The concept of community is fundamental to La Tierra Community School, and building community has been a deliberate choice since our founding. Like many around the world, we have felt its absence keenly over the last year, but taken the opportunity to realize how much we value and miss it. Luckily, as we returned to our school building, we regained some of our community events and have already scheduled all the favorite events into next year’s calendar!
What Community Means at LTCS
There are two kinds of community: one is created by physical proximity, and the other is created by the relationships and bonds among people. At La Tierra Community school, we are focused on both aspects of community and consider it equally important to the academics we teach. We create regular opportunities to gather together on school grounds, and we place a premium on knowing each other and forming bonds of friendship.
Bringing People Together
When we gather as a community, we have a purpose and we often have a theme. Our calendar highlights a different event every month and our whole community looks forward to these occasions. When we gather for Math Night or Reading Night, our purpose is to reinforce and celebrate our academic progress. At the end of each semester, we host a Celebration of Learning where we honor the achievements of months of hard work. Our students, teachers, and families all look forward to these evenings of acknowledging the growth and accomplishment of all our kids!
In addition to school and academic life, we find other ways to connect with each other to solidify the bonds of our community. In the Fall, we enjoy the bounty of the harvest season with activities and food at our Fall Festival. We also have a Bonfire Night where we sing and roast marshmallows and tell stories. Our families dance the night away at our annual Valentine’s Dance in February, where food and music and the celebration of love bring us all together.
In the spring, we have a Talent Show that showcases our students’ gifts and inventiveness! For the ever popular Health & Safety Day, we bring the fire trucks, ambulances and a dentist to our community. And sprinkled throughout our calendar is the time-honored tradition of coming together over a potluck dinner.
No matter what the occasion for the event, our priority is connecting with people in our community and making it the strongest and most supportive place we can.
Building Bonds
Community events are a wonderful way to celebrate and connect, and we have a full calendar! But often, it’s the small everyday connections that build the strongest bonds and make the community a secure and safe place where students grow with confidence. Every morning at LaTierra, Rhette, our Academic Director, is at the gate to greet and check in with students on their way into school. And each afternoon, Julie, our Operations Director, is at pick-up to once again talk with students and families. Sharing a smile and a word, knowing that the person who did it sees you, can make all the difference in building a community. Teachers at LTCS are tuned in to their students; regularly checking in, listening, and understanding. Supporting our students’ social and emotional learning is just as important as supporting their academic learning.
Our students and families know that La Tierra is a caring place with a strong community that will support them, hold them up, and cheer them on. It’s what puts the community into La Tierra Community School. If you and your student want to join a school community that prioritizes connections and relationships right alongside academic achievement, come join us!
About La Tierra Community School
At La Tierra Community School, teachers, parents, staff, and students work together to create a school culture of collaboration, respect, and high expectations. Through our expeditionary learning-inspired approach, trust, respect, responsibility, and joy in learning permeate our community and our students know they can impact their world. Enrolling K-7 in Prescott, today!
