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Newsletter September 2020
Letter from our Founder & Executive Director

Dear Parents,

Wow! It's been just over a month since school started and so many wonderful things have happened!  Our basketball stands have been installed and game lines were painted outside. Our gardening area is being designed and set up. Adjustments were made to facilitate a quicker carpool pick-up. Our carpool pick-up time has consistently been between 15-20 minutes. Thank you for all your efforts for a smooth drop-off and pick-up process! 

 I so enjoy walking around the school and hearing children singing with their classes, seeing their art in the halls and classrooms, observing them practicing their Spanish, and looking at the progress on their handwork projects. As they gather outside for pick-up, it's heartwarming to see their interactions and observe how they've made such great friends at school! I'm eager to get to know each student that attends our school and one of my goals is to learn every child's name. I look forward to eventually saying hello to everyone by name.

Some highlights this month include Kindergarten enjoying their forest days on Thursdays. Sixth grade put on an impressive Roman performance and showcased the costumes and shields they had made. The boys learned what it was like to be a solider in those times and the girls learned and performed a Roman dance. I've seen some impressive Viking helmets that were made in fourth grade and attended some well prepared parent info meetings in first grade. I appreciate all our teacher's work in providing a meaningful and quality education for your children. 

As the weather will start to become colder, after fall break we will have the children enter at various doors after drop-off so that we can continue to have staggered entry. For the next few weeks teachers will be waiting outside with their classes and will lead them to their assigned entry points so the students will know which door they will enter. After fall break students are to enter via their assigned door and go directly to their classrooms except kindergarten which will have it's own inside waiting area. Kindergarten, first and fourth grade will enter through the east doors. Kindergarten will wait together inside the room to the right of the fireplace near the lobby and then go to their class as a group. Second and third grade will go through the north doors. Fifth and sixth grade will enter through the west doors.

We are currently doing our state required Acadience testing (also known as DIBELS) in Grades 1-3. Results will be emailed out to parents.

Fall break is coming up October 12-16th. We hope you have an enjoyable time off with your families!  We will have school pictures scheduled after fall break.  More details to come.

Our past board president has served diligently for over three years and we want to thank Dr. Tim McGaughy for his service.  Lisa Dent was recently elected to this position and we welcome her as our new Board President!  Please read her bio below.

We want to thank Farrah Johnson and Amanda Aizparte for stepping in as President and President Elect of our Parent Community Council.  We appreciate their willingness to serve our school families! Please see their bios and pictures below.

We're excited to celebrate Michaelmas and our Festival of Courage tomorrow! As we aren't able to celebrate as a whole school, classes will be holding their own celebrations. Please read the information below to find out more about this festival and time of year.

Thank you for your enthusiasm, kind remarks, and continued support of Mountain Sunrise Academy! 

Warmly,
Krystelle Rose MA Ed., MBA
Executive Director
Founder
Mountain Sunrise Academy


"Michaelmas Daisies" (Aster)

Michaelmas and Festival of Courage in the Waldorf Tradition

Michaelmas, which began as an equinox and harvest festival in the Middle Ages, is also a feast to honor the archangel Michael. Michael is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity and Islam and, in all traditions, he is a symbolic leader of the force of good over evil and courage over cowardice. The celebration of Michaelmas teaches the importance of overcoming fear and strengthening resolve.

Michaelmas falls near the autumn equinox, when the weather is rapidly changing, the days are noticeably shorter, and we feel a natural instinct to prepare for the colder months ahead. It marks the end of the harvest and the season when we feel the impulse to turn inward after the long, warm days of summer, and gather up strength and fortitude to face the colder days and long nights of the winter ahead.

Michaelmas is typically the first festival of the new school year celebrated in Waldorf schools. Themes of harvest and courage govern the preparations, games and activities of this festival, which culminates in a play performed by the grade school children. The play is usually a rendition of Saint George and the Dragon in which a destructive fiery dragon is tamed by the people of a town whose hearts are endowed with courage and enthusiasm for doing what is right. It is a story that parallels our own human challenges, illuminating the inner courage it takes to find and bring forth our own inward light when the sun, warmth and growth of the earth are fading. The story speaks to children in a deeply symbolic way, feeding their innate need for good overcoming evil and helping them take courage in the many tasks they will face in their life.

Each student must face their own difficulties in life, both internal and external, and Michaelmas both educates and empowers the children to find the courage to take on and overcome their personal "dragons." Thus, we celebrate Michaelmas, in the Waldorf tradition, to remind ourselves of the strength we need in the coming season as the sun shines with less hours after the equinox, and in our personal lives to defeat darkness and let hope prevail.

As adults, we can also elect to take on a task that requires courage or consider developing a new virtue as in a symbolic way we can consider "taming our internal dragons" (lower natures) that don't serve us. 

A recommendation for learning about and applying virtues can be found with the Virtues International Project. They have created cards with inspiring pictures that relate to the virtues. Each card portrays a single virtue, includes ways to practice the virtue, and lists notable quotes. The Virtues Project was honored by the United Nations during the International Year of the Family as a "model global program for families of all cultures." You may read more about The Virtues Project by clicking on the link.

As the pandemic prevents us from gathering as a whole school celebration, classes will be holding their own activities. All students are invited to wear solid or any combination of harvest colors including red, orange, yellow, gold, green or brown on Tuesday to celebrate this festival.

The book pictured above is a Caldecott Medal-winning tale of bravery, perseverance, and peace.

DROP-OFF & PICK-UP MAP

Thank you for your diligence in a quick and efficient drop-off and pick-up as well as well as ensuring safety measures are in place such as not using your cellphone during these time periods, leaving slowly and checking your mirrors when pulling out after your children are dropped off or picked-up, and for utilizing the crosswalk. 

We had a few cars still out on the road during our first double line rendition so we have modified and extended the double line. This is the current plan and is how we have been utilizing drop-off and pick-up and we wanted to share the latest map rendering.
PARENT COMMUNITY COUNCIL (PCC) SPOTLIGHT

Congratulations to our new President and President Elect of our PCC. We're grateful that Farrah and Amanda have stepped forward to serve in their roles! If you have ideas, suggestions, or would like to form or be included in a committee please contact Farrah or Amanda.
Farrah Johnson

Farrah is married to Shane. They have four children ranging from 3rd grade to a College Freshman. She enjoys soccer weekends, family travel, movies, cooking, and meeting new people. Farrah is one of the kindest and most service-driven people you may ever meet. She can usually be seen reconnecting with a friend on a tough day, taking a gift or meal to a neighbor in need, or taking care of her family. She has served extensively in countless School volunteer assignments highlighted by her service as the SAC Treasurer for Lakeview Academy 2018, Organization of 5th-grade camps, various School Drama Productions (i.e. organization of concessions, rehearsal meal coordination, etc.)

Farrah is very excited for the opportunity to work with the wonderfully dedicated teachers and volunteers of Mountain Sunrise Academy to make this year amazing for our kids!
Amanda Aizparte

Amanda was born and raised in Las Vegas but has loved every minute of being in Utah the past 2 years. She is a mom of two boys and a baby girl. Her kids and husband are her world. She has a huge family and loves get togethers. Amanda has worked in IT and has also worked in Dealerships, Hospitals, and Off Road shops most of her life. She has put on some of the biggest Off-road Expos and loves planning parties. Anything outdoors brings a smile to her face. She is a knowledge enthusiast and loves to learn about different cultures, ways, and life. She loves cooking more than most things and she is one of the best! She also loves teaching her kids, going on adventures, going on RzR rides, camping, decorating, crafts of all kinds, going all out for holidays, plants, gardening, learning about farming and wishing she could have her own farm someday. Waldorf is new to her but so far has loved everything it teaches and believes. Amanda is a people pleaser and would love to learn from everyone, take everyone’s ideas and find a great solution to create a Waldorf family.
TEACHER & BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS


Handwork/Gardening Teacher
Raquel Callis

My name is Raquel Callis and I am the handwork teacher and garden assistant. I live on a farm with goats, sheep, geese, chickens and more! My hobbies include hiking with my family, spinning, weaving, knitting, and natural dyeing, and growing food and flowers! I love story telling and Waldorf education methods. I am excited to meet our students! And hope they fall in love with handwork!

Board President
Lisa Dent

Lisa was born, raised, and until very recently, lived in the South. She is so passionate about Waldorf Education that her family moved from South Carolina to Utah so her two children can attend Mountain Sunrise Academy.

Lisa homeschooled her children for five years transitioning from a “traditional approach” to a Waldorf-inspired curriculum. She also taught for four years at a local Waldorf co-op. Coming from a family of public school educators, the transition to Waldorf felt foreign and uncomfortable at times, but the more she studied and experienced it for herself, the more Waldorf’s whole-child approach to education resonated with her. She is excited to be a part of the MSA family and spread her love of Waldorf Education.

Prior to homeschooling, Lisa worked for over 15 years in IT roles ranging from Software Developer to Project Manager. She earned her BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia and her MBA from Coastal Carolina University.

Lisa enjoys reading, traveling, hiking, skiing, tennis, yoga, and all things involving handwork.
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Mountain Sunrise Academy

1802 East 145 North, Saratoga Springs
Utah 84043 United States

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