To extend the fun and enriching experience of the Lower School classes cooking soups in class as part of the PTO’s fundraiser, Souper Game Night, students from the 1/2, 2/3 and both 3/4 classes went on a trip to become mini-chefs!

Each learning group traveled to a commercial kitchen in Summit where a diverse set of professional chefs from Passion for Spices taught the children how to make authentic, healthy, Mexican foods. Handmade tortillas, salsa, guacamole,grilled peppers, onions and a yummy vegetable called chayote were all on the menu. Students sliced, diced, mashed, mixed and grated everything! Mango/avocado ice was created for the children and was a semi-sweet way to end our meal. Every child was engaged and encouraged to try a bit of everything. Most children loved it so much they they had second helpings of their meal. Copies of each recipe went home with the children and they are excited to cook them at home.

Some quotes from participants:

Alicia Silvestri, Chaperone: ” My favorite part of the trip was to see the kids learn how to cut vegetables, make dough and shred cheese, I believe all these new skills will help them develop a healthy self-esteem, also how almost all dared to try foods that never tasted before, like “chayote”. This field trip was a great experience!!”

Greydon Carcich, Student: “My favorite part was making the guacamole. The food was awesome!”

Alexis Smock, Student:“My favorite part was when we made the tortillas. We flattened them.”

About the Author

Jennifer Carcich is the 2/3 Grade Teacher and Sustainability Coordinator at Unity Charter School. This is her fifth year teaching at Unity Charter School. She is certified to teach both general education and special education students and has been in the teaching field since 1994. Jennifer takes pride in helping Unity Charter School and continuing to strengthen its unique and innovative approach to education and bring forth the school’s mission.

The “Week of Respect” is a statewide campaign to have all public school students focus on being respectful to one another. At Unity Charter School, we see every week as a week of respect and wanted to take the learning even deeper by celebrating a week of respect, kindness and peace.

In the lower school, the learning groups read “The Peace Book” by Todd Parr and discussed what peace meant to us. The children learned that different things evoke a feeling of peace from in one another. The children then illustrated their idea of peace in the same fashion as Todd Parr did in his book. With bold colors and thick black lines, the children crafted peaceful paintings which were displayed through out the lower school.

The paintings were then turned into hard covered books for the children to purchase. Copies of these books are open for the commUnity to read in our main office. More copies can be ordered using the code on the back of the specific book you wish to order.

The PTO is rolling out new Unity Apparel this March. The MARCH MADNESS SALE will take place from March 1st to March 11th with orders being received in Early April. The new Unity apparel, featuring the school colors of blue and green, was carefully selected with our mission in mind. Most items are organic and made in the USA. All items are eco-friendly.

Items will only be available online for purchase and the PTO will no longer carry inventory on site. The PTO decided to make the switch to online orders to prevent any over ordering or potential waste. Switching to online orders also enabled them to offer a variety of high-quality organic items to the community without an investment of funds. The PTO wants everyone to show their school spirit so they kept prices lower by choosing not to make this a large fundraiser.

The PTO partnered with Mantis Graphics to help develop the new Unity Apparel line. Since opening in 1996, Mantis Graphics has been committed to being green, using screen-printing techniques and inks that are safe for the environment and even riding their bikes to work!

The new Unity Apparel line will include short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, kid hoodies, adult hoodies and beanies. Other items for purchase are the Unity stainless steel travel mug, Unity tote and our *new* Unity zero waste kits. This kit was developed to keep our community events zero waste. The set includes a reusable recyclable drawstring tote along with 4 sets of cutlery, 4 16oz cups, 4 small plates and 4 large plates by Preserve. The dinnerware set is made of 100% recycled #5 plastic and is 100% recyclable. To find out more about Preserve, a mission-minded company, check out https://www.preserveproducts.com/recycle. Get your kit today and be ready for ECO FunFest and all Unity events!

Show your Unity pride and support by purchasing your spirit wear during the March Madness Sale!

About the Author

Sheena Sullivan is the mother of Adam and Samer Anshasi and PTO president. She loves volunteering at Unity and helping parents connect with their children’s school. She enjoys spending time with her family and gardening.

Unity Charter School has started a new cycle of interest groups for students in grades K-5. One of the most popular choices is “Outdoor Winter Fun.” This group challenges students in grades K-4 to take on a task involving the elements outside.

This week’s challenge was to build a “fort” wall that could withstand being hit by snowballs from their peers. With temperatures in the 60’s and snow melting quickly, students and teachers had to find a snow mound large enough to accomplish the task. Once a large snow mound was found, the children experimented with carving out walls, building up walls, making mounds, and even using sticks from the ground to support their walls. One group even created a snow slide for everyone to slide down on for fun. Once constructed, the groups all stood on side of the wall and threw snowballs of all sizes at the walls. They were amazed to see how often their soggy snowballs actually adhered to the walls instead of knocking them down. I wonder what would happen on a colder day with snow that wasn’t as wet? We hope to find out in the weeks to come as we continue our investigations!

As part of the PTO’s efforts to provide cultural activities for students, Hip Hop Fundamentals came to Unity today Friday January 29, 2016 to celebrate the history of hip hop through dance and music. By using dance, interactive lecture and audience participation, Hip Hop Fundamentals educated, inspired and entertained our students K-8. They explained to the students the origins of Hip Hop, a cultural movement that began among urban youth in New York City in the mid-1970s and has since spread around the world. As you can see from the pictures, both students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the performances provided by Hip Hop Fundamentals as well as those who participated.

About the Author