The people who give you their food give you their heart.
Cesar Chavez
Dear Parents,
We are beginning a week-long holiday, under the focus of Thanksgiving. As I was walking through classrooms Friday, one student said that Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday of the year. I replied, “Oh, you like the food?” And he resolutely responded, “No! I get to be with my family.” This was said with such honesty and so quickly out of his mouth; it did my heart good. It was such a beautiful, humbling reminder to me of the importance of spending time with family and sharing good food and happy moments together.
Thanksgiving. Giving Thanks. I give thanks for working with such dedicated and caring teachers, for families who care for their children, for the times when I see children and the mother or father hugging, for laughter and camaraderie in the classrooms, for the great SLVUSD schools around us. For my extended family, friends, and community. For the simple pleasures that make me smile.
And for the heroic first responders; a thousand thanks.
May you have many times this holiday week when you can give feel grateful.
Enjoy a restful Thanksgiving, and see you next week, Monday, November 26. There are many excursions planned in each program and plenty of curriculum to delve into as well when you come back.
See you then,
~Rhonda
New opportunity for SLV Charter: General Music and Band: Carey Liston has taken on the task of trying to build two music classes for the Charter students: General Music for our 4th and 5th graders, and Band for middle school students who have a year of playing an instrument under their belt. It is somewhat if an uphill battle as there are many conflicting schedules to work with. My hope is that both classes take off so that they can continue next year! I had the opportunity to listen to the General Music students last Friday play the bells. Beautiful! If you have kids this age, please join; there is still space! She plans to give a small performance in December so that their skills can be shared.
PARENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Please come: Wednesday, December 12 from 3:00-4:00 pm. If you would like to learn more, please feel free to contact me directly. [email protected] I am so thankful that I now have 2-3 parents who are coming consistently. There are not representatives from every program yet, but I trust that those that came once, can come again. I would like to hear from all programs when it comes time to prioritize and plan next year.
The Parent Advisory Committee is a critical component to ensure that parent input has a consistent say in the development of our programs that make up the Charter school.
All Charter Musical: Into the Well!: An original rock musical:
This year the play will be, "Into the Well". The students have received their roles and rehearsals are underway. Thank you, Amber and team, for all the hours you are putting into creating this All Charter Play. This after-school opportunity has become so successful that there are two casts this year. A big thanks to all the parents who are getting their kids to their rehearsals on time and their commitment to helping with the props and the various preparations for the coming production.
Performance Week: February 4-9
What’s Going on in Our Charter School? ..little snippets of some of our programs.
CRHS: Many students have signed up to go to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival on April 22-24. This will be a joint field trip excursion with students from CRHS and 8th graders from our QHIA program. Amber and Kay are working together on this rich and exciting trip.
CRMS: We made our way to the pool this week and got help in the form of a high school PE teacher, Chris Coulson, who did an amazing job of walking us through success in the pool. The students finished glazing their ceramic tumblers and we now have beautiful mugs gracing our tables and cup-cabinet. We looked at Fire Codes and Fire Safety for our amusement park project and added things like “Exit” signs, fire extinguishers, fire hydrants, sprinklers, and smoke alarms. There was also a presentation about Graphic Design and Marketing, and then students created an advertising poster for our lotion-selling events. All students worked in the garden with Melanie, on their way to Jr. Master Gardeners certification. Kyle did Mindfulness. Mark is working with the Civil Air Patrol, they will send a whole catalog of projects to us that have to do with flying, rockets, the environment, and weather. Students decided to start with making rockets and are beginning to gather the necessary materials.
Nature Academy: 6th graders took a trip on Friday to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum to kick off their Social Studies unit on Ancient Egypt. Students are diligently working on their country projects, currently, they are learning about their country’s past history. The 7-8th-grade group are still learning about the Middle Ages and are designing their own Illuminated letters. They are writing literary analysis and also critiquing the myth and history of Kind Author.
Quail Hollow Integrated Arts (QHIA): Rhonda, our Administrator, visited us and contributed to our Digital Citizenship workshop on Online Safety and Responsibility. Students worked hard on their Individual Earth Science topics, culminating projects, and Science Fair Projects. 6th graders created cuneiform tablets out of clay, and 7th/8th graders discussed the current election and participated in a student vote on all of the propositions, measures, and candidates. We watched some moving artistic tributes by and for African Americans and their struggles for voting rights in America, inspired by the walk from Selma to Montgomery. QHIA students represented beautifully in our Charter Science Fair! Well done! Your presentations were fantastic and you were all so well spoken. Robin, our counselor, visited us for a gratitude workshop in which all students wrote down a quality that they recognized in each other, on a piece of paper for that student. At the end, each student received a piece of paper with 40+ strengths written under their name. Thank you, Robin!
Quail Hollow Homeschool: 1st and 3rd graders learned the term "adjacent" and played the game Boggle. This was a new game for friends and was fun and challenging. 4th and 5th graders worked on daily language review of Similes and Metaphors, and HOT Math - making subtraction equations that equal a given number and substitution equations. We read a little more of Felix along with his next letter to Sophie. We introduced letter writing, talking about key parts of a letter. After lunch, 1st and 3rd-grade friends went into the garden. 4th and 5th graders participated in a Mystery Science lesson: We made our annual stone soup meal, making butter as well and shared our thanks with each other.
Fall Creek Homeschool: We learned about the Salt Flats in Death Valley and in Utah. Discussed observations about salt: crystal size, color, rock vs. granular, different shapes, etc. Worked together to define: evaporate, crystalline, cube, filter, descriptor, texture (coarse, fine) and separated into groups to conduct various experiments about these new words. We read The Story of Salt, discussed the flammability of Sodium and the poisonous characteristic of Chloride and how these two elements, together, become salt - which is edible. We learned about salt as a preservative for food, for mummification and that the Great Wall of China was paid for through the sales of salt. the history of salt hoarding and smuggling. We watched a video about cars racing for time on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah - reaching 271MPH! Watched a short video about the Moon of Salt Hotel in Bolivia, made entirely of salt! We learned about Friedrich Mohs and how he developed the Mohs hardness scale for identifying rocks.
Mountain IS: Thematically we're digging deeper into the parts of the parts of the biome workbooks: composition & layers of soil, different kinds of plants and animals. Next week we'll hone in on the specific plants, animals and people of North America. As we explore our world in this way, the implicit message throughout is that we are a part of an interconnected whole. Deepening our understanding of this not only helps us make more sustainable decisions but it serves a social-emotional component in our classroom as well. Our students were busy with bringing arms full of supplies and support for the folks affected by the fire. It seemed they really made a connection with their ability to make a positive impact on the world! Besides the very productive work period today (despite no outside playtime!!), we read a book based on a Huichol Indian story, Tunari, and the Blue Deer. The book is filled with beautiful traditional Huichol yarn art and introduces the notion that the wind, water, fire, sun, and earth are all part of one's family, as a magical blue deer helps a young adventurous boy find his way back to his human family. This is the beginning of our study of the biomes and (some) peoples of North America.
Upcoming Charter Events:
HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR: Friday, November 30th 10:00-2:00
Where: Quail Hollow Homeschool resource center and classrooms
Come and peruse all the crafts and baked goods our students have made. Great gifts!
Celebrations:
Art Contest for Monterey Bay Air Resource District
This is the fourth year that the SLV school district has participated in this Art Contest to help bring about awareness of this issue hosted by the Vally Women’s Center. Congratulations to our winners!.
Here is a list of the Art Contest winners from the Charter school programs:
4–6 GRADES: First Place: Natalee Thomas, 6th Grade, Third Place; Charlotte Nielsen, 6th Grade,
7–8 GRADES: Second Place Gregory Souza, 7th Grade.
Dates to Remember: (Please refer to your program’s newsletter for greater detail regarding dates and details specific to your program’s Field Trips and class events.)
- November 19-23rd: No School- Thanksgiving Break
- November 30: Charter Winter Holiday Craft Fair
- December 21st-Jan 4th: No School- Winter Break