October 2015 - Sedona Charter School

AzMerit Test Results
A publication of Sedona Charter School
K-8 Tuition-free Montessori School
Box Tops For Education
Classroom Updates
Writing: SC S Staff and GC members
Photography: Alice Madar and staff
Design & Editing: Jane Cathcart
academic excellence …
Alumni News
Letter From the President
personal growth …
small school environment
Roadrunner
We know you have all had
Kristina in your thoughts and
prayers since she was
hospitalized on September
11th. We are glad to report
she is doing much better and
came home on September 25th. She has a
long road of physical therapy and recovery
ahead, but we are so excited to see her doing
so much better than the doctors predicted!
As you know, we have lined up
substitutes to take over both orchestras as
well as the day-to-day violin lessons for all
other students. Please encourage your
children to give themselves time to adjust to
the ways and personality of a new teacher.
We know Kristina is special and no one can
fill her shoes, but every teacher has different
talents.
You may visit Kristina’s “Go Fund Me”
page to read updates on her progress or help
with donations to cover her medical bills.
https://www.gofundme.com/he4btmz8
Thanks to the generosity of so many she is
close to her goal.
You may continue to drop cards off in
the school office and we will see that she
receives them.
By now you’ve probably heard more
than one news report headlining doom
and gloom for the educational system in
the State of Arizona. So we thought it was
wise to say a word about the AzMerit test
results that you will be receiving in the
mail some time in October.
Students work throughout the year to
prepare for the AzMerit exam, (the state
test that replaced AIMS).
AzMerit was designed to measure
student readiness for college or career.
About 750,000 students took the test and
the preliminary results show that most
Arizona students in grades 3-12 are not
proficient in English and Math.
However, after taking a closer look,
the picture is not as dim as first thought.
State officials are hoping that parents and
the community will see the low test
scores as an opportunity to improve.
AzMerit was a new test for students and
the bar was significantly raised from the
days of the AIMS test.
Last spring was the first year students
took the new AzMerit test and it measures
different things. Common Core now
focuses on critical thinking and problemsolving skills that students need to be
successful. This test measures much
more than what students know. It
measures
whether they
can apply
what they
know to every
day life situations.
"This is a change we need to embrace.
Our kids are going to have jobs that don't
even exist today, and that means education
needs to teach kids to be critical thinkers.
They need to be able to adapt, and that
requires a different approach," said Esau.
Pearl Esau is the President and CEO of
Expect More Arizona, an organization
championing world-class education for
every child.
When we receive AZMerit test results,
we will evaluate them to learn what we
did well and where our where our teachers
may need to change strategies. This is a
great opportunity for students and teachers
to dig deep inside and be honest about
how well we both understand and teach
life concepts.
AzMERIT is like an annual checkup –
it’s an opportunity to find out how
students are doing. Just as doctors check
height and weight, state officials, teachers
and parents use the test to check how
students are progressing in reading,
writing and math.
DON’T MISS THE FIRST BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION DEADLINE - 10/24/15 - SEE ASK A VOLUNTEER INSIDE!
It’s that time of year again when we
are almost finished with the first quarter
of school and everyone is looking
forward to a mini-break! Our teachers
are working hard not only in LE, but all
classrooms to ensure your children are
receiving the best education Sedona
Charter School can offer.
small tasks that would take 30 minutes
max from your busy schedules.
However, we always need your help.
With classrooms at capacity, little jobs
like dusting, vacuuming and cleaning
up outside don’t always get done daily.
That’s where parents come in!
As you may have heard, we are in the
beginning stages of exploring options for
a new strings building. This will give our
students more space to learn and allow
larger class sizes as our current capacity
for the strings room is 9 people total. We
already have a fundraising committee in
place and can always use more
committed volunteers to help with that
effort.
We’d love to have you sign up in
our volunteer book for any classroom
job. With more people involved, there
is less work for everyone. Our
classrooms always need a little TLC
and you can help with straightening
books, cleaning tables and many other
A huge THANK YOU goes out to all of our
parents who have been working for many weeks
on our Old Fashioned Family Picnic and
especially Brandy Burke for her leadership and
organization. Whether making flyers, inviting
friends or soliciting donations for our auctions,
we are grateful for each one! As an incentive for
donors to get their items to the school office
early, Lisa Dahl generously donated dinner for
two at Mariposa Latin Grill. Thanks to everyone
who met the 9/25 donation deadline. The winner
of dinner for two at Mariposa is Jenni Goldman!
Congratulations Jenni—we are all envious!
We have volunteers coordinating fun-filled
games, making sure vendors are here to sell
food and lining up the best pie makers in the
county! You don’t want to miss this awesome
family event — free to everyone on Sunday,
October 4, 2015 from 1 to 5 pm at Sedona
Charter School. Step back in time by leaving the
cell phones at home and enjoying a relaxing day
on the lawn! Bring
your wallet and
your blanket and
join us to raise
much needed funds
for Sedona Charter
School.
If vacuuming and dusting aren’t your
thing, we STILL have a job for you!
From tidying up the campus to
volunteering to chair a committee, there
is definitely a place to use your talents at
Sedona Charter School.
As one of our options, we are
considering the feasibility of moving the
playground and using that space for our
strings classroom. We are looking for
someone who can lead a committee to
explore moving the playground area to a
new location with a covered play area.
This will involve suggestions for a
new space, finding skilled volunteers
who are capable of moving equipment
and re-installing it to ASTM, CSPC and
ADA standards, enlisting volunteers to
move wood chips to create the new play
surface and much more. If any of these
jobs lie within your area of expertise,
please contact Alice Madar to learn
more.
Cooperation and unity in the UE classroom are better than
ever. Students are really understanding the ways of doing
business in our community. We are fine tuning procedures while
listening to student problems and solutions at our
Monday Community meetings. During September we resolved to
have the 6th year students be the main role models for keeping the
classroom neat and tidy at all times. We also resolved to
make Fridays correction day for Excel math so that there are four lessons per week
instead of five. Thanks students for your input.
Students are honing in on the importance of reading with a trained eye as almost all of
our novel groups will complete their first novel by October 2nd. It has been a joy to
watch the students work in their literature circle groups and really take on the role of
"responding to literature." It is an amazing challenge to find evidence in the novel to
support ideas and explore how the authors formed each fictional story.
Academics outside the classroom were a huge success with our recent field trip to
Secret Mountain. We are grateful for our parent volunteers and for our aide, Jackie, who
accompanied us on this journey. The trip was all about finding artifacts just like Mr. Bill
is teaching in science class. Students kept field notes tracking shards, points, tools and
walls. Students were respectful of the
site and safe as they hiked. As you can
see from the umbrellas, it was hot! The
best moments were when students
began connecting their science work on
irrigation and how ancient peoples
lived, to the work they have done in
Miss Maija’s humanities lessons
studying Montessori stories about the
history of the world. Students were
able to imagine living in this physical
archaeological site, using simple
machines and caring for themselves,
just as they learned how ancient peoples
moved from being Nomads to farmers.
Providing students with tools to cooperate with others in
positive ways through compassion and courtesy
One of the things that is very special
about our school is our emphasis on character
education. In each classroom we have
developed age-appropriate ways to instill in
our students compassion, courtesy and
responsibility. School-wide we teach
cooperation for peace through weekly
lessons, community meetings and our
Peaceful Leadership program. But how do
we know that our efforts are making a
difference?
One way is through the feedback we get
about student behavior when we are on field
trips. I am happy to report that not only did
the middle school students have a wonderful
time at Camp Colley last month, but we also
received many compliments from camp staff
while we were there. Dining hall staff said
that our students were extremely polite. The
camp custodian said that in seven years he
had never seen a better behaved group. But
what most surprised and impressed camp
instructors was when our students were
sitting around the campfire on our last
evening at camp, and they started an
impromptu community meeting like the ones
we have at school each week. The
instructors had been planning to try and
lead the students in doing some skits, but
they were so impressed by these selforganized community activities that they
decided to just sit and watch.
One student started the meeting almost
as a kind of joke, but when other students
responded to his request for “sharing” with
comments on how much they were
enjoying learning about each other in this
new setting, the meeting became real -- in
some ways more real than the ones in the
classroom. Many students contributed to
the discussion, sometimes seriously and
sometimes with much appreciated
humor. They even launched into one of our
peace songs at the end of the
meeting. Afterwards, there was more
singing as some students brought out
guitars.
Does our character education program
make a difference? YES! We are
providing students with tools of character-tools to cooperate with others in positive
ways through compassion and courtesy
and tools to organize themselves as a
respectful community.
Hello everyone:
I know that all of you are making plans
to attend our Old Fashioned Family
Picnic on October 4th. We have many
fun events and delicious food to entice
all ages. I look forward to seeing you
there.
As you can imagine, this is the time that
we try to add to our finances for the
year. Many of you regularly donate to
the music program through the Arizona
Kids Tax Credit program. Please
continue to do this as it is how we fund
this special part of our school. For those
of you who have not taken advantage of
this virtually free opportunity to donate,
please visit our website at http://
sedonacharterschool.com/support-scs/
arizona-state-tax-credit/ to learn more
and make a donation.
Donations must be earmarked for a
special program and I would like to call
your attention to our strings building
fund which will provide a new place for
our students to practice and attend
classes.
Although Sedona Charter School is
funded by the state so that you are not
required to pay tuition, we are not
funded by property tax dollars which
typically provide resources for buildings
and capital improvements. Any amount
you are able to donate will help. I thank
you in advance for your generosity.
See you at the picnic,
Best regards,
We spend a lot of time every year collecting, sorting and redeeming Box Tops for
education because they are “cash in our hands” without being “cash out of your
pockets!”
Since 1996, the Box Tops for Education program has helped schools across
America earn cash for the things they need. The little pink coupons are on most items
you purchase every day! Each Box Top is worth 10 cents and SCS can earn up to
$20,000 per year from the Clip program. If every family cuts just 100 box tops
throughout the year (10 per month), SCS could earn $1,000! Imagine what we could
do with 10 per week.
We all shop. We all buy products. Keep your eyes open for brands with the little
pink box top and take the time to collect and turn them in to your teachers. Our first
collection deadline this year is October 24th. Let’s get that cash rolling in!
Maureen Nealon, President
Sedona Charter School
Governing Council
Arizona
Kids Tax
Credit
final
cont ct us t 8- 4- 4 4
www.sedon ch te schoo .com
Our Montessori school challenges each
child to achieve excellence through an individualized
program. We inspire a passion for learning, instill a sense
of personal responsibility, and cultivate a respect for the
environment and involvement in the community.
Alexandra Blaney recalls her t ime at
Sedona Charter School as creative and
intellectually stimulat ing—which may
have been a factor in her career choice:
documentary film-making.
Alex was in third grade when Sedona
Charter School opened in 1995, and she
attended our school for five years. “The
teachers really emphasized creat ivity in
art and writing, and fo llo wing your own
passion,” she says. “I remember
particularly studying the magical realis m
of Gabriel Garc a M rquez. . . . We
were reflecting on some pretty
complicated stories.”
After spending her high school years
at a top prep school in the northeast
(Deerfield Academy), A lex opted to
attend Pomona College in Southern
California. “It was an intellectual, nerdy
school, wh ich I wanted, but it also had
Classroom Updates
Winter olidays
Alumni ighlights
olunteer Opportunities
Southern Californ ia’s great weather.” She
double-majored in International Relations
and History, but she knew that after college
she wanted to get into independent filmmaking, creating films that had social
impact.
She moved to New Yo rk and began
searching for opportunities—and found an
ad on Craigslist for an internship in “social
good documentary filmmaking.” Then in
2010 she found a second internship for film
editing, wh ich allowed her to further
develop in her field. She is now Director
of Market ing and Production at Shine
Global, a non-profit media co mpany that
gives voice to children by telling stories of
their resilience to raise awareness, promote
action and inspire change.
In 2013, one of the films Alex helped
produce at Shine Global, “Inocente,” won
the Academy Award for best documentary
Alexandra Blaney
short. The film focused on an optimistic
15-year-old girl in San Diego who had
been homeless for nine years, and who
proved herself to be a talented artist,
painting vivid, whimsical p ictures.
No w Alex is hard at work on her next
film, a documentary mystery about the
dark side of ch ild advocacy.
We look forward to having Alex visit
Sedona Charter School as a guest
presenter, discussing her experiences as a
social documentary filmmaker with our
students.
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OLD FASHIONED
FAMILY PICNIC 1-4 pm
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3:30 pm— Orchestra
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3:30 pm— Orchestra
Columbus Day
12
3:30 pm— Orchestra
M on
7:30 am
Math Club
W ed
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7:30 am
20 Beginning
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Orchestra
6 pm—LE First
Years Math Meeting
7:30 am
13 Beginning
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Orchestra
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Science Fair
7:30 am
27 Beginning
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Orchestra
2:15 pm—
Peace
Assembly
7:30 am
Math Club
7:30 am
Math Club
PICTURE DAY!
7:30 am
Math Club
Tu e
October 2015
Sedona Charter School
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Report Cards
Mailed
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H OLID A Y
F ri
7:30 am
MMUN Club
7:30 am
MMUN Club
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U E B I OSPH ER E FI ELD TR I P
7:30 am
MMUN Club
7:30 am
MMUN Club
UE Parent Meeting
5:30 pm
7:30 am
MMUN Club
Thu
1:30 Dia de los
Muertos event
WEEK EN D
Sat
3
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Keeping parents informed