Hózhó Academy Newsletter

Dear Hózhó Families,

Temperatures are at dangerous levels this week. Please make sure your child comes to school dressed to be in the cold weather. Although they enter the gym in the morning, many have recess time in the early morning hours and walk to other buildings for physical education and other classes throughout the day. We also never know if there could be an emergency in the school or on the bus that could require students to be dressed for cold weather. If any families are struggling with providing coats for their children, please contact our counseling department for assistance: atanner@hozhoacademy.org; or tjaramillo-campos@hozhoacademy.org

Save the Date - Our 11th graders are planning a murder mystery dinner fundraiser for March 1! More information to follow soon!

Father Daughter Dance - February 22nd. ALL father figures welcome! Tickets can be purchased at the front office of any school building. See flyer below.

If you have questions, please contact our front office at (505) 722-8922.

• January 20th - No School (MLK Jr. Day)

• February 17th - No School (President's Day)

• February 22nd - Father Daughter Dance (6-9PM)

School Breakfast/Lunch Menu

School Website

Hózhó Athletics/Schedule

We are halfway through our Second Step Program! Our upcoming Unit will focus on Empathy and Kindness for K through 5th and Thoughts, Emotions & Decisions for 6th through 8th. Below is a list of the overall objectives and themes for each grade. Breakdowns of each lesson will resume next week.

Kindergarten: Students learn how to recognize and demonstrate kind acts. Themes include decision-making, empathy, helping others, and thoughts and emotions.

1st Grade: Students explore the value of kindness and learn how to recognize and demonstrate kindness across varied situations. Themes include decision-making, empathy, helping others, perspective-taking, and thoughts and emotions.

2nd Grade: Students learn how to use empathy to show others kindness. Themes include empathy, helping others, perspective-taking, and thoughts and emotions.

3rd Grade: Students learn how to use kindness to make and maintain friendships. Themes include empathy, helping others, perspective-taking, relationships, and thoughts and emotions.

4th Grade: Students identify and demonstrate how perspective-taking skills influence empathy, their relationships, and their own thoughts and actions. Themes include empathy, perspective-taking, and thoughts and emotions.

5th Grade: Students learn how to apply their perspective-taking and empathy skills to define and help solve a community problem. Themes include decision-making, empathy, perspective-taking, planning ahead, thoughts and emotions, and values.

6th Grade: Students learn how to recognize strong emotions and unhelpful thoughts, and they learn to apply strategies for managing their emotions and reducing stress. This unit’s content helps students understand that all emotions are valuable because they provide us with information about our environment. Students learn to respond to their emotions in ways that help meet their wants and needs. Themes include conflicts, resilience, staying calm, and thoughts and emotions.

7th Grade: Students learn how to recognize strong emotions and unhelpful thoughts, and they learn to apply strategies for managing their emotions and reducing stress. This unit’s content helps students understand that all emotions are valuable because they provide us with information about our environment. Students learn to respond to their emotions in ways that help meet their wants and needs. Themes include conflicts, resilience, staying calm, and thoughts and emotions.

8th Grade: Students learn how to recognize strong emotions and unhelpful thoughts, and they learn to apply strategies for managing their emotions and reducing stress. This unit’s content helps students understand that all emotions are valuable because they provide us with information about our environment. Students learn to respond to their emotions in ways that help meet their wants and needs. Themes include resilience, staying calm, and thoughts and emotions.

Welcome back to the Classical Corner! Before break, we spent several weeks discussing what classical education is and how it can be supported at home. These next few weeks will be dedicated to an in-depth discussion of Hozho Acadamy's Arete program; what it is, its ties to classical education, and what you can do at home with your child to encourage arete!

The word Arete is an Ancient Greek concept that refers to excellence and virtue. It is a word that encompasses the idea of striving to reach one's fullest potential through discipline, moral virtue, and striving for excellence.

Hozho Academy's Arete Wellness Program was established to encourage and teach our scholars about wellness for their whole selves; body, mind, and spirit. It seeks to instill habits of discipline that nurture all of these elements, helping our students to become the best they can possibly be and strive for great things.

The mission and vision of the Arete Wellness Program are as follows:

VISION
Upon successful completion of the Physical Education program in Hozho Academy, students will be physically literate and embrace a healthier lifestyle. Students will appreciate everyone around them and the relationship built as a result of the program. Students will achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of fitness. Students will embody and practice the core virtues of Hozho Academy within their families and community.

MISSION
Our primary purpose is to graduate successful life -long learners who are leaders in the global community. Hozho students in collaboration with their teachers, parents, and the community, will develop as motivated, self-reliant, creative and ethical individuals who respect differences in others. The Physical Education curriculum can provide a means of fulfilling the needs that our challenging society has created. The curriculum offers students a variety of opportunities to gain knowledge and proficiency in the foundational skills and activities needed for wellness which encompasses, physical, social, environmental, emotional, spiritual and intellectual components.

If we recall previous discussion on Classical Education, one of its defining characters is how it seeks to formulate the whole student. The idea than humans are both body and spirit/soul is one that dates back to Ancient Greece; they understood the importance of physical well-being for the well-being of the mind and soul. Nurturing the body nurtures the soul and nurturing the soul nurtures the body, helping a person to reach their fullest potential.

In the following weeks, we will discuss the Arete Program's physical education and nutrition program and what can be done at home to continue encouraging these habits.

A reminder that you are more than welcome to email me with any questions in regards to Classical Education! If you have a question, or have a topic you would like to see discussed in the Classical Corner, email me at efarrell@hozhoacademy.org.

For the Parent/Guardian: Take a moment to look through Hozho Academy's Arete Wellness Program online (linked below). What elements do you think can be incorporated at home? What questions do you have?

Arete Wellness Program - Hózhó Academy

For the Student: What is one small change you can make to practice Arete at home? That can be anything from taking 8 minutes to stretch before bed to cutting your screen time a little shorter and using that time outside instead.

Hózhó Academy Charter School

Principal: Juliane Hillock principal@hozhoacademy.org

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