Desert Star Community School: Newsletter

Announcements

Supply Donation Update:
We have received 2 more supply donations from last week which brings our total up to 9 of families that have answered our recent call for assistance! Thank you to those families. Only 81 to go. Desert Star asks $150 Per Semester Per Child to help support the school. Out of 90 children, 19 supply fees have been paid in full. We want to continue talking about the possibility of expansion and kindergarten. Please get your donation in as best you can, as quick as you can.

Sedona Showcase Night At Java Love:
It was a full house at the Sedona Showcase night at Java Love Cafe to benefit Desert Star. There were wonderful performances by our own Laura Harness and Magical Michael Steele and a lovely presentation for Desert Star by Pam Bruehl. A big thank you to Java Love owners Bridget and Gianni Cardinali for helping bring in over $300 in donations that night for Desert Star!

AZ Arts Commission Funds D.S. Artist Project :
The Arizona Commission on the Arts is funding an Artist in Residence project at Desert Star this year. Joan Bourque, a local mural artist, will facilitate a mural painting project with our 5th and 6th grade classes every Friday until the end of the year. We will paint the water tank on our property. it will be seen by all who drive by on Cornville Road. Joan and the artists will design their mural around their environmental studies. Since murals and "community" art works, we hope
to involve parents, visitors and community. We will begin by painting primer on the outside of the tank. For this we need volunteers. If any parents have scaffold, ladders, rollers, etc. we'd appreciate using them. If you want to help paint, we will post a schedule soon.

Teacher Highlight: "The Study of Sciences in the Early Middle School Years " By Marc Bruehl, 5th/6th Grade Teacher

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Early adolescence can be a time of shifting winds and rolling waves. It is not helpful to look too closely at the deck of the ship in such conditions, but to keep your eyes on the horizon. The changing emotional winds of these years will quickly take their toll on us if we do not keep the long range picture before us. Science, during these years, is a well appointed to meet this task.

During a study of "Light" in December, I asked the class the question, "Can you see light?" The students looked at one another with a skeptical eye, wondering if they missed the trick in the question. So I asked again very carefully, "Can you see light?" Like water ready to boil, the statements started coming towards me with great assertiveness. "Of course you can see light!" So I took a flashlight and wrapped the front in black paper and asked a student to shine it onto the blackboard. The students were silent. Then one by one the students noted their observation. They all agreed that what they could see was where the light met the blackboard, but the light itself from the flashlight to the board could not be seen. Without further discussion, a student was then asked to clap an eraser in front of the flashlight, when it was turned on. At that moment there was a genuine feeling of excitement. Something was revealed; something was observed. One hand and then several more shot up. What was observed could not be contained. We saw the source of the light, but for light to be seen, it has to reflect off of something! We then returned to our discussion months earlier about the Sun and the planets and the phases of the moon. We looked around the room at objects, and shadows were now seen differently. The students' power of observation is what brought them to the conclusion. It was the power of the experience which will live with them.

The young adolescents' power of discernment is acknowledged as new critical thinking forces begin to form. These are the capacities we hope to awaken in our Waldorf-inspired approach to the sciences.

Students in the fifth and sixth grade years are asked to begin to objectify the natural world around them. These young people stand firmly on the earth and have given little thought until now of the forces that have over measureless time come together to form our land and seas. They are asked now to look to the heavens and within the context of the Greek and Native American myths that have ensouled these celestial bodies, observe with a new exactitude their movement through the heavens. Through how many phases does the moon move? Where is the Big Dipper at 7 o'clock and then 8 that evening? Where and when does the Sun rise? How does it change over the winter months? How can the Moon block the image of the Sun which is hundreds of times larger? We ask our students now to sharpen their powers of observation; to become more exact in their thinking and language. Through art we allow our creative powers to deepen our understanding of abstract concepts presented in these phenomena. We are seeking in these all important years to help young people build a relationship with the world they live in. We strive as Waldorf-inspired educators to bring our young people to a better understanding of their uniqueness as individuals, and the interconnectedness we share as human beings.

Within the young adolescent there are powerful growth forces beginning to work. There is a shifting in their physical landscape. Their bodies that had been somewhat at rest and were seen in a certain proportional harmony are now awakening. A new level of questioning and argumentativeness now enters their dialogue. At one moment they can be thoughtful and considerate; maybe even helpful. The next moment nothing is good enough. The polarities experienced in the study of geology and astronomy support this inner developmental picture of the young adolescent. What a wonderful time to study volcanoes, earthquakes, and the forces of gravity and weight. As their thinking awakens to a new level of critical thinking, arguments are transformed into questions which often begin with "Why is it that ___?" or "What happens if___?" Cause and effect relationships are cast and experiments are watched with a new level of scrutiny.

In their notebooks the students are asked to write their observations with a striving for a new preciseness in language. Pronouns fall away and procedural steps are reviewed for exactness so that anyone could read a students writing and complete the experiment. This training in objectivity will continue throughout the middle school years.

Through the middle school years, the Waldorf-inspired curriculum seeks not only to build a foundation of knowledge in important skill-based areas, but also seeks to expand the capacities of soul and spirit nourished through studies of the human journey through the ages. The sciences complement the lessons offered in literature and history. The lessons in physics, physiology, and chemistry build upon the sciences introduced in the early middle school years. They help shape our power of observation and deepen our capacity as individuals to think critically. The journey of self exploration is enriched. We move into our adolescent years with hopefully greater self awareness and self confidence. Our journey towards becoming free thinking individuals has been given a firm foundation.

Submitted by Marc Bruehl, 5th/6th grade teacher.