The Madrone Trail Public Initiative

Month	Date	Description
July	July 4	Independence Day
September	Sept 1	Labor Day
October	N/A	N/A
November	Nov 11 Nov 27 - 28	Veteran’s Day Thanksgiving
December	Dec 22 -	Holidays & Winter Break
January	Jan 2 Jan 19	Holidays & Winter Break Martin Luther King Jr. birthday
February	Feb 16 - 20	In-Service Week
March	Mar 23 - 27	Spring Break
April	N/A	N/A
May	May 25	Memorial Day
June	N/A	N/A

Educational Program

“ Now where is that book to be found in which the teacher can read what teaching is? The children themselves are this book. We should not learn to teach out of any other book than the one lying open before us and consisting of the children themselves; but in order to read in this book we need the widest possible interest in each individual child and nothing must divert us from this.”

Rudolph Steiner

Vision Statement

Our vision is to develop balanced, successful, socially responsible and contributing community members by introducing a high quality choice in public education using Waldorf-inspired methods, a well-rounded and proven curriculum addressing the needs of the whole child.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide expanded high quality educational choices within the public school system for children from kindergarten through grade eight. The Madrone Trail Public Charter School shall strive to provide:

§ A balanced education to nurture the development of the whole child, encouraging each child to become a life-long learner and a benefit to the society. Using a Waldorf inspired curriculum and teaching methods, the school places equal emphasis on a solid academic foundation, academic excellence, artistic expression, attention to the inner emotional life of each child, social development and responsibility, and physical fitness.

§ Professional enrichment and growth to teachers through acquisition and mastery of an innovative and holistic pedagogy and professional empowerment through opportunities to participate in the creative implementation of the curriculum.

§ Opportunities for parents to be directly involved in the school operation and make significant contributions to their children’s educational environment.

§ Opportunities for the community to contribute in shaping the future of the youngest members.

History of Waldorf Methods

Rudolph Steiner started the first Waldorf School 1919 in Stuttgart Germany. Steiner was well known at the turn of the 20th century as a philosopher, writer, and lecturer. The schools Steiner founded are called Waldorf Schools because the first school was started for the children whose parents were workers at the Waldorf Astoria cigarette factory.

The first Waldorf School in America was started in 1928 in New York. Over the next 20 years only 6 more schools were added, but since then the number has nearly doubled every decade. Today there are 150 Waldorf schools in North America and 900 worldwide. There are Waldorf schools in diverse cultures including Sal Palo, Brazil, the black settlements of South Africa, rural Israel Eastern Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, Japan, and the Pine Ridge Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

There are presently 30 Waldorf public charter schools in the United States, four of which are in Oregon�the Village School in Eugene, the Lighthouse School in Bend, and the Portland Village School in Portland and the Madrone Trail Public Charter School.

History of Madrone Trail Public Charter School

The Madrone Trail Initiative was the beautiful vision of one Jelena Spencer, a parent of a Waldorf preschooler at Star of the Morning Children's Center in Jacksonville. Jelena was a student at Light Valley Waldorf School, and her daughter enjoyed the delight of having Sydney Rudolph as her first teacher, just as her mother Jelena had done some 25 years earlier. Jelena's parents could not afford tuition for all of their children to attend the private Waldorf School but Jelena was able to go. She felt grateful for the education she had received but was saddened that all of her siblings couldn't have the same opportunity. Jelena envisioned a Waldorf School that her children could attend tuition free and was determined to make this type of schooling accessible to a wider community.

Jelena and a small group of parents and interested Waldorf teachers began meeting in the spring of 2004. A book study group, led by Gesine Abraham and Sydney Rudolph began meeting the following fall to enhance the group members' knowledge of Waldorf educational philosophy. The founding members also held regular meetings, open to the public, to begin reaching out to the wider community. Events were held, including a puppet show and curriculum display, fundraising activities and brainstorming meetings.

One of the earliest brainstorming meetings yielded the name Madrone Trail for our future school. These intriguing, native Madrone trees with their twisting trunks and lovely smooth red wood revealed when the bark peels away… the hard strong wood that burns incredibly hot, so full of energy… this tree represented to us the vision of what our school would become: strong, beautiful, and energetic. The trail encompassed our feeling of a seeker's journey through these beautiful woods of our area… the path to knowledge and understanding.

As time passed, Jelena's family moved out of the area. New members brought fresh insight and needed skills and we formed a strong core of committed members with a wide complement of experience. We applied for and were awarded an incentive grant to plan and implement our vision. The Medford School Board approved the Charter proposal in December of 2006. The little seed Jelena planted has blossomed and born fruit. We are well on our way to becoming that strong tree we envisioned for our children…. and yours.

Educational Philosophy and Objectives

“The need for imagination, a sense of trust, and a feeling of responsibility� these are the three forces which are the very nerves of education.”

Rudolph Steiner

A Waldorf inspired education– A balance of head, heart and hands; or of thinking, feeling, and doing.
Arts integrated teaching method incorporating storytelling, drawing, painting, modeling, music, and movement into lesson presentations.
The curriculum reflects developmental rhythms and the child's changing consciousness through the grades.
Strong community-family-school partnership in support of the children.
Multiculturalism incorporated into the social aspects of learning to help young children keep an open mind and gain a deeper understanding of other cultures.

Educational Approach and Distinctive Teaching Techniques

Looping process– teachers and students stay together for five to eight years to foster stability, continuity of guidance, commitment, and trust.
Rhythm of the day is organized to balance thinking, feeling, and doing.
Core academic subjects are taught in block periods.
Textbooks are not used in the lower grades. (Teachers add their artistic creativity to curriculum resources to enliven the presentation of the subject.) Children create their own individual books for each subject.
Science is taught on an empirical basis leading to conclusion of laws and formulas.
Music is introduced in the first grade with the recorder leading to other instruments, choir, and orchestra in the higher grades.

At MTCPS, movement and the arts are not add-ons to a predominately cognitive approach, but are integrated fully into all aspects of teaching. The inclusion of heart and hands is more than a technique for enlivening academic instruction. In a three-fold approach, the heart and the will, as well as the head, are the subjects of educational endeavor. In other words, the arts are not merely a means to an end– improved academic performance-but an end in themselves. To educate the feelings is to edify and refine the emotions so that they are sensitive and responsive to beauty, truth, and goodness. To educate the will is to build a foundation of inner strength leading to a life of conviction and purpose.

“Our Highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction in their lives.”

Rudolph Steiner

Insights into the Curriculum

The Waldorf curriculum includes science, mathematics, humanities, language arts, geography, visual arts, foreign language, music, handwork, and physical education. The integration of these subjects is a main tenet of Waldorf education, thereby providing the child a balanced and enriching educational experience. The curriculum is conveyed with the hope of awakening within each child a love for, and interest in the world.

The Sciences: Our task is to call forth in the children love, interest, wonder, reverence, and enthusiasm for the natural world. Such feelings experienced in a right relationship to facts will later be transformed into true care and stewardship for nature, as well as a genuine scientific interest in the world.

The study of nature in the early grades takes on the form of stories and exploration. While the children are still young and their consciousness is a participatory one, nature is brought alive: the waters and winds sing, plants and animals play and even argue, and the seasons are personified into quantitative characters. As the children grow older, they experience not only wild nature, but the practical relations humans have with nature through gardening, farming, housing, building, and textiles.

The approach to science becomes more objective as the children mature. The studies of animals, plants, stones and stars in the progressing curriculum allow for natural history awareness and observation to develop with wonder and clarity. In grades six, seven, and eight, as the student’s conceptual ability awakens; the sciences are presented with increasing rigor and discipline, adding physics, chemistry, physiology, and earth studies. A phenomenological approach is emphasized in these years, schooling the child's ability to carefully observe, reflect, describe, discuss, and discover, concepts, laws and formulae, as well as to ponder true mysteries.

Mathematics:

The mathematics curriculum introduces mathematical concepts from practical reality and imaginative pictures in developmentally appropriate ways. The four processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are presented in the first grade with the qualitative character of each woven into imaginative games, stories, and exercises. Rhythm, movement, and counting patterns involve the whole body in understanding and integrating math concepts. Extended practice, mental arithmetic, and patterns (including multiplication tables) continue throughout the grades. With growing complexity, concepts and examples, the themes expand into fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, powers and algebra throughout the eighth grade. The teacher is sensitive to each student’s ability and encourages each child to work to his or her fullest mathematical potential.

The goals of teaching mathematics are:

To create favorable attitude toward, and to stimulate interest in mathematics.
To lay a sound foundation for future studies.
To develop

1. Competency in fundamental ideas of numbers, measurements and shapes

2. Knowledge of language and relationships

3. Skill in computation and concept application

4. Problem solving in mental and written form

To show the contribution and historical development of mathematics.
To develop an age appropriate transition from concrete and imaginative picture thinking to abstract concept development.
To assist the child in making mathematics his or her own.

Humanities:

The story of humanity is told throughout the grades. Through the imaginative and artistic rendering in the oral tradition of storytelling, these great cultural tales reflect the evolving human consciousness and are conveyed at specific times according to the appropriate developmental stages of the child.

These stories include:

KINDERGARTEN Fairy Tales

Grade 1 Fairy and folk tales

Grade 2 Legends of sages and fables

Grade 3 The history of the Hebrew people as told through the Old Testament

Grade 4 Norse mythology, sometimes including the Finnish epic of the Kalevala and stories of the Native American Indians

Grade 5 Ancient Indian, Persian, Egyptian and Greek mythology, and the Golden Age of Greece up to the time of Alexander the Great.

Grade 6 Roman mythology and history, Arthurian and Grail Legends, and the Middle Ages

Grade 7 Renaissance history (The Voyages of Discovery, artists and the reformation)

Grade 8 The American, French, and Industrial Revolutions, United States and modern world history

The humanities are the basis from which many other curriculum studies arise. From these studies stem a multitude of opportunities for developing self-expression.

Language Arts:

Historically, writing arose among humanity from picture writing and hieroglyphics. Accordingly, writing develops in the first grade from pictorial representations. In learning to form the different letters, the whole body is brought into action in walking, marching, running, and whole arm movements. The children then learn to read from their own writing. Through practice and repetition in writing complete words and sentences, the children become readers in a lively and self-creating fashion. This is followed by an introduction to reading from books and gradually the rich world of literature opens up to the students. Main Lesson themes serve as inspiration for literature, and as the years pass, children inspire each other through animated sharing of their favorite books and own book reports. Reading comprehension is further fostered by thoughtful class conversation and assignments in older grades.

Beauty is encouraged in the written word, both in meaning and in appearance. Printing is followed by cursive in second and third grade, and calligraphy or italic writing is taught in the upper grades.

By writing poems and stories, by composing descriptions of their own experiences, and by scripting dictations from the teacher, the children's writing activities intensify through the years as they achieve fluency and confidence. In grade four, grammar lessons accompany this increasing skill as the teacher gradually makes the students aware of language principles that have hitherto been unconscious. Composition styles are developed in the older grades, as well as report writing, which the students gradually incorporate into the main lesson work, as well as special projects and assignments.

Speech is primary in all language skills. Accurate listening is fundamental to accurate speaking, and both lead to better spelling and sentence construction. Speech patterns form the basis for clear thinking processes. Research indicates that the pictorial nature and mental imagery associated with the listening to and telling of stories is characteristic of creative as well as logical thinking. Therefore, Waldorf teachers place extraordinary importance on teaching in the oral traditions of lively storytelling, rich recitation, and active sharing by students. Through example and friendly guidance, children's speaking habits are cultivated, and greater attention spans are developed. All of these capacities are broadly fostered throughout the grades. While the kindergarten and younger grades include more recitation and poems, the older grades utilize individual oral speaking as well as choral work.

Geography:

Geography offers qualities of wholeness and ecology; it connects land, climate, and ecosystems with human nature. It unites the sciences, humanities, and arts. As it is clearly an integration of several subjects, each teacher will approach this somewhat differently. With the world economy, communications, and global concerns, the teaching of geography is more important than ever before.

Geography is taught in step with developmental levels of the children. In the kindergarten and early grades stories, songs, poems, exploration, art, and games awaken loving interest in the surroundings. Practical aspects of the community and land are fostered in gardening, farming, clothing, building, and cooking. The formal study of geography begins with a pictorial/descriptive approach beginning locally. Children draw and shape simple maps with landscape features artistically represented while local history and contemporary elements are woven into the lessons. The curriculum expands from the immediate community to state, regional, national, and global studies. Economic geography and regional living conditions are presented, with the close relationship between humans and nature highlighted. In the upper grades, the great sweeps of history are tied to the colorful characteristics of the sea and land with their respective environmental influences on civilizations. Students become versed in the technical aspects of map making and reading as well as global phenomena such as ocean currents, climate, and weather. Feelings of social responsibility and international goodwill are awakened through focusing on many different cultures and lands around the world. Gradually, a sense that the earth is “home” matures into a thoughtful understanding and interest in the broader word.

Foreign Language:

Starting in the first grade, students learn a second language by imitating not only the outer sounds and tones of the new language, but also its inner soul element. When learning another language, the process itself demands lateral (versus linear) thinking and influences the flexibility and development of the speech organs. In the older grades, written work, grammar and syntax are emphasized as well. The foreign language curriculum also strives to nurture within the child an interest in and an understanding of other people and their cultures.

Visual Arts:

“ Joy and happiness in living, a love for all existence, a power and energy for work, such are the life results of a right cultivation of the feeling for beauty and for art.”

Rudolph Steiner

The visual arts program is an integral part of the total curriculum. In the kindergarten and younger grades the sense for color is carefully cultivated as a fundamental training in aesthetics. Through the wet-on-wet watercolor painting technique, the students experience a personal sense for the nature of each color. Children learn balance and harmony in blending the colors, as well as flexibility. Teachers gradually guide the students in creating form out of the colors themselves.

Drawings are created with large block and stick crayons in the kindergarten and younger grades, followed by stick crayons and colored pencils, as the children grow older. The tools become more refined as do the children's motor skills. The specific subject of form drawing develops the sense for lines and curves. Symmetry, balance, centering, rhythmical repetition, patterns, and metamorphosis are all experienced through form drawing.

Modeling:

“ Modeling can help to overcome the problem of passive taking of sense perception so prevalent in today's world, by bringing about a lovely, healthy connection between the three realms of thinking, feeling, and willing.”

Rudolph Steiner

Through the media of beeswax, plasticine, clay, and wood, children develop a tangible sense of form. By molding and shaping with fingers and hands, pupils gain a tactile, spatial orientation to their environment. Neurologists indicate the importance of this in such diverse realms as reading and mechanics. Students also cultivate a qualitative feeling for different natural substances and thus refine and integrate their many senses, which come into play such as touch, warmth, smell, weight, movement and balance. Modeling is an activity that strengthens attention span and imaginative creativity as well as practical skill.

Music:

Music permeates a Waldorf school and is taught not only for its own sake and the joy it engenders but also for the strong harmonizing and humanizing force it brings into a student’s life. In the Waldorf School, each student is given the opportunity to experience great richness and variety of music. We strive to give students a “live” music experience where feeling and understanding of the beauty of musical work is cultivated. The teachers sing with the children from the earliest years, and singing remains a vital part of the child's education throughout the grades. To this is added instruction in a variety of instruments throughout the years including the recorder beginning in first grade, and a stringed instrument in the upper grades.

Handwork:

“Nimble fingers make nimble minds!” This old cliché refers to the mysterious link between hands on activity and thinking, which contemporary child development specialists now recognize as well. Handwork activities such as spinning, knitting, hand stitching, embroidery, crochet, weaving, doll and puppet making, papermaking, clothing construction, form the handwork curriculum. In designing and creating handwork pieces children develop a sense of color, concentration, manual dexterity and coordination. Each child expresses his or her personality through individual choices in design and color. Positive habits are developed in self-direction, cooperation, support of others and responsibility in carrying a project through to completion. The child experiences the value of planning, the efficient use of tools and the beauty of natural materials. It is hoped that each child will gain through the handwork curriculum a respect for skilled crafts people and develop pride in one’s own abilities and accomplishments. Handwork is taught throughout the grades.

Physical Education:

Spatial orientation, strength, skill, balance, coordination and speed are developed in physical education. Besides bodily skill, children experience interplay with timidity, courage, daring, fairness, team skills, discipline and confidence. Exercises in the younger grades are little removed from the realm of play, employing games of various kinds. The children are gradually led over from play activity to conscious, controlled and precise movements through more technical training, games, and sports in the upper grades.

Kindergarten through Eighth Grade Curriculum

Kindergarten:

The kindergarten curriculum is organized through a structure of daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythms. The daily rhythm follows a consistent schedule that provides a secure structure for the children. The daily rhythm includes a planned activity for each day that is repeated weekly. These activities include baking, painting, modeling, coloring and crafts. The planned activity is followed by free play, circle time (recitation, singing, and movement), snack, story and outdoor play. The curriculum focus changes with each season, providing inspiration for crafts, songs, stories, practical life, gardening and cooking projects.

Daily storytelling, poetry recitation accompanied by movement, singing, and vivid imaginative speech allow for a full and varied experience of language. The result of being immersed in such a rich oral environment is a subtle degree of refinement in the child's ability to listen, comprehend, recite and internalize oral rhythms and inflections. The kindergarten curriculum plants the seeds of a deep love and pleasure in language and literature.

First Grade:

Pictorial and phonetic introduction to the letters of the alphabet, reading from writing, rhythmic poems, speech exercises/ form drawing of curves, straight lines and patterns/ qualities of numbers and elements of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division/ counting, Roman numerals, fairytales, foreign language, songs, games, and poems; pentatonic recorder, seasonal songs, wet on wet painting using the three primary colors, knitting using two needles, beeswax modeling using scenes from fairy tales and simple figures, the wonder of nature through simple observation, nature studies from stories in an imaginative manner, circle games.

Second Grade:

Small letters / cursive writing/reading / plays / speech work / beginning elements of grammar / dictation / composition / symmetry-mirror form drawing / times table / time / money / situation problems / numerical patterns / place value, carrying and borrowing/legends and animal fables / foreign language� counting, names of animals, family members, parts of the body, food, seasons, colors, months / beginning recorder and folksongs / painting secondary colors and animal forms / knitting and purling, knitted animals / beeswax modeling scenes from legends and fables / the environment through observation / nature studies from stories in an imaginative manner / jump rope / hopscotch / rhythmic games.

Third Grade:

Cursive writing / parts of speech, sentence building and punctuation / composition / weights and measures / the use of money / higher multiplication tables / measurement / carrying and borrowing / Old Testament stories as an introduction to history / American Indian legends / foreign language (same as above) / the octave in song and recorder / musical notation / luster colors and interaction of colors in painting / crochet / modeling from main lesson work / house building, farming and clothing / building materials and food production / ring games, line games, work games and songs.

Fourth Grade:

Parts of speech/tenses/ letter writing/grammatical rules/ fractions and decimals/ word problems/ long division/averages/ Norse and Germanic myths and sagas/ alliteration/ foreign language –as above, grammar begins, written work and dictation/ music- time values, harmony, major and minor third, rounds and orchestral stringed instruments such as cello or violin/ cross stitch and embroidery/ clay modeling of animals and geometric shapes/ local history and early settlers/ map making/ zoology/ square and folk dancing/ running jumping and throwing games.

Fifth Grade:

Subject and predicate/ syntax/ composition and speech including research reports/ writing/ active and passive tenses/ arithmetic including decimals, ratio, proportion, and calculation of perimeters and area/ mythology and ancient history/ foreign language- simple text, syntax, short descriptions/ music- major and minor scales, strings and winds/ three part singing/ painting/ four needle knitting/free geometric drawing/ clay modeling/ dynamic drawing/ work with a carving knife to make an egg and simple toy/ geography of the United States/ zoology/ Greek sports- javelin, discus, shot put, long jump etc.

Sixth Grade:

Advanced grammar/ descriptive and expository writing/ composition, including business letters and journalism/ business math including interest, percentage and discount/ proportion/ tales of chivalry, poetry/ ballads/ foreign language- reading texts, humorous stories, free translations/ music- descant, alto and tenor recorders, strings and winds/ painting of landscapes, color contrasts, spectrum/ sewing and pattern making/ modeling/ exact geometric drawing/ black and white drawing/ beginning use of saws, rasps, gouges, etc./ history of ancient Rome/ geography of Canada, Central and South America/ physics/ geology and mineralogy/ team sports.

Seventh Grade:

Creative writing/ research papers/ book reports/ geometry/ algebra/ graphs/ perimeters and area/ powers/ Arthurian legends/ historical novels/ poetry/ foreign language- reading and conversation, grammar, and structure/ choir/ orchestra/ wet and dry transparent color painting/ sewing and embroidery/ model the human hand, foot and bones/ perspective drawing/ drawing platonic solids/ woodworking to shape bowls and moveable toys/ history of 1400-1700/ European and African geography/ tides/ map making/ weather/ inorganic chemistry/ physiology/ astronomy/ nutrition/ first aid/ gymnastics and team sports.

Eighth Grade:

Grammar/ composition and speech including book and scientific reports/ practical mathematics/ algebra/ geometry/ Shakespeare/ epic and dramatic poetry/ folklore/ foreign language- vocabulary building and dialogues/ choir/ orchestra/ painting/ using a sewing machine/ modeling the human head/ 3 dimensional drawing/ wood carving/history of 1700 to present including United States history/ geography of Asia, Australia, and Antarctica as well as global contrasts/ art history/ chemistry/ physiology/ gymnastics with equipment/ team games and sports.

ESL Program:

The main lesson teacher will be the primary provider of support to second language learners. When the second language learners at MTCPS reach a critical number that would make ESL program cost effective, the school will contract with a certified ESL teacher to provide support to these second language learners.

Festivals

Celebrating seasonal festivals at MTCPS is a way of observing and showing appreciation for the recurring rhythms and cycles in nature. As the Earth makes its journey around the sun, the solstices and equinoxes become the four cornerstones for the rhythm of the year. They inspire our seasonal festivals in the themes that are universal and culturally diverse. In the autumn, we celebrate a Harvest Festival. We also have a lantern walk for the early grades. Both of these events fill the children with excitement and anticipation. As the days continue to grow shorter in the winter, we celebrate the image of the sleeping earth and the light to come in the spring. With the New Year comes a gradual transition of winter into spring. We mark the spring equinox with our Spring Festival. This is celebrated with maypole dances, music and games in a country fair atmosphere.

Academic Assessment

The academic assessment used within the Waldorf inspired program includes a wide array of assessment tools to evaluate capacities according to the goals of the charter to educate the Head, Heart, and Hands. The teachers observe the children in a variety of situations in order to evaluate their progress in these areas and in accordance with the expected student outcomes. Since non-academic and more qualitative outcomes (such as attentiveness, enthusiasm, involvement in class discussions, initiative, effort, judgment, goodwill, commitment, etc.) are as integral to our mission as objective outcomes, the portfolio method of evaluation will be a most important method of assessment.

Included in the portfolios will be a sample of the child’s main lesson books, various pieces of art, practice papers, and evaluation rubrics. Examples of other reliable methods that will be used are oral recitations, performances, demonstrations, curriculum based assessments, teacher observation, and student self-evaluation.

Teacher evaluations become the essential ingredients in a bi-annual written report/evaluation in narrative format, based on the portfolio of student work, performance assessments, enumeration of subjects adequately completed, and a mention of areas needing additional focus. The report will reference study habits, attitudes, and social abilities.

Student progress and development are carefully monitored and formally reported to the parents in the parent-teacher conferences in November. Additionally, a parent or teacher may request a conference at any time. Parents will also receive a written curriculum report providing details of the curriculum that has been covered for the school year.

Home Support for the Curriculum

Rhythm

Establishing healthy daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly rhythms is an essential consideration in the Waldorf approach to education, even in the creation of the daily rhythm to insure a balance of academic, artistic, and hands on work in the structure of the day. An important way parents can link school and home is through the establishment of a regular routine for meals, play, housekeeping tasks, and bedtime. Children flourish in environments that are not only loving but also loving and predictable. Just knowing what is expected at different intervals during the day can help children feel secure in the world.

Media

In our school, we make a conscious choice not to use mediated tools of instruction at the younger grades (overhead projectors, VCR’s, computers), since we want to encourage direct experience with the world, not a world mediated by electronics. The entire purpose of the Steiner inspired curriculum is to engage the will and imagination of the student directly, through the imagination and will of the teaching methods.

Over and above the message the student may receive from television or video games, we find that the effect of the medium itself is not harmonious with our approach to learning. Waldorf teachers strive to bring images to life as part of the educational experience. If children are preoccupied with media images, the instructional images are less compelling.

We also believe that it is very important that children have time to be actively involved in a variety of home projects, reading, and unstructured indoor and outdoor play. Engaging in electronic entertainment reduces the time spent on personally creative activities that nurture intelligence.

Real multi-sensory experiences are the seeds of imagination and creativity. It is important that your child be able to absorb the curriculum of the day, without electronic interference, in order to integrate and process it during sleeping hours. This is how learning becomes an integral part of life. Allowing your child to awake and attend to the tasks of the morning without the stimulation of electronic media will enhance their ability to focus and become immersed in the day’s curriculum.

In support of the education of your child, the faculty requests that our families consciously and significantly reduce or eliminate the use of media for children. We realize that limiting or eliminating media from your child’s life might be challenging in today’s world, however, with support and community effort, families often find that more free time means more creative play and more quality time together.

Organizational Structure

Madrone Trail Public Charter School

The governance of MTCPS is primarily exercised by or under the authority of the Board of Directors of the Madrone Trail Initiative. The Madrone Trail Initiative is a 501(c) (3) Oregon Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation organized for the purpose of operating MTCPS. At least fifty percent of the Board members shall be residents of the Medford School District and no more than fifty percent of board members shall be parents of children enrolled in MTCPS.

Board Duties

The Madrone Trail Initiative has ultimate legal and financial responsibility of the school. Primary board responsibilities include ensuring school compliance to legislation affecting charter schools, maintaining the financial security of the school, long and short term planning and development, creating and overseeing the implementation of policies that are consistent with the pedagogy and vision of the school.

Board Meetings

The Board meets monthly throughout the year; times, dates, and agendas are posted in the main office and on the website. Meetings are open to the public and parental attendance is welcome. Depending on the agenda of the meeting, time may be allotted to public comments.

Requests for an item to be placed on the board agenda must be submitted in writing and delivered to the school office no later than seven school days prior to a regular meeting. Items must be directly related to school business. The School Director determines whether the request is or is not matter subject to the jurisdiction of the board and will determine whether the item is appropriate for discussion in an open or an Executive session of the board.

Director

The School Director is fully responsible for the administration of the Charter School. The School Director acts as a liaison between the various operating bodies of the school and communicates directly with the MTCPS Board of Directors, and to the Medford School District Superintendent and his cabinet.

Faculty

The faculty is responsible for the creation and implementation of the curriculum, student assessments, selection of supporting materials, and all other decisions that are primarily pedagological in nature.

Committees

The committees of the school are administrative committees designed to support the School Director. Parents, faculty, board members, and community volunteers may all serve on the various committees. The committee chairs report committee activities to the director for review and approval. The committees work with various bodies within the school, providing support activities as appropriate. Please see a detailed description of Committees, roles and responsibilities of committee members in Appendix A.

Parent Participation

Parent Council

The parent council provides a forum for every parent to voice their ideas, suggestions, and concerns to the board. Parent council meetings are held monthly, and the parents elect the Chair(s). The school Director will formally log all the feedback and communicate such feedback to the board and faculty. Suggestions from the parent council will be taken into consideration in the improvement of school programs and /or policies.

Class Representatives

Each class will have a volunteer Representative to assist the teacher, solicit and coordinate other parents to help with special events, and communicate with representatives of other classes. The Class Representative will also assist parents in addressing questions and concerns to the Faculty, Parent Council, School Director, and Board.

Serving on Committees

Parent Participation is needed on the MTPCS Board of Directors and on various committees. Serving on committees is a major means by which parents can contribute time and skills toward the betterment of the school.

The following is a list of current committees at MTPCS:

· The Festivals Committee

The purpose of the festivals committee is to organize and implement major seasonal and cultural festivals. Festivals afford valuable opportunities for building cooperative spirit within the school and larger community, and also offering expansive opportunities for the children to have multi cultural experiences.

· The Fundraising Committee

This committee holds responsibility for organizing and implementing fundraising activities for the school.

· The Site Committee

The Site Committee members are responsible for planning and coordinating the construction and upgrade of the school grounds and related materials such as playground equipment. Site concerns include beautification of our site, such as gardening or landscaping projects, and handyperson work as needed.

· The Outreach Committee

· The Finance Committee

· The Safety Committee

· The Ombudsman Committee

Facilitation of constructive problem solving and healthy communication are the areas of concern in the Ombudsman Committee. Its main goals are to inform and encourage the use of already existing lines of communication within the school community. Members of this committee will help with logging of conflicts and coordinating mediation sessions and/or arbitration sessions.

Classroom

Parents can help support the class teachers in many ways, both in and out of school. Your class teacher may ask for help in a variety of areas, from making phone calls to organizing class trips to helping keep the classroom clean. Parent support will be organized and projects needing help will be announced in class meetings and teacher letters. Each class has a designated Parent Representative, whom the teacher can call upon for help. Parent and family phone numbers will be made available shortly after the start of the school year.

School

Contact Person for Volunteer Coordinator: The School Director will refer you to the contact person for Volunteer Coordinator

Without the support and help of a dedicated body of parent volunteers, our school could not provide high quality activities and programs. Volunteers are instrumental in many functions of the school. As a charter school, we receive less than 80% of the funding traditional public schools receive. Recent budget cuts mean that we must think creatively about how to provide services to our students. A large part of the solution is in utilizing parent volunteers.

Parents provide innumerable services to the school, including classroom help, special events, festivals, fundraising, communications, specialty classes, etc. Parents may work directly or indirectly with students. The Volunteer Coordinator’s job is to organize the school’s volunteers who work directly with children.

Financial Support

Parents are strongly encouraged to participate yearly in the school’s annual pledge and classroom fund drives by making financial contributions.

Together, our financial contributions sustain our educational vision and make it possible to provide a high quality educational experience for the students of our school.

Admissions and Enrollment

Parent Orientation Meetings/Intent to Enroll

All parents who wish to enroll their children in the MTPCS must attend a Parent Orientation Meeting. These meetings are scheduled throughout the open enrollment period between October and February. Parents will be asked to fill out an Intent-to-Enroll form at these meetings. At the end of the open enrollment period, the intent to enroll forms will be counted for each class. If there are fewer applicants than spaces available all those who applied will be eligible to enroll. However, if the number of applicants exceeds the capacity, students shall be selected through a lottery process. Parents will be notified about their application status in March. Parents must fill out an enrollment application for students who are accepted and return it to the office by the designated date in order to hold the space for their child.

Out of District Enrollment

Students may apply to enroll at the MTPCS from out of district without the need for an inter-district transfer and at no cost. In the event of a lottery, in-district applicants are given priority.

Priority Enrollment

Priority Enrollment will be given to those students who:

1. were enrolled in the School the prior year, or

2. have siblings who are presently enrolled in the School and who were enrolled the prior year.

Grade Level Placement

Kindergarten 5 years or older by June 1^st, prior to the school year for which the applicant is seeking enrollment

First Grade 6 years or older by June 1 prior

Second Grade 7 years or older by June 1 prior

Third Grade 8 years or older by June 1 prior

Fourth Grade 9 years or older by June 1 prior

Fifth Grade 10 years or older by June 1 prior

Sixth Grade 11 years or older by June 1 prior

Seventh Grade 12 years or older by June 1 prior

Eighth Grade 13 years or older by June 1 prior

The MTPCS has the right to refuse admission to any child whose birth date falls outside of the minimum age requirements in each grade level.

Re-Enrollment Procedure

As a current parent at Madrone Trail Public Charter School, you have the opportunity to enroll your child’s siblings into classes first, before spaces are made available to first-time applicants. In order to be certain that your family’s enrollment needs are met, please follow the steps below to re-enroll and enroll new children in the school for the upcoming academic year. You will be guaranteed a space in any newly forming class and any class immediately above the class your child currently attends. However, if you are trying to enroll siblings in a class that is already in operation, you can only enter the sibling child on a space-available basis. For example, if you had a first-grader this year, and you want to enroll a kindergartener and a second-grader next year, the kindergartener would be guaranteed a space in the newly forming class. (We simply enroll siblings’ first, then open enrollment to the public.) However, if you wanted to enroll the second-grader in the existing class, we could only do so if space in the class is available. It is possible in such a case that if someone dropped out of the class, there might be space available. If no space is available, your second-grader would be placed at the top of the waiting list.

The Re-Enrollment Process involves the following steps:

Step 1: Fill out a Re-Enrollment Form. It is your responsibility to obtain, fill out, and submit a re-enrollment form. You MUST submit a re-enrollment form by the deadline in order to be guaranteed that current enrollees as well as new sibling enrollment is made. MTPCS is not responsible for saving or reinstating spaces lost due to late submission of re-enrollment forms.

Step 2: Within a week you will receive a confirmation note listing your children enrolled for the next academic year’s classes. If you don’t receive this note after the week of submitting or mailing in your re-enrollment form, contact the office right away to make sure your enrollment paperwork reached the office and was properly processed.

Step 3: If a class teacher or parent has concerns regarding whether or not a child in school is ready to move up a grade at the end of the academic year, the teacher or parent(s) shall initiate a meeting during the months of January to discuss and assess their concerns. It is possible for the teacher/parent team to make a request of the administrator that a space be reserved in two classes for one child if in fact there is question as to the best placement for the child, and more time is needed to determine the best course of action for the child.

The deadline to submit re-enrollment forms for the following academic year is March 24. Forms must be in the office (not postmarked) by this date.

Madrone Trail Public Charter School Funding Model

The main annual fundraising programs conducted by the Madrone Trail Public Charter School include:

Annual Parent Pledge

All parents of MTPCS are invited to make an annual pledge to the school for general operating support. The pledge can be paid all at once, quarterly or monthly, and may be paid by check or with a credit card. Pledge forms are available in the office and are included in your child’s take home materials early in the year.

Affinity/Scrip Programs

While doing your normal everyday shopping, the school can be making money. MTPCS has agreements with many retailers to give a percentage of your purchases back to MTPCS. Stores such as Safeway, Albertson’s, and many others participate. Forms are easy to fill out, and we encourage you to get your friends and family to fill them out as well. Complete information about these programs and how to sign up is in the office.

Corporate and Foundation Support

Many employers offer a matching grant for educational donations given by employees. Sometimes parents have corporate and/or foundation contacts that could be a useful grant resource for MTPCS. Any and all support is greatly appreciated and the MTPCS is always looking to expand its base of support.

MTPCS hosts an annu

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