About
Desert Star Community School
In
2004 a group of Sedona parents and educators began networking
and researching to develop a vision for an innovative
new Waldorf inspired charter school in Sedona. A non-profit
was formed, Desert Star Community School Inc., and in
January of 2006 our charter application was approved by
the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools. Desert Star’s
501(c)(3) status as a non-profit, tax exempt educational
organization was approved on Sept. 18th, 2006.
Desert Star has included “community” in its
name to honor and recognize the importance of community
participation and involvement in the creation and maintenance
of a healthy thriving school. Our community school values
and supports parent involvement and requests that families
volunteer a minimum of 50 hours a year in support of the
school if they are able to do so.
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The
charter has been written to accommodate grades K-6
with teachers teaching two grades until
each grade is large enough to have its own teacher
and the school facility can accommodate individual
grade classrooms. We will provide a full Waldorf
curriculum for each grade by separating the grades
in the mornings for main lessons and individualized
academic work. Teacher’s aides will work with
students who are not in main lesson while their
teacher is teaching main lesson to another grade. |
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Children
start learning to play the
recorder in first grade.
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Hours for grades 1-6 will be 8:30-2:45. The Kindergarten
will have a separate teacher, aide and classroom space.
Kindergarten hours are 8:30-12:00 Monday through Friday.
The kindergarten after care and enrichment program “Kinder
Arts and Play” will be available from 12:00-2:45
for $10 a day or $4 an hour. Please call (928) 282-0171
if you have any questions or would like more information.
At
the heart of Desert Star is the importance of
the teacher’s relationship with the child and his
or her ability to understand, assess, and respond effectively
to the child’s temperament, potentials and intelligences.
We believe that the key to unlocking each child’s
innate intelligence is a caring, supportive teacher-student
relationship that is nurtured over time. To build a strong
class community and reap the benefits of a long-term teacher-student
relationship, each group of children will move through
the grades with their teacher. Our goal is to provide
a strong secure foundation for students with social and
academic consistency from year to year along with the
flexibility to respond to specific needs.