Roadrunner academic excellence … personal growth … small school environment

A publication of Sedona Charter School

K-8 Tuition-free Montessori School

Writing: SCS Staff and GC members

Photos: SCS Staff and parents

Design & Editing: Jane Cathcart

Winter Holidays Around the World

Winter Strings—December 6th

Christianity and Merry Christmas

Happy Hogmanay

Stedry den' (the Generous Day)

Giving the Gift of Music

How do people in Slovakia celebrate the holidays? And what holidays do they celebrate? What is Hogmanay and why would I even want to know? How do Christians celebrate Christmas and why? These questions and many more will be answered during Sedona Charter School’s Winter Holidays Around the World event taking place from 1-4 pm on Sunday, December 10th. Trust us, you won’t want to miss this fun time celebrating and learning!

There will be crafts, entertainment, train rides, pony rides, a petting zoo and much more! Admission (per person) is just one non-perishable food item for the Yavapai Food Neighbors Project. Everyone is welcome, and we encourage you to invite others from the community to enjoy this special afternoon with you and your family at Sedona Charter School.

Of course, our Jingle Bell Shop will be open once again, making gifts affordable for students at very low prices! However, we need your help to make that happen. New and/or almost new items can be donated to the school office as soon as possible. This is the perfect opportunity to donate those gifts you received and never used to a good cause. By offering them in our Jingle Bell Shop, we give children the opportunity to buy gifts for their family. Everything from jewelry to

notecards to small household items can be donated. Remember, this isn’t a garage sale. Take a run through Wal-Mart and fill your cart with some inexpensive items to make a child’s

eyes sparkle as they learn the joy of giving!

Back by popular demand is our homemade Gingerbread House contest and our bake sale. Entry forms are available in the office and will be sent home in weekly packets. Get out from behind the

video screens, turn the phones off and get the whole family involved baking and decorating your 2017 gingerbread house!

We still need volunteers to make this a reality, so if you’re interested in helping, please contact Heidi Bird, our chairperson for this event. She will be happy to put you to work!

Tour our classrooms and experience the music, sights, smells and sounds from countries around the world. It’s a celebration you’ll be glad to experience and an annual tradition you’ll want to include on your family’s holiday calendar.

Our students have been hard at work preparing for the annual

Winter Strings Concert on Wednesday evening, December 6th at 6:30 pm. The concert will be held at the Sedona Red Rocks

High School Performing Arts Center.

Because Wednesday is an early release day, students will rehearse at the PAC all morning and then have the afternoon to spend at home resting, eating a good dinner and preparing for the concert that evening.

Parents, this is your chance to invite friends and family to see our Sedona Charter School students playing their violins together on stage. There will be plenty of room and advance purchase tickets (through 12/4) are only $5 at the school office. You won’t want to miss this first chance to celebrate the holidays through music.

Every year, LE students study a unit in History called Fundamental Human Needs. These are the basic needs which must be met and fulfilled to successfully live in our society. They are divided into two groups: material and spiritual. Material needs keep the body safe and alive and are usually tangible. Spiritual needs keep the heart and mind at peace and are often intangible. One of these spiritual needs is religion or belief.

This year, we are concluding our three-year investigation of the major religions (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) of the world. Rather than focusing on a country, we are learning about Christianity, exploring what Christians believe and researching how they celebrate those beliefs. As our society is a product of western civilization, the Christian religion has had and continues to have a profound effect upon us all.

One of the two most important Christian holy days (or holidays as we have come to

call them) is Christmas, and there are many ways that people celebrate Christmas, because we are a multi-cultural nation. Dinner might be roast turkey, goose, duck or ham or your favorite kielbasa, cabbage dish and soup. Some families prefer lasagna, while a favorite in our neck of the woods are tamales.

You’ll have to stop by Lower Elementary on December 10th to see just how we choose to celebrate Christianity and its winter holiday. Could it be like the people in Alaska who carry a star on a pole from door to door (depicting Herod's Men trying to capture the star)? Or would we just settle for the traditional decorated Christmas tree with all its lights and ornaments? Perhaps you’ll hear carol singing favored in the midwest and east. In New Orleans, an ox is paraded down the streets decorated with holly and ribbons tied to its horns. Hmm…..I wonder if the petting zoo will have an ox we could borrow? Will our students stick to their Arizonan roots and celebrate the Mexican Las Posadas re-

You are cordially invited to join us on Sunday, December 10th for our annual Winter Holidays Around the World. We are so excited and pleased to bring you the food and traditions of Scotland this year! The students are enjoying researching their favorite scenes from the Scottish countryside and recreating them with shoebox dioramas. Watching each of the students create, discover and uniquely express themselves using this art form is really warming our hearts. It is always a special gift to see the love of learning in a child’s eyes.

After much grit and determination, we were fortunate enough to find some samples of Scottish biscuits and tea to share with our guests. This was much to Harry and Maija’s dismay, as they were really pulling for haggis!

In addition, students are constructing “Make and Take” projects to send home with visitors. “Nessie” is a big hit, and we are seeing some great interpretations of her as student share their individual ideas on what the Loch Ness Monster really looks like! The Scottish Thistle is the national flower of Scotland, and students are truly inspired as they beautifully recreate these lovely flowers to take as keepsakes.

Your trip to Scotland (via the UE classroom) will include lovely bagpipe music and Scottish Christmas tunes. As a special treat, UE students will be reading traditional holiday stories to our guests, complete with Scottish accents! Dare I say there might even be some acting involved?!

Christmas was not traditionally celebrated in Scotland until the 1950’s because it was banned for nearly 400 years. Hogmanay is their holiday tradition, which is celebrated on New Year’s Eve. We are choosing to honor this holiday by rewarding our “First Foot” into the classroom with a gift. This custom of Hogmanay means the first guest to be

welcomed into your home in the New Year leaves with a small gift of food or drink, but more importantly, brings good luck to the host for the rest of the year. Be sure you arrive promptly at 1 pm to bring good luck to UE for 2018; and who knows, you might receive our Hogmanay gift.

For one week in November, our students focused on kindness in all three classrooms. This was part of a community kindness drive throughout Sedona culminating with a proclamation at City Hall. Students donated canned or boxed food items for the food bank and created kindness chains containing their documented acts of kindness throughout the week. As a result of seeing kindness in themselves and others, our students have a better understanding of all the things in their world that make them thankful. From family to friends, to good food and yes, even some possessions, our students demonstrated an attitude of gratitude as the month wound down to Thanksgiving break. We believe that when kindness is reinforced in each life, the world is a little brighter and a little more thankful for the things in life that really count.

enacting the search of Mary and Joseph for a room at the inn? What about Santa, or gifts, or cookies? You’ll have to come to find out!

“It is my sincere hope that by exposing our students to different beliefs, they will develop an understanding and tolerance for others. Because knowledge is power! We must live together, understand each other and be kind to everyone! Let there be peace. And let it begin with me …” says Bob Wentsch.

In just a few short months of school, our students are gaining a global perspective, interacting with and learning from people all around the world: Mohammed Al Issa, a Bedouin Muslim from Jordan; Oscar Swire, a Montessori student from Scotland; Ivan Madar, a Slovak who escaped during the War; Hannah G., a middle student from New York; and our very own Niel Pableo from the Philippines. Each encounter gives insight about other cultures and grows their understanding of global issues. When we are able to learn about other cultures and see why others do the things they do, it eliminates misunderstandings, preventing a lot of problems and making it easier to be peaceful.

Our students have seen that there is more than one approach to life, and our way may not always be the best way. The cultural heritage of our guests has added another dimension to our lives, giving us the freedom to move outside our own “bubbles,” and find new ways of thinking and approaching problems. With each interaction, our students are developing an understanding of the needs and rights of others, while also learning to respect their culture, political views, and differing beliefs.

In addition to entertaining foreign guests, our classroom has been busy preparing to represent the county of Slovakia on December 10th. Students have been researching how the Slovaks celebrate their winter holidays, which

Hello everybody,

While it comes as no surprise that learning to play a musical instrument is great for a child’s developing brain, there is a strong correlation between playing an instrument and improved academic performance.

According to a 2014 Northwestern University study, when a child learns to play music, their brain begins to hear and process sounds that they couldn’t otherwise hear. The ability to listen and differentiate between sounds aids in literacy.

Students who play instruments (even when using music) are constantly using memory to perform. As they begin to master the art of memorization, it serves the students well in education and beyond. Playing musical instruments also improves hand-eye coordination. Studies suggest that playing music can develop motor skills faster than playing sports.

While the link between music and reading/literacy is well known, there is a great improvement in math skills as well. Musical education helps students learn pattern recognition; and playing music offers repetition in a fun format. In a 2012 study, students who played musical instruments scored higher on their SAT’s. On average they performed 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math.

There are, of course, many other reasons why our children should be playing musical instruments. Since music promotes craftsmanship, it helps the students create good work as opposed to mediocre work. Musical instruments can also teach discipline and aid in creative thinking. When children play as part of an orchestra it not only fosters teamwork, but depicts how every member of society has an important role in the whole world. Working together, we can create and accomplish so much more than we can individually.

We are very fortunate to have an exceptional strings program directed by Kristina Beachell. Every student in grades 1-3 is required to participate. In grades 4-8 it is an elective. Make playing an instrument part of your child’s life experience! Not only is music fun, enriching students’ lives, it has the potential to enhance your child’s academic development as well.

Respectfully yours,

Steven Paley, President Sedona Charter School Governing Council

The holidays are the perfect time to recognize the

people in our lives who make our days just a little brighter!

Whether that’s a teacher, a staff member or a volunteer, let’s remember to show our

attitudes of gratitude with a little act of kindness. Think of what it means to have a hot cup

of soup on a chilly December day? As you make your holiday giving list, please remember

to include both Beth and Hector again this year. They are such an integral part of what

makes SCS stand apart from other schools, providing affordable, healthy hot lunches each

day. We could not offer hot lunches without their commitment to cooking and

volunteering every day and we want them to know just how much they are

appreciated this holiday season. So whether you’re creating a

handmade meaningful gift, choosing the right gift card, or simply

writing a note of thanks, please don’t forget Beth and Hector! Or,

if it’s easier, just add something extra to your lunch order check

and wish them a Happy Hanukkah from your family to theirs.

includes a 2-3 day Christmas celebration complete with a live carp swimming in the bathtub, the traditional Christmas sauerkraut soup called “kapustnica,” and the typical Christmas pastry (called stedrak) - a folded pastry with poppy filling, walnut filling, or jelly and farmer’s cheese. Christmas Eve is the most important day of this celebration when gifts are exchanged. Their findings

will culminate in our school-wide celebration of Winter Holidays around the World. We will be serving a traditional dish as well as decorating and preparing make-and-take crafts for our visitors.

Advanced studies of Slovakia will continue for

members of the Montessori Model United Nations team. This spring, they will be participating in the MMUN Conference where they will formulate, present, debate, and revise positions on current issues affecting our world today. By assuming the perspective of citizens of Slovakia, they will develop an understanding of the needs and rights of others while learning to respect their culture, political views, and beliefs. When they arrive in New York, our MS students will transform themselves into UN ambassadors assuming the roles and responsibilities of world leaders. We are confident that this experience will encourage each one that they CAN make a difference in this world.

“It’s easy to play a musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.”

Johann Sebastian Bach

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contact us at 928-204-6464

www.sedonacharterschool.com

165 Kachina Drive Sedona, AZ 86336

Our Montessori school challenges each

child to achieve excellence through an individualized

program, which includes a schoolwide musical strings

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.

final

Lower Elementary: Bob and Terri Wentsch, Katarina Houser, Amy Tedrick,

Dolores Biermann, Ana Hansen

Upper Elementary: Suzi Ashley, Maija Alanen, Harry Buedel, Jacquie Randall

Middle School: Lauren Rondeau, Niel Pableo, Bethany Gray

Orchestral Strings: Kristina Beachell

Administration: Alice Madar, Lauren Hendler, Jannette Villalobos-Gil

Title I: Ana Hansen

Special Education: Lucy Schwill, Teri Lechowski

We would like to recognize the amazing generosity of parents and supporters who enable us to carry out our mission. We are fortunate to have support from our local community and music lovers around the state and across the country. By making a contribution to our new Performing Arts Classroom, you are continually giving the gift of music for generations to come. All donations are tax deductible and can be made by visiting sedonacharterschool.com/music-building/ or mailing your check to the school, designating your gift for the Performing Arts Classroom. Your donations make a significant difference in each child’s life as we prepare students to thrive in our dynamic, interconnected world. Thank you for helping our students grow, innovate, and serve our community!

There are so many reasons for offering music education. Music is universal. It’s a gabillion dollar industry, and it’s truly everywhere. How many hours in your day are filled with music? Everywhere you go, everything you watch— music. Always music. We are surrounded by it. Why would we not want to teach our students how to create this constantly present gift in our lives? Would you want to live in a world

without music? Then why would you want to have a school without music?

While listening to music is profoundly human, allowing us to touch and understand some of our most complicated feelings, making music is even more so. It helps us know who we are, what we want, and how to be ourselves in the world. With all that music can do just for the listener, why would we not want to unlock the secrets of expressing ourselves through it? Human beings are driven to make music as surely as we are driven to speak, to touch, to come closer to other humans. Why would we miss the opportunity to teach students how to express themselves in this universal “language”?

Music connects us to other people in amazing ways. Whether playing in a small ensemble or a large orchestra, it is enormously compelling to see the many ways in which students making music come together and connect with one another. You are part of something — something bigger than yourself and more than the sum of the parts. There just isn’t any other school subject that so completely fosters cooperation, collaboration, and connection between students! Students learn to help and mentor

each other, support each other, lift one another up and come together to create something simply amazing.

In music, everyone’s a winner. In sports, when two teams try their hardest and give everything they’ve got, there’s just one winner. When an orchestra comes together, and musicians give their all, everybody wins. Our Strings Program is a huge source of pride for our school and community.

Music is awesome. It’s human. It’s universal. It’s big business precisely because it is something that everybody wants. As Emerson wrote, “Beauty is its own excuse for being.” A school without music is less whole, less human, less valuable, less complete. Stand up for music and help make our Performing Arts Classroom a reality!

At SCS, we envision a world in which every child has a deep desire to learn to play a musical instrument and every adult is a passionate champion for that goal. Help us keep the gift of music in our student’s lives by donating today.

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