Clearwater and Matt Garrity on AM1090 Talk Radio

Tune in at 10:00 AM Sunday, January 25, to AM1090 (KPTK--progressive talk radio) for the “The Soul of Seattle” show. Jacques, the host, will broadcast taped interviews with Matt Garrity, Clearwater staff member, as well as Clearwater students and other staff members. Jacques initially contacted Matt to talk about Matt's band, 17th Chapter, and during the course of their conversation found out about Matt's job as Clearwater staff member and driver of Clearwater's bus. The interviewer rode the bus one morning recently, then hung out on campus interviewing students and staff members.

The show tomorrow will feature some of those taped interviews. Thanks for making this radio broadcast about Clearwater possible, Matt! It will be fun to hear Jacques’ take on the school tomorrow morning.

If you can't listen live, you can access the podcast after the show airs. To hear the podcast, go to “The Soul of Seattle” podcast page.

Students Maximize Snow

Early in the week prior to Clearwater's Winter Break and the region's monumental December 18 snow fall, a couple of inches of snow fell in southern Snohomish County. There was enough snow at school that a number of students brought snow saucers from home hoping to sled from the upper pasture to near the play yard gate.

Heading out to sled

The snow was a little thin, so students decided to move snow from other parts of the field to the sledding hill. They coordinated their efforts, spending most of the day moving snow and placing it in spots that would maximize the sled run, packing it down and testing the run. This effort took much of the day and involved up to 15 students.

Communicating the plan

Gathering snow

Gathering more snow

After several hours of working and testing, they made a sled run that worked.

Clearwater Games Day

The Community Building Community wants you to SAVE THE DATE for the triumphant return of Family Games Day!*

When: Saturday, January 31, 1:00-4:00 PM.

Who: Clearwater parents, kids, and staff

What: Games, games, games! Parlor games, board games, card games, outdoor games if it is nice--and, yes, computer games too. Experience intergenerational telepathy in Apples to Apples! See an adult play Magic the Gathering! Best your offspring at Bite-the-Bag!

*formerly known as Family Games Night in bygone years

Pledge Forms Now Available

Forms are now ready to be filled out and sent in with your family's pledge for the year. Some pledges have already been made, as have some donations. The total raised so far this year, including pledges and donations already made, is almost $12,000. We are almost one-third of the way there!

Forms will be emailed to everyone shortly. If you'd like one now, contact the school, Kylie or Karen.

Fireside Chat

I’ve been a part of so many interesting things since becoming Assembly President that it seems high time to report on some of my experiences.

So here are some random notes (à la Matt Garrity):

• Work party (11/16): I did a bunch of detail work on painting the railing, following after broad-brush painters like Robert (14), Gregory (11), and Gabriel (10). While painting, I bored Chloe (11) with the maxims I derived from my misspent youth, caught up with Stephanie (staff), got Kevin (parent) to paint the parts of pillars that I was too short to reach, and turned down an offer of a “Kindness Cookie” from Jesse (6), only to come to my senses later and go get one--it turned out to be a totally fantastic chocolate chip cookie. I wore a beige sweatshirt, which my offspring pointed out was not a particularly wise choice for painting...but I only got one streak on the cuff. I guess it wasn’t going to be for dress-up anymore anyway.
  


• Piloting the New Parent Welcome Wagon program: First I had a great talk by phone with a father who is philosophically on-board with the Sudbury model and very comfortable with the way Clearwater is set up, but who was still processing his reactions to the school. The veteran parent who introduced him to Clearwater told him this processing still goes on after many years. Then I had a very lengthy phone conversation with a mother with lots of questions about helping a younger child adapt well to Clearwater. I was able to remember what it was like for me when Gabriel started at Clearwater coming from a very structured preschool. She said she felt much better after talking to me, and I hope it was true! Later, I also made contact with two other new families who are feeling very happy with the school and don’t have any questions right now.
  


• The first official Community Building Committee (CBC) meeting: We got off to a great start with mystery herbal chai and my raw-in-the-middle whole wheat maple quick bread. Martha (parent) agreed to head up the Family Game Day effort and to help shape the incipient Parent Handbook, though she was coy about whether she would join the committee or not. Sharon (parent) agreed to head up the revamping of the Parent Chat program to see if we could make it more relevant to parents and draw larger groups. I loved her idea of looking into alternate locations so that we could vary the neighborhood each time to make it more accessible to all. Susan (parent) agreed to be the first official Welcome Wagon parent until such time as she needs to call in reinforcements because of a deluge of new families. I was so thrilled with my delegating...but I still need to write up my recommendations for the Welcome Wagon.
  


• Another graduate: I was disappointed that my job kept me from attending Claire’s graduation presentation. I’m always excited and proud to see Clearwater graduates reflect on their experiences at the school. I’ve known Claire for six years and she has always been an impressive and talented person—it sounds like I missed quite a performance. Shawna (staff) stopped by my house so I could add my signature to Claire’s diploma, my duty as Assembly President and a great honor. Sorry my signature isn’t very ornate, Claire, and best of luck in your new pursuits and adventures!

One thing I have discussed with staff and various committee members several times in the past few months is that our various efforts in support of the school sometimes keep people so busy that it can be hard to find time to update the broader community about our progress and to fully acknowledge everybody’s contribution. I hope this report gives a window into the commitment of the many people putting forth time and energy on behalf of Clearwater. I encourage all to stay in the loop by continuing to check the school blog. And please free to email me any time with questions.

Keep the enthusiastic participation coming!

Winter Break Started Early

Like many other Seattle area schools, Clearwater started its winter break unexpectedly early due to the snowstorm. But how many other schools can say that their students were disappointed by the early start of vacation?

Happy Holidays and safe travels, everyone. See you next year!

Caroling Rehearsal

Carolers rehearsing

For the past three weeks, nine students and I have been preparing for a school performance of Christmas carols. If the weather holds we are all excited to sing tomorrow at 3:30pm.

This project began soon after the Thanksgiving break, when some of us sang carols on the bus ride home. I asked the singers if they would be interested in practicing singing carols at school and giving a performance. They all thought it sounded like fun and we invited other students to join us the next day.

At our first meeting we all named carols we wanted to sing and sang samples of each. We agreed on eight songs: older, sacred, modern, secular and most of them lively. Several songs were unfamiliar to some, but everyone wanted to learn and sing all of them. We started out meeting once a week, but during the past two weeks we've met three days a week.

It has been wonderful working on this project and seeing the commitment each singer has to rehearsing, learning songs and singing in a group. They all practice the songs at home and at school, even when they're not in rehearsal. The singers are a high-energy group and have dramatically increased their stamina for standing together in one place for the length of eight songs. We have also had to negotiate whether to include the extra bits at the end of phrases in "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer". (You'll have to attend the performance to find out what everyone decided.)

If snow doesn't close school tomorrow, I will video the performance and put a clip on the blog. Happy holidays everyone!