Weekly Bulletin

IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:

Country Campus Community Visioning

Tardy Alert!

Positive Images at SunRidge School

Falling Leaves Festival

SunRidge Directories are Ready!

Waldorf Today article

News in Athletics from Mr.T

Middle School Parents Please Note

Volunteer Hours

After School Supervision

Whole Foods Scrip Made Easy

Pledge Report

Parent Handwork Group Continues to Meet

Community Events

Classified

Calendar

Wednesday, October 21st:

3rd Grade Field Trip to Tolay Festival

Wednesday, October 21st, 6:30pm:

5th/6th Grade Parent Evening in Library

Wednesday, October 21st, 6-9pm:

Charter Council Meeting in Handwork Room

Portrait Days:
Tuesday, October 20: 1^st-4^th Grade

Wednesday, October 21: 5^th-8^th Grade

Thursday, October 22: Kindergarten & Home School

Friday, October 23rd, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Kindergarten Field Trip to Meadowsong Farm

Friday, October 23rd, 9a.m.-11a.m.

Foundation Meeting in Library

Saturday, October 24th, 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Country Campus "Envisioning The Future" Meeting

Monday, October 26th, 6:30-8:30p.m.

Kindergarten Parent Evening

Wednesday, October 28th:

Portrait Make-Up Day

Friday, October 30th:

School Closed for Teacher in-service and Conferences

Monday, November 2nd, 7-9pm:

Parent Council Meeting in Library

SunRidge Charter School
Country Campus Community Visioning
October 24th, 2015, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm
SunRidge Country Campus: 487 Watertrough Road
•PLEASE RSVP if you plan to attend by contacting Erin at egreen@twinhillsusd.org
Meeting Outcomes

A common Vision for the future of the country campus
Understanding of opportunities and challenges
Community inspiration and engagement
Next steps for achieving our Vision

Agenda

*Welcome and Agenda Review
*Our Opportunity on the Country Campus

A walk of the land
Understanding buildings, soil, water, existing components

*Community Visioning

What are the programs at the Country Campus?
How will it serve the Community?
What will the campus look like?

*What are the next steps for achieving our Vision?
*Next Steps and Items review

Tardy Alert!
Yesterday we had 36 tardies! Punctuality and good attendance are vital to your child, and to the school, for many reasons. Because there is a rhythm to the school day, beginning with a welcome and an opening activity, it is extremely important that all children arrive on time to reinforce their sense of belonging and connection to their class, and so that they do not disturb the focus of the teacher and the other children on activities that have already begun. Good attendance is also important because much of the daily lesson is presented orally and as a group interaction. A student who is absent or late frequently may find it difficult to make up work or to fully understand the material. Tardies are reviewed regularly and letters are sent home if they become a problem. Students who arrive late at the town campus need to check in at the school office before joining their class. Students who must leave school prior to the official dismissal time also need to check out at the school office before leaving the school grounds.

Positive Images at SunRidge School
November 4th, 6:30-8:00, in the Library.

This Santa Rosa-based organization met with the faculty last week. They offer community support groups, educate youth and adults, and promote how to be an ally towards those who identify across the gender spectrum and sexual orientations. You're invited to this inclusive and educational opportunity!

Falling Leaves Festival

The Falling Leaves Festival is a fun harvest season event that raises funds for class field trips. Join the celebration on Saturday, November 7 from 11-3, at the Town Campus. This is a joyous day of community, and includes delicious food, games, puppet shows, crafts to make and handmade gifts to purchase.
This event takes a village to coordinate and create! And it’s for a worthy cause as field trips bring our students into the world to learn and interact with nature, science, history and community leaders. Check with your class coordinator to see what you can do to help. Sign up sheets are outside your child's classroom.

The class assignments are:
Morning Star: Pocket Person
Dragonfly: Marketplace
One: Drinks and Desserts
Two: Crafts to make
Three: Cookie Decorating
Four: Marketplace
Five: Crafts to make
Six: Food
Seven: Food
Eight: Games

The Falling Leaves Committee is looking for musicians to fill the festival with music, song or instrumental. Please contact Cheryl Koskela - cklocks@aol.com or 707-481-4533 if you would like to share your talents.
The Marketplace at the Falling Leaves Festival is an excellent place to do your holiday shopping! All families can contribute to the Marketplace. If you are a crafter/maker and have handmade items that you would like to donate please contact janalombardo@sbcglobal.net.

SunRidge School Directories are Ready!
This week the 2015-16 directories have been sent home with the youngest child in each family. Thank you Erin for all the time and energy put into this project!

Waldorf Today article:
Computers in Schools
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=a0ce04e5a70babb8ef1330163&id=e2b5f5879b

News in Athletics from Mr.T:
There isn't enough interest for a boys' basketball team this year; however, in order to build interest for next year, I'll be offering Open Gym Wednesdays from now until our Winter Break. It's Co-Ed, runs till 4:45 every Wednesday, and we'll develop our skills and play together.
Congratulations to our athletes! Both the 7th and 8th grade volleyball teams performed well enough to make it into the MSSL Volleyball tournaments held at Sonoma Academy the last two Saturdays. All teams play better there, and SunRidge outperformed any regular season match they had. Referees who witnessed our team praised that we were the most improved by the end of the day. Through focus, quickening reflexes and making a point to celebrate success, we played many close matches. Thank you Phoenix, for a season I'll long remember! Thank you parents for your support, and help in getting players to games.

7th and 8th grade classes both attended Summerfield's track meet last Friday. I was especially proud of students who decided to do more than just the minimum requirement, and tried something new, like running a contested 1/2 mile, or launching the shotput. And I didn't pull a hammy racing Caden (didn't know he was such a fast runner!) Special congratulations to Sage Boek, who threw the javelin farther than any boy in history of this event, and also managed first in discus and shotput. It's days like those we see a glimpse of the potential students will reach in high school. A very memorable day, and special thanks to the parents who made it possible.

Middle School Parents Please Note:
Students who wish to attend After School Homework Support (available Monday through Thursday) must have a signed permission slip to do so. For your convenience, the permission slip is now posted on the website: http://www.sunridgeschool.org/forms.html

Volunteer Hours
SunRidge parents support our vibrant learning experience and environment in many ways. Volunteering 40 hours annually is the expectation for every family and we are creating a database of responses to the Parent Participation Survey (that was part of the Pledge Packet sent home before school began) so as to match volunteers with opportunities more efficiently. Here are opportunities to compile volunteer hours:

Library Organization: A Lot was accomplished at our last meeting! Library volunteers are meeting again in the library: Monday, Nov. 9th, 8:30 - 10:30a.m. If you would like to assist and can come to this meeting, please email Dianne Namkung at diannenamkung@gmail.com or call her at 217-2640. Thanks!

Set up / Clean up for October 24th Envisioning Day 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
- 2-3 people to shop for and set up snacks and drinks
- 2-3 people to clean up

Contact Kalen at kwood@twinhillsusd.org

After School Supervision
For everyone's safety and well-being, parents must supervise their children on campus after school. We ask that play be limited to the blacktop, field and hillside trail. Due to erosion concerns, the hillside itself is not a play area. Due to the proximity to the upper grades bathrooms and dismissal routes to the pick-up area, ball use may begin after 3:10p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. On Thursday, the orchestra practices in the classroom which the ball wall is part of, so ball play against that wall can begin after 1:50p.m. We are looking for ways to provide a ball wall on the blacktop in the near future.

Whole Foods Scrip Made Easy

Whole Foods scrip/gift cards are now available for purchase in the school office. Using scrip/gift cards when shopping at Whole Foods Market is an easy way for SunRidge to raise thousands of dollars each year for school needs (WFM donates 3% of every dollar to SunRidge). If you shop regularly at Whole Foods, we want to make this easy by providing individual reminders when Whole Foods scrip cards are available for you to pick up in the school office. It is also possible for you to “re-load” a WF card through the scrip website on your own, and you can re-load up to $400 on your existing card at one time, so you don’t need to keep buying new cards each month or to carry around multiple cards. Want to receive personal reminders or learn more about reloading your own card? Go to: http://www.sunridgeschool.org/whole-food-market-scrip-e-scrip-and-store-cards.html scroll down to the bottom of the page to download the form. Send or bring in the completed form. We’ll take it from there.

Parent Handwork Group Continues to Meet
The Parent Handwork Group’s goal is to sell our creations at the Falling Leaves Festival. We are working on a variety of projects: knitting, wet felting, needle felting, crocheting, and anything else of interest to participating parents. So come join, learn a craft, have some tea and meet other parents every week to create.
When: Every Tuesday, 8:30-10:30am in the SunRidge Handwork Room

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Science Fair October 24th

The 2015 North Bay Science Discovery Day will be held at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 24 from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm. Over 80 companies, agencies, schools, clubs, non-profits, and others will be providing free hands-on activities to inspire kids to be interested in science. Last year about 12,000 people participated. Free admission and free parking. For information, go to www.northbayscience.org

Digital Storytelling and Waldorf Education:
An Unlikely Encounter
Marin Waldorf School has put together a unique parent education opportunity. The format is a dialogue between Marin Waldorf School teachers and Pixar employees about common themes in Pixar's filmmaking process and the capacities that students gain via the Waldorf approach. Noah Klocek, a Waldorf grad and much sought after Pixar Art Director (yes, son of Dennis) will join the conversation and share some of his original art work from a soon to be released Pixar feature as well.
The October 28 event is at Unity of Marin in Novato. I have attached a poster with more details. Thank you for letting your school community know about the free event and helping raise the banner about the intrinsic value of Waldorf education in preparing students to meet (and create!) the future. You can see the flyer here:
http://www.sunridgeschool.org/events.html

CREDO Open House
CREDO's next open house is November 14th. The program runs 1:00- 4:00. No RSVP necessary, but please be on time as this is a scheduled event. Program begins with student presentations and continues with faculty member presentations/workshops in the classroom.

After School Massei ZMANIM
Journeys with ZMANIM integrates Judaism and the natural world through exploration, nature connection, play & song. We root our experiences in Jewish tradition, its rhythms and Hebrew. Children ages 5 to 11 gather 1x/week- Wed. or Fri., 3:30-5, or Thurs., 1:30-3. Email RabbiDaria@gmail.com, & check out zmanim-seasons.org .

CLASSIFIED
(We can list rentals, parents selling used items, free items, lost and found, or trades. With the exception of private, after-school care available for SunRidge students, we do not list for-profit business ads)

Host Family needed!

Clayton is 16 years old and from Tokyo. This year, he came to study at Analy High School and improve his English. He is currently with a Japanese host family who feels Clayton would benefit from being with an American family. So, we are now looking for a new host family in Sebastopol.

Clayton is very kind, social, and tries hard in everything he does. He likes playing and watching baseball. He also likes the outdoors and does not have a special diet. He has health insurance and there would also be a small weekly stipend to cover utilities and meals. You may know local broadminded people who want to help him and share Japanese culture with their family for this semester or until the end of school year.

Please contact me if you have any questions,

Miho 707-799-1734 or miho_pizzorno@yahoo.co.jp