discussed include the future of D.S. grades and D.S. committee structures. Childcare provided $5 per child.
Saturday, Feb. 7th - 10:00 am - Green Thumbs Working Session This meeting is for everyone interested in grounds work. Meetings will be the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month. Please come and participate.
Saturday, Feb. 7th - 7am - 3pm - Sedona Marathon Desert Star Booth(See Announcements for more info.) Tuesday, Feb. 10th - 3:00 pm - Board Meeting- All Invited.
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ENROLLMENT COMMITTEE:
The
Enrollment Committee is planning outreach events for this winter and
spring. The goal is to add a minimum of 20 additional students next
year which would bring our enrollment to 110.
Would you be
willing to have a tea at your house and invite friends who might be
interested in hearing about Desert Star? Other parents would be there
to share their experiences as well as a faculty member to speak about
Waldorf Education. Please call Catherine if you are interested in
helping. Also, do you know of places we could go and speak about Desert
Star? We will be going to the libraries in Sedona and Cottonwood as
well as telling stories at the libraries. Any other ideas? Thank you
very much for all of your help. Call Paula or Catherine with your ideas
(928)282-0171.
WHO ARE THE DS COMMITTEES ANYWAY?
Would you like to know more about the committees we have in Desert Star?
Look to the upcoming Desert Star Newsletters and come to the All School Meeting for information, and how to get more involved in our school.
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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!
As educators and parents, we work hard to build pride in our school. One of the quickest and most effective ways I know to improve morale and build the reputation of a school is to create classroom rituals, reinforce school traditions and invite all school and local community members to participate in ceremonies that honor and reflect the values of the school. Read more about ceremonies in part 3 below.
Susan Simon
Principal, Desert Star Community School
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Ritual, Tradition And Ceremony in a Waldorf School - Part 3
By Susan Simon, Principal
Ceremonies are ritual observances performed at special occasions. The formal observance of a ceremony honors and celebrates rituals and traditions. School ceremonies present opportunities for the local community to come together in celebration of the students and the entire school community. Ceremonies help to institutionalize the priorities of a school because they show what the school values in a public way. Solemnity, respect and honor are often by-products of ceremony.
Ritual, tradition and ceremony are essential components of any good school community. Schools actively involved in creating and following ritual and tradition, and honoring them through ceremony, build incredible spaces for academic, artistic and social learning experiences to occur. One of the outcomes of ceremony is great enthusiasm expressed by students, teachers and parents. Enthusiasm is an important partner to the learning process.
Rituals, traditions and ceremonies become more quickly publicized and institutionalized when they are visible. Icons or objects that represent rituals and traditions and are utilized in ceremonies serve as reminders of what the ceremony celebrates - e.g. floral wreaths for May Day, paper lanterns for the Lantern Walk. Ceremonies help us tap into feelings of inspiration and pride. They possess a strong emotional response because they usually recognize or praise some characteristic of the human spirit. A rich ceremonial history brings great pride, joy and a sense of purpose to a school community.
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Teacher & Community Corner
Announcements
Ms. Green's 2nd Grade Students in Sedona Living Section of the Red Rock News:
On Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 one of our local newspapers, the Red Rock News, had a full page article on Desert Star 2nd grade students. The article was titled: Letters to Obama. Photos of the students and text blocks of the letters that were written to President Obama encompassed the full front page of the Sedona Living section. Teacher Brenda Green invited the students to write letters to the 44th U.S. president after the class watched the inauguration on January 20th. Congratulations 2nd grade!
Newsletter Goes Electronic. No more hard copy!
There has been an executive decision in the office for there to be no more hard copy versions of the newsletter. Most parents are online and receive their newsletters and notices through their e-mail. If you feel strongly that this change of stopping the hard copy version will keep you from being informed, please let the office know. We aim to keep the school community connected in meetings and online. We appreciate your feedback.The possibility of a school community bulletin board is being reviewed.
If there is a parent of Desert Star Community School that is not connected to the Internet, feel free to print out your version and pass it along to them, or send them to the office. We are saving ink and paper and to reformat to black and white and print out for the whole school when only a few may need, is costly and labor intensive. We hope you understand and again if you know a parent that is not online, please let them know of this change. Thank you!
Volunteers Needed for the Sedona Marathon February 7th!
We have been fortunate to be invited to be a part of the Sedona Marathon on Saturday February 7th. This year the race benefits the National Association of People with Aids, the Lymphoma Foundation, The Sedona-Oak Creek School District, the Sedona Charter School, Better Than Ever (cancer research) and Canyon Moon Theater. The marathon folks have been kind enough to offer us a free expo booth at the Cultural Park the day of the event to promote the school this year. We need to staff 3 water and aid stations with about 10 volunteers and they will allow us to be one of the benefiting non-profit organizations next year!
The race will be out Dry Creek Road Rd. and down Boynton Pass Rd., in a beautiful area. We can create themes and costumes for our stations so Desert Star gets noticed. It should be lots of  fun and it's a great way to help out at a worthwhile local event. There are no costs to us and as volunteers we each get a free T-shirt. Remember we pledge of 50 hours of volunteer time per family per year - this is a good way to get in 8 hours and enjoy a Saturday outside!
Volunteers must to be available to be stationed at the race from 7am to 3 pm. For more info or to sign up call Pam Israelson 928- 554-4442.
Pizza Café!:The 5th /6th grade would like to thank you for your support of our pizza café. Business math is an important aspect of our curriculum this year and running a pizza business is a great hands-on experience. We have not decided how we will use the money, but some portion will go to preparing our new middle school classroom and support class outings.
There are several aspects to this weekly business we need your help as devoted customers. We have to place the pizza order Thursday afternoon, so it is important that all pizza slips are in the hands of 5th and 6th grade class reps by noon on Thursday. Please do not go to Paula with your slips or to have her make change. She is not involved in any aspect of this enterprise. Her plate is full enough.
If you or your child has a question, they are warmly invited to come to the 5th/6th grade classroom for help. We are a customer friendly operation and will work with any request as best we can.
If your child has not ordered pizza by Thursday morning, please provide them with a lunch. If we have extra we will be glad to offer leftovers, but please don't count on it. We try to order just what we need. Submitted by Marc Bruehl, 5th/6th grade teacher
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
House For Rent:
One-bedroom "Earth Ship" house adjacent to DS school. Freshly painted interior, unfurnished and available now. All utilities included. $800/month. For information call: Tomas Winn 301-3491
Energy Efficient Light Bulb Disposal:
We wanted to make you aware that the energy efficient compact light bulbs (spirals) contain enough mercury that they must be disposed of as a household hazardous waste. If they break, they must be disposed of very carefully, especially when around children. It is recommended to put pieces in a sealed glass jar. Home Depot accepts used and discarded bulbs. You may go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp to learn more about these bulbs.
We have been using these bulbs in the Earthship/Kindergarten. We recently decided that since they are under thick ceiling glass globes anchored with screws that the energy and financial savings outweigh the risk of breakage. Any bulbs that are exposed we will be replacing with regular bulbs.
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 - Zoe Van Block, 2nd Grade
By Zenna MacGregor, Art Teacher
This week's artist spotlight is on 2nd grader Zoe Van Block. Zoe seems to especially enjoy working with her hands in clay. Actually, Zoe always seems to enjoy herself when she is creating art. Zoe takes her time and is very focused on her projects. She has very strong ideas about what she wants to create and sees them through. Horses and mother earth are recurring themes found in her art. Way to go Zoe!
Submitted by Zenna McGregor, Art Teacher
 
Pictures of Zoe with her collage and Zoe painting on a feather.
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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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