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Hózhó Academy Newsletter
For the Week of January 1st-5th, 2024
Weekly Updates
Dear Hózhó Families,
Wishing you a Happy New Year! We look forward to welcoming back our students on Wednesday, January 3rd.
Uniform Sweatshirt - See the flyer below to order a uniform-approved sweatshirt.
Christmas Tree Drop Off - Our garden team is offering to recycle your Christmas tree to use as mulch for the school gardens. January 2nd-5th 3:30-5:00 PM
Important Dates
January 3rd - Return to School
January 12th - Early Start/Early Release Day
January 15th - No School (MLK Jr. Day)
January 19th - Mid-School Winter Formal Dance
January 20th - High School Winter Formal Dance
February 19th - No School (President's Day)
Important Links
Meet our Staff Members
When I'm not working, I love spending time with my family (I have a beautiful granddaughter) and working out. My favorite book is The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Three words that best describe me are smiling, patient, and kind.
Literacy Corner by Elise Farrel
The Beauty of Winter
How Winter is Depicted in Classical Literature
Many of the stories we know and love are set in Winter. The Snow Queen tells the tale of an icy queen, similar to the witch from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe who has Narnia cast in an eternal winter. Jo writes by the fireplace hearth in Little Women as the snow falls outside and the Little Match Girl's main protagonist dreams of Holiday bliss from the cold city streets. These stories, among many others, use this season to develop their beautiful themes further.
Perseverance: The harshness of winter is used to show a character's strength and their ability to persevere. In stories such as Jack London's To Build a Fire, the winter is something to be fought, or to overcome.
Natural Beauty: Winter reminds us that beauty can be found in any given moment. Many poets, such as Robert Frost, often describe the serenity and peaceful of a beautiful, snowy day. They remind us to dwell in the present moment and appreciate the surrounding beauty.
Purity: The whiteness and beauty of snow is often used to depict a character's purity, or their good nature. Snow White is described as having skin as fair as the snow, however, it is also a reflection of her good nature.
Harsh Reality: Just as winter can remind us of the purity and innate good of a person, it also reminds us of cold and bitter hearts. We see this in characters such the White Witch in Narnia or the Snow Queen from Anderson's fairy tale.
Transformation: Winter in literature often symbolizes a transformation, something is being made new, usually, into something good. The cold and darkness of winter is a necessary period that allows for transformation to take place, the way Edmund's heart is thawed as spring approaches in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Hope: With winter comes the promise of spring and new life. There is an anticipation in waiting for something new, something glorious.
Many other common themes surround winter; themes of loneliness, contemplation, and even death. The beauty of the winter season in literature is in the intentionality of what the season represents. As a result, we are given the ability to grow and learn through these themes in the beauty of winter.
Book of the Week
Two Old Women
An Alaska Legen of Betrayal, Courage and Survival
By Velma Wallis
Based on a legend told and retold for many generations in the remote Yukon River region of northeast Alaska, this is the tragic and shocking story of two elderly women who are abandoned by a migrating band facing starvation because of unusually harsh Arctic weather and a shortage of fish and game.
Hózhó Academy 2023-2024 School Calendar
Hózhó Academy Charter School
Email: office@hozhoacademy.org
Website: https://hozhoacademy.org/
Location: 515 Park Ave, Gallup, NM, USA
Phone: (505) 722-8922
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hozhoacademy
Twitter: @HozhoA
Transportation Department: (505) 458-4923 or email khillock@hozhoacademy.org
Afterschool (After 4 PM): (505) 488-8758