Weekly Bulletin

School will be closed on Monday

for Labor Day!

Please click here to download a copy of the 2016-17 school directory form. Once you have filled it out please return it to the school office by September 16th.

IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:

Pledge Packet
Students Walking or Biking From School?
Communications
Online State Test Results Now Available
Kindergarten Yard Needs
New Hillside Access Is a Hit at Recess!
Meet your Parent Council
SunRidge's Athletic Program
Library Meeting This Thursday
Save the Date
Upcoming School Portraits Fundraiser
After School Homework Support
Learning Math
Parent Handwork Group
A SunRidge Student Award!
Rummage Sale Saturday and Sunday, October 1st -2nd
School Calendar
Home Study Assistant Position
School Start and End Times and Pick-up Windows
Drop-off and Before School Supervision
Parking Reminder
Appreciations
Hot Lunch Starts in September
Cell Phone Reminder
Dress Code Policy
Classified and Community Events
Community Events
Classified

Calendar

Wednesday, August 31st: 7th Grade Parent Evening 6:30-8:30pm

Thursday, September 1st: Library Meeting 8:20-11:00am in Library

Monday, September 5th: School Closed for Labor Day Holiday

Thursday, September 8th: 2nd Grade Parent Evening 6:30-8:30pm

Monday, September 12th: 3rd Grade Parent Evening 6:30-8:30pm

Tuesday, September 20th: Picture Day Grades 1st-4th

Tuesday, September 20th: Combined Middle School Parent Evening

6:30-8:30pm

Wednesday, September 21st: Picture Day Grades 5th-8th

Wednesday, September 21st: Kindergarten Parent Evening 6:30-

8:30pm

Thursday, September 22nd: Picture Day Kindergarten &

Homeschool

October 1st-2nd: 7th Grade Rummage Sale

Friday, October 7th: School Closed

Monday, October 10th: Indigenous People’s Day –School Closed

Pledge Packet
By now you have received your pledge packet, which was included in the 1st day of school packet. Please take some time to fill out the Pledge Commitment Form as well as the Parent Participation Form and turn them into the office by September 2nd. Every family’s contribution, no matter the amount, is crucial in maintaining SunRidge’s quality Waldorf Education.

Student's Walking or Biking From School?
The school is responsible for the safety of your children until they are released to you each day. If you wish to allow your child to walk or ride their bike home or to some other designated after-school location, we will need you to fill out the form that is in your first day packet.

Communications
Our primary means for communicating important information to parents is through this Weekly Bulletin. We send it out by email if you are on our email list, and provide hard copies outside the office if email doesn’t work for you. You can also download and/or view a copy of the bulletin on our website. Please read the bulletin every week in order to stay informed, and if you change your email address, let us know!

Online State Test Results Now Available
The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, which has replaced the Standardized Testing and Reporting, or STAR Program, is the state academic testing program now in its second year. CAASPP is a system intended to provide information that can be used to monitor student progress and ensure that all students leave high school ready for college and career. Last spring, the 6-8th graders took a CAASPP assessment that included computer adaptive tests in English–language arts and mathematics as well as paper-based tests for science in the 5th and 8th grades. As a public Waldorf charter school that does not introduce technology in the younger grades, we were successful in obtaining a 3 year waiver from the online test for the 3-5th grades; these classes took a paper and pencil version of the test. The paper and pencil results have not yet been released, and 2016-17 is slated to be the last year of the waiver (more on that to come).

Grade level results of the online testing process for SunRidge’s 6-8th grades are now available on-line. Parents will receive individual student reports by mail (these are not available online). The reports will include an overall score, a description of the student’s achievement level for English–language arts and mathematics, and other information. The middle school results for English Language Arts (ELA) averaged 83%, a significant increase from last year’s 66% meeting and exceeding the standards. Math results for the middle school averaged 63%, which also shows another super increase from last year’s 38%. The Sonoma County averages were 49% for ELA and 33% in Math and statewide the averages were 44% in ELA and 36% in Math.

We see these averages as evidence that SunRidge prepares students well academically utilizing Waldorf methods. This test is only one of many indicators of student progress. Please contact your child’s teacher or the director with any questions you may have.

Kindergarten Yard Needs
We are in need of 40 redwood stumps 10”-16” in diameter, and 16”-20” long. If you have some or all please call the school office.

New Hillside Access Is a Hit at Recess!
We are so proud of the hillside beautification project and seeing the students run and play and use the space has been very gratifying. Erik Ohlsen, a SunRidge parent, and his company Permaculture Artisans did an amazing job of protecting the hillside from erosion and creatively providing access for students to play on natural surfaces. We have been teaching the students where to walk, run and play as well as where to stay off the hillside so that this beautification project will last a long time. Please help us by supervising your children's use when on campus after hours. Our basic rule of thumb is stay on the paths which are bordered by logs, (and not cut the corners). Mr. T says "Flat for Feet, Stay away from the Slope" as erosion is like a scar that can take a long time to heal.

Meet Your Parent Council
Are you an artist of events? Enthusiastic about community? Excited to fundraise for the kiddos? Come check out the Parent Council! Our first meeting of the year is Tuesday, September 6 in the Library from 7-9pm. The rest of the year we meet the first Monday of every school year month. Parent Council is responsible for 3 of our major community building and fundraising events: Falling Leaves Festival, Community Dance and the Spring Fling. Every event is full of fun, lots of community spirit and contributes to our class field trip funds. The proceeds for these events benefit each student and provide the opportunity for the children to go on incredible journeys together each year.

Looking forward to a new year on our newly transformed campus!

SunRidge's Athletic Program
(Athletic packet paperwork may be picked up in the office, and sport/health insurance is mandatory.)

X-Country:
5th-8th grade cross-country runners will meet Tuesdays, 3:15 at the top of the slide. There may be additional practices on Saturday mornings. Our coach is a parent of a 6th grader, her name is Pilar (roblar3@hotmail.com), and she'll have others helping her. Meets start Tuesdays, with the first September 20th at Spring Lake Regional Park in Santa Rosa. The cost is $20 per runner for practices and all 5 meets, which continue through mid-October.

Coed Volleyball:
Boys and girls in grades 6-8 may participate in this sport. We meet M/W/F for two weeks, then matches start on M/W through mid-October, finishing with a tournament in the two grades (7th/8th). Practices go 3 - 4:30pm. I'll coach with Curt (Math/Science teacher) and Marley (7th grader) assisting. Questions: dthurber@twinhillsusd.org or 591-1044. Cost is $45 for the season, including uniform usage.

Library Meeting

We'd like to invite parents who would enjoy volunteering in the library to join us tomorrow, Thursday morning, from 8:30 - 11:00am in the library. You are welcome to come any time during these hours. Please check into the office to receive a volunteer name tag and then come to the library. If this day and time doesn't suit your schedule, please email Dianne Namkung at diannenamkung@gmail.com to arrange other times. Thanks!

We'd also like to share our appreciation for those parents who want to donate books to our library. Though we know many of you have wonderful books that would be a great addition to our library, we cannot accept them at this time because we still have so many to enter into our digital system before formally opening the library for students.

Save the Date

There will be a combined middle school parent evening on Tuesday, September 20^th from 6:30-8:30pm. The meeting will be divided up into two sections as follows:

6:30-7:15pm meet in your child(ren)s classroom

7:20-8:30pm meet in library with the director, Kalen, and representatives of Parent Council, the SunRidge Educational Foundation, and Charter Council.

Upcoming School Portraits Fundraiser
It’s that time of the year for school portraits! Portrait dates are as follows:

Tuesday, September 20^th: Grades1st – 4th
Wednesday, September 21^st: Grades 5th – 8th
Thursday, September 22^nd: Kinder and Homeschool
Wednesday, October 12^th: Make-up/Retake Day

Below are a few reminders regarding Picture Day from Mariah Smith who will be our photographer again this year:

In an effort to make the ordering process more streamlined, with less errors (on my part – sorry for those!), and less time consuming for our volunteers, we need all order forms turned in on or prior to portrait day. You can send forms into your child’s teacher early. There is now a late fee of $20 added to orders turned in late. This late fee will cover my lab’s minimum order requirement.
In the same spirit, please use one order form, and one payment PER child. We tried the sibling payment option and it turned into a very time consuming mess for us. I apologize for the inconvenience this will cause but please understand that I donate about 40 hours of my time to this and any little help I can get from you will keep this fantastic fundraiser going & super successful!!
In the past 2 years, we’ve raised over $20,000 for the school so thank you, thank you!! I’m definitely looking forward to seeing all your wonderful kids again!!

-Mariah Smith
Owner + Lead Photographer
Mariah Smith Photography
mariahsmith.com
Studio 707.595.5836 | Cell 707.479.2184

If you’d like to volunteer to help on portrait day please let Mariah know ASAP –mariah@mariahsmith.com. Volunteers receive a $40 print credit. She’ll need:

4 people on each day (Tues 9/20, Wed 9/21)
Full day commitments (8:30 – 3:00)
Paperwork helper – must have computer & internet (at home, Fri 9/23)

After School Homework Support
After school homework support is for 6^th-8^th graders and provides a quiet place to study. A permission slip for students & parents to review and sign is necessary to provide contact information for any student who plans to stay after school and participate in the Homework Support Program.

This program is available Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday from 3:15-4pm and is supervised by middle school faculty. The program meets on Mondays in the 7^th grade classroom, Tuesdays in the 8^th grade classroom, and Wednesdays in the 6^th grade classroom. This is a free program; we require that students sign in and quietly work on class assignments or homework. We encourage students to bring an extra snack to eat between school’s dismissal and the start of the program. In order for this program to be possible, prompt pick-up of students is essential (4pm Mon-Wed). Additional support is offered by Curt regarding math concepts and homework during lunch recess on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Learning Math
Parents often ask how they can best support their student’s math learning. I’d like to share some advice from an expert, Prof Jo Boaler of Stanford. I’ll share one idea per week. If you want the whole list now or more info, please see https://www.youcubed.org/handout-for-parents/. Her advice is valuable for parents of students of all ages, but especially those in the early grades. - Curt Quantz, middle school math teacher

Encourage children to play math puzzles and games. Puzzles and games – anything with dice really – will help kids enjoy math, and develop number sense, which is critically important.

Excerpted from Advice for Parents, Prof Jo Boaler, https://www.youcubed.org/handout-for-parents/

Parent Handwork Group will meet on Fridays this school year!
We will be creating for our Falling Leaves Festival again with a variety of projects: knitting, wet felting, needle felting, crocheting, and anything else of interest to participating parents. We are looking forward to meeting again and welcoming new parents to create.

When: Every Friday, 8:30-10:30am in the SunRidge Handwork Room starting on 9/16/2016
Planning Project: Knitting and felting kindergartener-size slippers for sale at the Falling Leaves Festival
Bring your own knitting needles size 8 and 10
Any skill level welcome; the more the merrier
Adults only please (babies in arms always welcome)

Crafting is not required, but highly encouraged and learning in a group setting could be a great way to get started. We always welcome project ideas and donation of wool yearn and wool roving!

A SunRidge Student Award!

We would like to congratulate one of our 8^th grade students, Lola Nelson, on receiving a “Best of Show” award at the Sonoma County Fair for her poem “The Night is Falling”. The poem is below if you’d like to give it a read!

7th Grade Rummage Sale
Saturday and Sunday, October 1^st-2^nd help support the seventh grade raise funds for their eighth grade trip. Bring sellable items to the middle school hall, near the pick-up area. We will be storing items in the old music room at the end of the hall.

School Calendar
A PDF of our school calendar for this year is below. Please print it and keep handy for reference, noting holidays and breaks so you can plan accordingly. Click here to download your copy of this year's school calendar.

Home Study Assistant Position
We’re happy to have our Home School classroom located now on this campus. The program serves K-5^th grade students. Callie Almand, the program coordinator is looking for an assistant to support her K-1 classes that meet twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am-1pm. If you’re interested in a part-time paid position, you can download the application from the Twin Hills Union School District website. Contact Callie if you have any questions: calmand@twinhillsusd.org.

School Start and End Times & Pick-up Location

Please remember how important it is to get your child to school before 8:25 for the grades, and by 8:30 for kindergarten. Getting back into a good rhythm of bedtimes and rising times helps support your child to more easily integrate back into his or her school schedule. Here is the schedule:

	School Starts	Pick-up Window*
Kindergarten everyday (after the first day)	8:30am	12:30-12:40pm

1st Grade Regular Day	8:25am	2:15 – 2:25pm

2nd Grade Regular Day	8:25am	2:30 – 2:40pm
3rd Grade Regular Day	8:25am	2:30 – 2:40pm

4th–8th Grade Regular Day	8:25am	3:05 – 3:15pm


1st – 3rd Early Release Day	8:25am	12:50 – 1:00pm
4th – 8th Early Release Day	8:25am	1:00 – 1:15pm

*Pick-up window begins at dismissal time

Drop Off & Before School Supervision
Students may be dropped off in the morning at either the front drop-off area or the back drop-off area no earlier than 8am. All grades students are picked up at the yellow loading zone at the rear entrance of the school. You may also park in the back parking lot if you wish to escort your child to or from your vehicle.

Supervision is provided before school beginning at 8am on the playground. Students in grades 1-8 may be dropped off after 8am and are to go to the playground.

Parking Reminder
If you are going to be on campus all day, please park in the spaces in the back of the school along the cement barrier. If you are only dropping off or picking up your child(ren) please park in the parking spaces provided in the middle of the blacktop at the back of the school. Note: Short-term parking spaces are also used as the playground during the school day. Please reserve front parking lot spaces in the front of the school for Kindergarten families between 8:15am-8:45am and 12:15pm-12:45pm.

We also want to thank you for using our new crosswalks in the back of the school to keep everyone safe and traffic flowing!

Appreciations
We accomplished so much in the weeks of summer and we want to thank everyone who helped! Truly it was a community effort and we have received accolades for the beauty of the kindergarten rooms, fence and hillside from our school community as well as the subcontractors and workmen who participated in the projects. We've even had neighbors say they are so impressed that they want to volunteer at SunRidge to be a part of all the great energy!

Special thanks go to Mark Rice, our retired director and inspired project manager, who knew what needed to be done to consolidate the school on one campus and oversaw the remodeling as well. He spent countless hours ensuring that projects moved forward as quickly as possible.

Willie Slubik also deserves so much gratitude for making it possible to complete as much as we did in ten weeks. He arrived early and left late and handled every job with skill and good humor.

Eric Kindseth and his consistently expert Kindseth Builders crew did a great job on the kindergarten room remodel and yard.

Thank you to all the subcontractors - movers, drywallers, painters, plumbers, fence builders. and electricians, including SunRidge parents Jim MacKillop (fence builder) and Robert Holden (painter) for helping us do so much in such a short time; our cabinet assemblers - Dale Thurber, Garret Kemps, and Willie Slubik; Chris Rucker for spending a weekend building the platform on the roof for the air-conditioning units we moved from the new yard below; Rob Lombardo for multiple days of various tasks from electrical work to installing drawer pulls;
Jeremiah James for loaning us the trailer that enabled us to move the playhouse over from the country campus;
Jonas Sauter for completing the finish trim and other woodwork in Dragonfly; and Kat Mardirous, Becky Arnett, Aimee Valley-Damkoehler, and Sheina Curtis for painting prep and painting.

Many thanks to Lisa Eschenberg, who led the summer replanting and watering that created the Kindergarten garden yard with the help of Callie Almand and Sarah Bird; Silas Huey who put in the posts for the new climbing structure in the kindergarten yard; Miguel Castillo and his father for installing the bender board in the kindergarten yard to separate the asphalt from the wood chips; and Astrid Stevenson and Jana Lombardo for major brush clean up.

There are no doubt many others not yet mentioned that deserve much appreciation, including the many that participated on one or more workdays spreading wood chips and rocks, pruning, moving furniture, and helping in a myriad of other ways. Please know that we are so grateful for the many contributions of time and energy throughout the summer, on the work days, and even continuing into this fall as we add finishing touches. We are so fortunate to have so many great people a part of our SunRidge team!

Hot Lunch Starts in September
For September and October Hot Lunch, grades 3-8 can order by filling out the September-October Hot Lunch forms and attaching payment. Forms and payment can be dropped off in the Hot Lunch folder that is attached to Erin’s desk in the office. Pick up your form outside the office or click here to download it from our website.

Cell Phone Reminder
SunRidge has a no-cell-phones-with-students-during-the-school-day policy. Please have them leave cell phones at home unless they really need one for important after school communication. Students with cell phones need to drop them off in the school office in the morning and can pick them up after school is out. Our students have been very responsible in following this rule and it works smoothly. We also ask that parents refrain from using their cell phones in any school building or area when students are present. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Dress Code Policy
SunRidge has a dress code. Please review it prior to shopping for school clothing. In addition, the dress code has expectations for hair, makeup and jewelry. You can download a copy of our policy from our website by clicking here: http://www.sunridgeschool.org/quick-reference-information.html

Reminder: Please label your child's clothing with their last name and don't forget to check the Lost & Found.

Classified & Community Events

At the end of every week’s bulletin, a section titles Community Events will appear containing happenings in the community that may be of interest to SunRidge families. The Classified section will follow containing not-for-profit ads regarding housing, items for sale, and other community needs. Please email your requests for these sections to Makena in the SunRidge office mcollin@twinhillsusd.org for review and possible placement in future bulletins. Requests should be submitted no later than the end of the day on Monday every week.

Community Events

Move Over Mozart (MOM) Piano Lessons After School at SunRidge!

Group and Private Lessons starting at $35 per month
Piano lessons held after school at SunRidge one day a week (Tuesday starting Sept 27)
30 min sessions with 5 kids max in each group
Mid-year and Spring Recitals
Students may discontinue at any time
MOM was established in 1988 and has over 800 kids enrolled in its piano lessons

Contact Lynn Fleck at 824-0307 www.mozartpianolearning.com

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. After 2-3 publications, ads will automatically be dropped)

Waldorf Mama and Son Looking for a Wonderful Home
I am a Waldorf teacher, a bodyworker of 15 years, gardener, cook, musician/singer, artist and craftsperson looking for a stable quiet place to call home for as long as possible in the Sebastopol/Santa Rosa area. My son is a kindhearted respectful soul, who loves animals, babies, friends, and trains. My son will start kindergarten at Sunridge Waldorf Charter in a few weeks, and we are so lucky to have this opportunity for the life we've dreamed of. We are a media-free family, looking for a media-free, smoke-free living environment. We are also very social, community minded and enjoy the company of others. I am able to offer work in exchange for partial rent, if that's something that appeals to your needs.

Our current living situation is not working out, and I need to move immediately, by September 1, preferably. I can pay as much as $900 for a large room, or up to $1100 for a separate space to share with my son.

If you have a compatible situation for us, please contact Darina at lovedarina@hotmail.com or call at 510-846-1620

Copyright © 2016 SunRidge School, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
7285 Hayden Avenue
Sebastopol, CA 95472

Our website is :
http://www.sunridgeschool.org

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SunRidge School · 7285 Hayden Ave · Sebastpol, CA 95472 · USA