1

Important DatesDecember 21- January 4 Winter BreakJanuary 21 MLK, Jr. Day of ServiceJanuary 28-31 Parent Information NightsFebruary 25-28 Spirit WeekFebruary 26 Family Reading Night

Warm Wishes from Lenka

Classroom & Specials Happenings

Tax Credit Info & OtherWays to Help our School

Crossword Puzzle

Offi ce Tidbits

Community Corner

1

2-5

6-7

8

8

8

In this issue... Dear La Tierra Families, First, let me express our gratitude to you for all of your support and understand-ing. As we approach winter, our minds want to naturally turn inward and rest while the upcoming holiday season puts a lot of stressful demands on our time management and family performance. My genuine wish is that this upcoming hol-iday season for each of us is spent in the presence of children, families and those who are close to our heart. Not only we all pause and take a deep breath, but also intentionally focus on prac-ticing random acts of kindness that are being witnessed by our children. When we become parents we are given an incredible opportunity to grow as individuals because we ourselves are put back into an intimate parent-child relationship, but this time to a diff erent role. Being mindful - living in presence allows us to be aware of our own thoughts and feelings and being open to our children. Children learn about themselves by the way we communicate with them. When we are respectful and compassionate toward our children, and ourselves we oft en gain a fresh perspective that can enrich our enjoyment of life together. So we as parents become the active authors of our own autobiographies and thereby help our chil-dren learn to become active shapers of the ways they perceive and create their own lives. As research points out, peaceful and sustainable tendencies are formed at a very early age with the help of authentic interactions that nurture children’s spiri-tual, emotional and social intelligence while nourishing their self-expression and self-respect. By providing children with supportive, encouraging and momentous relationships we will help children to grow up into emotionally healthy and resil-ient humans. On behalf of our school community, we would love to wish you a happy and restful upcoming holiday season fi lled with laughter, love, joy, and families. For those who need extra help please know that we are here to give our support and love.

With our gratitude, Lenka V Studnicka, PhD School Director 

Warm Wishes from Lenka

Winter 2018

NewsletterNewsletterLA TIERRA COMMUNITY SCHOOL

The first semester has been an exciting one for the first grade class! Students have been hard at work mastering concepts of print and are making huge strides toward becoming readers! Our crew has also been working to become strong mathematicians through our study of addition, subtraction and word problems. We have had a wonderful time exploring the world through our countries and cultures expedition. Hopefully you were able to stop by our classroom during the Celebration of Learning to play one of the creative games the children created! We look forward to continuing to build our social skills through play and loving guidance! Once again this spring, the first graders will be on a Search for Buried Treasure as we embark on our geology expedition!

-Ms. Klaiber

First G rade

Kindergarten’s Celebration of Learning was a safari featuring animal handlers to tell you 3 fun facts about their animals. They worked really hard to remember their facts and get ready for our COL. We had an amazing time showing their grown-ups what we’ve been working on in class. Our books arrived and we had a great time looking through them. We are learning about various winter celebrations and looking forward to the holidays. When we come back from the break our next expedition is going to be “Games Played Around the World”. -Ms. Ryan & Mrs. Denise

Kindergarten

2

Th e 3rd grade class has been spending our school days learning how to work and play together. We have been expanding our understanding of math by diving into multipli-cation, division and word problems. Our class has appreciated the contributions from artists like Van Gogh and Beethoven and worked on learning how to greet and converse conversationally in Spanish. We have been writing, writing, writing about everything from grammar practice, refl ections on literature, and paragraphs full of detail supported opinions and some earthy science. Our expedition this semester investigates ‘Whose Planet Is It?’ a study of plants and how they grow and thrive. What plants give us in re-gards to food, air, clothes, medicines and building materials. It’s systems within systems!We just got back from our fi eld work at Biosphere Two, camping in gorgeous Catalina State Park and visiting the Sonoran Desert Museum. Th ank you to all the parents who drove and chaperoned our precious third grade. I’m really looking forward to the adven-tures in learning that our next semester has in store for us! -Mr. Dave

Third G rade

Th is year the second grade class has been continuing to develop their understanding of not only the world around them, but themselves. Within the academic realm students have been learning about the various parts of speech, such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Within math we have continued to honne our fl uency within basic arithmetic, began to learn about measurement, and have even continued to explore basic multipli-cation through skip counting.

To better understand themselves students have begun to explore the environment we live in, and how our actions can create positive and negative change. We examined the similarities amongst us, and discussed how these similarities can help unite various groups of people so that they may create positive change within the world.

It’s always a joy for me to see the understanding within their eyes, and help them begin to formulate answers to diffi cult questions. I can’t wait to continue exploring with these students, and to continue to grow beside them! -Ms. Savannah

Second G rade

3

Fall Semester: Fift h grade had a fantastic Celebration of Learning and all the students worked hard to make it a great success! Th e expedition for the fall semester had many highlights including trips to Mingus Mountain and Lowell Observatory!Spring Semester: In the spring semester, fi ft h grade will study biology, environ-mental science, weather, and natural disasters. Students will also study Amer-ican History and focus on writing persuasive essays. In January, stay tuned for the end-of-semester fi eldwork dates!Ways to Get Involved: Starting on January 8, fi ft h grade’s Community Connec-tion is musical theater at the Elks Th eater every Tuesday from 2:00-3:00 pm. Please walk with us as we are unable to leave campus without a second adult. If you have an old computer that you no longer use, our classroom would love it! As always, you can be a visiting expert and teach us what you know. I look forward to building another great semester with La Tierra’s fi ft h grade!

-Mrs . Elise

Fifth G rade

Our fourth grade class had a wonderful time preparing for and presenting our “Voices for Change” expedition for this semester’s Celebration of Learning! Th ese kids were imaginative in their presentations and passionately shared their knowledge about how we can protect our environment and what responsibilities we have as model citizens. Although our Expedition will change next semester, fourth grade will always be the class that will look for ways to become a more eco-friendly school.Starting in January our Expedition will be “Remembering Something Ancient”, in which we look at the Southwest region of our country then delve deep into Arizona history. We look at this state’s unique land formations, ancient tribes and the transition from territory to statehood. We will be doing lots of fi eld work next semester as we live so close to many amazing historic sites.

-Ms. Barbara

Fourth G rade

4

Hello! I’m TeriLynn Stout, I began working this year at La Tierra as a classroom aid and aft ercare teacher. I began the Spanish teacher position at the end of October and I am loving it! Th roughout my academic journey I’ve studied the Spanish language and explored its rich poetry and literature. I’m creating a leveled conversation program where the students will learn to converse about their everyday lives, their education at La Tierra, the en-vironment, and how to express their emotions. Th e students are picking up new conversational phrases everyday and seem eager to learn more! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

-Ms. TL

SpanishWe’ve been very busy in music class learning music theory; including beat, rhythm, note values and names. Low-er grades learned about sound waves by observing the movement of rubber bands. Upper grades began instruments a few weeks ago, and the air at La Tierra has been fi lled with the melodic tones (and the occasional screech) of record-ers. Ukuleles have arrived in 5th grade, and so far we’ve been fi ne-tuning our tuning technique, as well as learning some basic chords and strumming patterns. We’re so proud of these kids for raising money to purchase the ukuleles for our music program! -Mrs. Kelly

MusicArtIt’s fun rolling around with the “Lean-ing Cartza of Artza”! So far this school year the students have had the opportunity to explore and create in clay, watercolors, cut collage, origami, oil pastels, glitter and much more! We’ve studied famous artists like Van Gogh, Monet, Paul Klee, Kandinsky and Laurel Burch. I’ve been busy with the planning stages of our annual spring art show that is scheduled for Sunday, March 24th. Keep your eyes open for plan-ning sessions for this wonderful art fi lled event. Your involvement is paramount in putting together this big event! -Ms. Darling

It has been an exciting year so far! It’s hard to believe that we are almost halfway done! In the fi rst part of the year, the middle schoolers have explored many diff erent types of instruction, in search of the best practices that will meet our stu-dents’ needs. Th ere has been an increase of technology based assessments in order to help our students’ performance on standardized testing in the spring. Th is has been balanced with other types of aff ective and hands-on learning through-out the semester. Most recently, the students put on a schoolwide fall festival to help raise money for the end of the year fi eld trip. Feed-back was very positive and the students were very proud of their eff orts to run carnival type games that they created themselves. Th ey also showed master in their Celebration of Learning. Next semester the students will be investigating space, government, philosophy, city-states, and much more. Aft er standardized testing, the students will embark on a full multi-day expedition in canoes on the Colorado River. Just below the Hoover Dam, Black Canyon is an ideal destination for students to explore, connect, and learn the importance of working together to get things accomplished. Overall, this year has been very exciting and the middle school is looking forward to a strong second half of the year. -Mr. Cal & Ms. Kristi

Sixth & Seventh G rade

5

Arizona taxpayers have the unique opportunity to redirect a portion of the taxes you already pay to public/charter school education. Due to the Arizona State Legislature’s cuts to funding in education, our school relies on these do-nations in order to maintain our exceptional arts, music, and Spanish programs, as well as community connections, fieldwork experiences, and more! Together, our learning community must bring in $30,000 in Tax Credit donations to maintain these programs at La Tierra Community School.

You can receive a dollar-for-dollar Arizona State tax credit when you donate to La Tierra Community School. This means that money you would otherwise pay toward your AZ tax liability will benefit our school in a HUGE way! Plus! You do not need to have a child in school to take advantage of this contribution. Please share this informationwith your friends and family! Tax Credit donations can only come from households, not businesses or corporations. You can make this donation in addition to the AZ State Qualifying Charitable Organization Tax Credit.

For those filing a single tax return, your donation can be up to $200.For those filing a joint tax return, your donation can be up to $400.

Learn more about the AZ School Tax Credit by visiting:azdor.gov/sites/default/files/media/PUBLICATION_2017_707.pdf

Donate on our webpage through Paypal, by mail or by stopping in our office.

La Tierra Community School124 N. Virginia St.Prescott, AZ 86301www.latierracommunityschool.org

“Thank you for your

contribution and your

support of education!”

It’s not just another tax deduction

FILING JOINT

FILING SINGLE

AZ TaxesYou Owe

1,000 500

Your AZ Tax Credit Donation

400 200

Your Final AZ Taxes Due

600 300

Q: What if I don’t owe at the end of the year? A: If you withheld a lot in 2018, this credit may give you an even larger refund! Please check with your tax professional for more info.

How it works

Keep your tax dollars local AND support our school with an Arizona State Tax Credit donation to La Tierra Community School.

Make a difference that doesn’t cost a thing!

6

Did you know we have an official apparel store?!

We know you’re burning to have the latest fashion trends brought to you in part by La Tierra Community School in your closet. This year we’ve spruced up our logo, redesigned our online store and added many new items. These items include organic cotton shirts, canvas book bags, mugs, hoodies and more! If there’s something special you’d like our logo to be printed on and you’re not seeing it in our store, don’t pout, contact Ms. Darling and she can try and work a miracle for you.

Box Tops 4 Education Believe it or not these little rectangles real-ly add up for our small school. Simply clip them off many of your food packages, office supplies and household necessities. 1000’s of products we use often are printed with these penny saving gems. To lean more visit: boxtops4education.com They even have nifty fun printouts to stick the box tops on be-fore you turn them into our school.

Fry’s Grocery Stores At this time we have a total

of 9 families that are signed up with Fry’s. (Thank you!) The really cool thing is that these 9 fam-ilies earned us a check for $25.25 for groceries they purchased from Sept 1st - Nov 30th! Incredible! If you shop at Fry’s, or know someone that does please let them know they can help our school. To sign up: visit frysfood.com to register your card through the rewards program. Sign up with “La Tierra Commu-nity School” or ID #FT152.

Amazon Smile Until recently I didn’t know this this opportunity existed.

Visit smile.amazon.com to learn more. It’s just like shopping on Amazon, but with a smile ;) After you register, La Tierra will be sent a check very much like the Fry’s scenario above.

Together, we are a Community of Amazing People!

We want to express a HUGE thank you to all our fam-ilies for their time spent in the classrooms cleaning and supporting learning - and joining us on walking field trips to the library and where ever adventure calls us to learn - for doing school laundry at home, for fixing all the things that need fixing, for reading our lengthy emails communi-cating things we feel are important for you to hear about our school and your child - for being bringers of your used rectangle tissue boxes and lids, or whatever it is that our school currently needs to make art, music and something else fun in the classroom. Thank you for sharing your time and energy with us. We are truly grateful to be in this community together learning, playing, and most of all growing. Happy Holiday’s La Tierra families! Love, LTCS Staff

There are a bunch of ways you can contribute to La Tierra Community School every day without even thinking about it!

Ways you can help year-round...

Q: What if I don’t owe at the end of the year? A: If you withheld a lot in 2018, this credit may give you an even larger refund! Please check with your tax professional for more info. 7

LTCS Office Hours:7:45AM-4PM Monday - ThursdayPhone: 928.445.5100

Attendance Reminder:Please have your children here before the bell rings at 8:15 to ensure a smooth start for all. Please call if your child is absent-no calls are marked unexcused. For important safety reasons the gates will be locked at 8:15, even on Community Circle mornings. Thanks for your understanding.

School Fees:Kindergarten $80 a monthClassroom Supply $50 (one time)Aftercare $10 per day

from Mrs. HeatherOffice Tidbits

Crossword Puzzle

Rough Idea Sketch

Before After

Ms. TL, Ms. Barbara and Miss Klaiber

Mrs. Lenka, PhDMs. Savannah Ms. Darling

This past Friday, December 7th LTCS staff and parent Cori Burke joined together to bring the dream of our gorgeous Labyrinth area to life. Together we moved tiny mountains in the form of gravel, bricks & stubborn weeds to create a blank canvas for Ms. Darling to layout the heart shaped labyrinth design. In 5 hours this area of our school transformed from an unsightly mess to a beautiful area of art and peace. LTCS has many more transformational plans ready to take shape, please stop by our office to find ways you can lend a hand.

Together as

Communitywe achieve more.

8