Arcadia This Week 12/22/2019

Hello, Arcadia Families,

Here’s what’s up at Arcadia for the next two weeks… :)

Winter Break: December 23-January 3 

Mission Spotlight: Finding Balance, Taking a Break

It is the mission of Arcadia Charter School to prepare our students to transition intellectually, emotionally, and ethically to higher education, future employment, and engaged citizenship.

Arcadia Charter School envisions a supportive learning community that, through collaboration and student-driven, project-based learning, encourages and assists students to:

• Express themselves creatively through the visual, literary, and performing arts.

• Use technology with innovation, imagination, and responsibility.

• Develop critical thinking and creative problem solving skills.

• Construct knowledge and meaning for themselves.

• Value, advocate, and strive for the wellness of the whole person.

• Be empowered to act as local citizens within a rapidly changing global community.

Throughout the next two weeks, I hope students have the opportunity to genuinely “strive for wellness” through intentional relaxation! 

According to Dr. Ken Ginsburg, Professor of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, “Relaxation can be thought of as the absence of activity, as being calm.” Here is an article he wrote that may be helpful to help your children achieve that, titled, “Teaching Teens to Relax to Manage Stress”: https://parentandteen.com/take-active-steps-to-relax/

How can you help your child take a break (without streaming Netflix for 12 hours)? There is a link in the above article to another resource called, “Guide Teens to Take Instant Vacations,” https://parentandteen.com/guide-teens-instant-vacations/, that I find helpful when I need some ideas for (mostly) non-screen-based activities.

Relax well, everyone! See you in January! 

Announcements: Arts for Martin (a message from Bob)

Hello, Everyone-

It's time to gear up for another Arts for Martin. This is our sixteenth edition! 

I'm excited to tell you that Dan Kallman has agreed to be this year's presenter. This past year, Dan started a justice choir right here in Northfield--Dan's a person of action when it comes to issues of justice for our country and our world. Here's an interesting link: https://www.justicechoir.org

On Friday, Jan. 17, beginning at 7:00 at Arcadia, Dan will tell us what he's done, what the justice choir movement is about, and how this connects with Martin Luther King, Jr. And the Justice Choir will be singing at this year's Arts for Martin!

Here's where you come in: come sing in the Justice Choir at this Arcadia event! The music is very accessible, and Dan and I would love to have you be a part of this. I'm including the email Dan sent out to his choir folks. And here's his email address so you can reply to him: danielkallman1@gmail.com. Please reply to him ASAP and let him know if you can make it. And bring a friend--spread the word!

Let me know if you have any questions about the show. Hope to see you at rehearsals, and Jan. 17!

Bob

Hello Justice singers:

You may have noticed in the news that there is still a lot of injustice in the world and in our nation and in our community, so it's time to sing again! We have been asked to perform at the following events:

Friday, Jan. 17 - Arts for Martin Event at Arcadia Charter School - 7:00 pm

Monday, Jan. 20 -  Community MLK Celebration at Emmaus Church - 7:00 pm

Monday, March 20 - State of the City Event at Kracum Concert Hall, Wietz Center

for the Arts, Carleton College - Time TBA

I will start to assemble rosters for these events and hope to have a cast of thousands! Hundreds? OK, dozens... Rehearsals for the two January events will be held on Sunday, Jan. 12, Tuesday, Jan. 14 and Thursday, Jan. 16 from 7-8. Locations TBA. On the evenings of the events, we'll meet 45 minutes before to run through our numbers. It would be great if you could come to two of the rehearsals, but I won't keep track of that. Some of you I know are fine with just getting together before the gigs, but do remember that we have many folks who sing in the choir who have little experience in choral singing, and they especially can benefit from having a few music readers with more experience present during the rehearsals.

Thanks for considering which of these events you can participate in, maybe all three? Operators (well one, me) are standing by to put you on the roster, so send back an email, and I'll be in touch again, of course. Thank you for adding your voice and spirit to promote justice in our broken world!

Dan

P.S. Still adding names and emails to this list, so spread the word and let me know about new people who want to be kept informed, thanks!

Upcoming Events

Dec. 23-Jan. 3, No School, Winter Break

Jan. 6, Day 2, Back to School!

Jan. 16, 4:00-5:00pm, Finance Committee Meeting

Jan. 17, End of Quarter 2

Jan. 17, 12:40-2:30pm, Presentation Afternoon

Jan. 17, 7:00pm, Arts for Martin

Jan. 20, No School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Jan. 21, 6:30-8:30pm, Arcadia School Board Meeting

Jan. 27, No School, Teacher Prep Day

Sincerely,