The Sequoia Breeze

Rebecca: Welcome to the Sequoia Breeze Podcast, a breath of fresh air for your homeschool. I am your host, Rebecca LaSavio. Thank you for joining us today. I'm super excited to introduce you to my guests who are here themselves to introduce something new that Sequoia Grove is offering, and I'm going to let them tell you all about it. So I have Jenna and Carrie here to talk about the new Sequoia Studio. Welcome, ladies.

Jenna: Thank you. We are so happy to be here.

Carrie: We're going to have a lot of fun here today.

Rebecca: So, Jenna, introduce yourself and we'll come back to Sequoia Studio. Just start with you.

Jenna: Sure. I am Jenna Clifton, and I am the community program's lead art teacher. And we are having so much fun in our brand new program launching Sequoia Studio this year. My experience in previous years was with community programs already, and so since the Sequoia Studio falls under community programs, it's felt like a really smooth and comfortable transition.

Rebecca: And you are also an hst, right?

Jenna: I.

Rebecca: You have a small roster.

Jenna: I have a very small roster, yes.

Rebecca: Now, our family of schools might have seen you before because last year you were doing our YouTube channel news, so.

Jenna: Yes, I was doing Sequoia Grove News on YouTube last year, and I was the community programs events coordinator as well. So I helped plan all of our school white events the previous two years.

Rebecca: Okay, so you've been around, you've had lots of different hats, and yes. You get a fun new one this year.

Jenna: Yes. And I totally was not planning on switching hats up too much, partially because I hate interviewing. But when I saw this community programs art teacher position posted, I thought, oh, my goodness, I can't not apply for this.

Rebecca: All right, I'm looking forward to talking to you more about that.

Jenna: Yeah.

Rebecca: Carrie, please introduce yourself. Welcome.

Carrie: Oh, thank you, Rebecca. My name is Carrie Liebreich, and I am so excited to be hired as part of the new Sequoia Studio team focusing on music education. I, too, like Jenna, have been a HST previously, and I am a music major with a multiple subject credential and worked in the public schools for years, both as an elementary classroom teacher and a music teacher. And so I'm really excited that the universe heard my plea saying, hey, get me back to music. Because I was trying to implement some music things with Adventure Academy with our sync up time when we had that Covid shutdown and we all went virtual. So I couldn't be more thrilled to really focus on musical literacy as part of Sequoia Studio.

Rebecca: Awesome. And who else is on your team.

Jenna: So we also have Janae Stuckey as our performing arts teacher, but she teaches theater and dance specifically. And Christina Rome, who is another visual arts teacher whose experience is. She has a degree in photography, but she is helping bring the visual arts to our program.

Rebecca: And everybody was hired from inside, right? We're all original Sequoia Grove.

Jenna: No, almost everybody. Janae Stuckey was hired externally.

Rebecca: Okay. I know that this year you were all hired at the end of last year to do create this new grand vision and that you've busily spent the fall putting it together and getting it implemented. And it has gotten started at Park Days. So I would love to hear whichever of you wants to tell me more about, like, what. What is Sequoia Studio? And then we'll break down into where is it going? And all of that.

Jenna: Awesome.

Carrie: We did start kind of introducing ourselves at Park Days with a little Sing Song ukulele and passing out wonderful art supplies to our students to promote our program. But, but, but we also started right away with Virtual Clubs in session one. And that was a blast, seeing the response of the students and then the families who started following us around to even to Park Days because they knew we were going to be there.

Jenna: Yes, yes. Our frequent flyers have been awesome. It's super fun.

Rebecca: So tell us the bigger picture. Like, where did the idea for Sequoia Studio come from? What is it trying to accomplish?

Jenna: Totally. I think that's like, has a couple pieces to it. I think originally it started with Proposition 28. And these funds being available to schools exclusively for arts education. These are funds that must be spent on arts education. And so that's where this community program art teacher position came in and was posted. And it originally started as one position, and I wanted that position really bad. And I came in and I interviewed, and I didn't realize in my interview exactly what I was doing, but I was pitching a program and when. And I had the logo and the name and everything in my interview. And when I left, Carrie Carlson said, talk to Ali and was like, this is not just a position. This is its own program. And so that's where we were able to hire additional arts teachers. And it became not just the visual arts, but also the performing arts. And so Sequoia Studio collaborates with our community programs. And the intent that is that this is arts education for all students, and it's free and accessible to all students. And so that's why it falls under those community programs, our clubs, Park Days field trips, so that we can offer these Amazing opportunities to students at no cost.

Rebecca: That's awesome. Okay, so families can expect to see it at clubs and park days. Is that primarily. Oh, you mentioned field trips.

Jenna: We will be doing field trips. We haven't gotten there yet. We've started with clubs and park days. Those are our primary places that students can see us. And clubs where we have both virtual and in person opportunities for students. So you might see us bounce around in person a little bit. Carrie and I are going to be doing a ukulele club next session.

Carrie: Ukulele extravaganza.

Jenna: Yes. And then park days, we are rotating locations so that we're bringing visual arts, music, dance, and theater to students in all areas.

Rebecca: So that was a question I was going to get to in a minute, but let's just go there now. The, you know, Sequoia Grove covers a massive area from.

Jenna: Yes, it does.

Rebecca: Mendocino to Tahoe and Chico to Amador. And so how do we cover with. I mean, four teachers isn't nothing, but still.

Jenna: Right.

Rebecca: How do we cover such a big area with. So what's the plan for that? Because I know you're taking that into consideration.

Jenna: Yeah, that's a great question. So we sit down as a team, and we look at all of the park days that are coming up, and each teacher selects four to five park days per month. And then you will see them exchange and rotate locations. So that Carrie is going this month. You've been to Placerville, Chico?

Carrie: Yep.

Rebecca: Amador.

Jenna: Amador. You've been to Cameron Park?

Carrie: I've been to Sutter Creek, Placerville, Chico, and Antelope. That dry Diggins community. That was a really sweet park.

Jenna: So then next month, she's going to be taking music to different locations. And other teachers. Our other teachers will be at those locations. So we're really just working to go to as many places as we can. We can't go everywhere, which is why we're also creating.

Carrie: We're going to clone you, Jenna.

Jenna: We are creating park day kits so that students at least have access to art supplies at every park day in every location.

Rebecca: Okay. So wherever the van goes, there should be access to something.

Jenna: Absolutely.

Rebecca: Okay.

Jenna: Yes.

Rebecca: And for those who aren't close to one of the park days, they can always jump on a club.

Jenna: Absolutely.

Rebecca: Yes.

Jenna: We have virtual clubs every session. We have usually two to four clubs available each club session. And we try to break it up to cater to different age ranges. So you might see one club that is art focused, that is TK to fourth grade centered. And then the following Session, there might be an art club for the older kiddos.

Rebecca: So. And if a club is on a day when they can't do it this time, the next session, it might be at a different time. And there's opportunities for.

Carrie: Yeah, we try to split it up, like maybe a morning session on one day and an afternoon session on another day, so that there is a little more flexibility there. And like Jenna said, catering to different age groups, although we've certainly seen some fun siblings pop in that are a little over a little, and we encourage that. Yeah, come and play with us.

Rebecca: Are you focused on TK8?

Jenna: We are focused on TK8, yes. And most of our clubs, actually, we do offer the same club at two different times in the week. So that if one time doesn't work for a student, another time does.

Carrie: That doesn't mean they can't attend both sessions of the same material if they love it so much.

Jenna: And that goes for the park days as well. And we've seen that a lot. Students are coming to experience the same lesson in a new way. I think that's one of the beautiful things about art and music and theater is it doesn't always look the same. Even if it is the same lesson. You can do the exact same lesson and come out with a totally different result.

Rebecca: Let's talk a little bit about what can be accomplished in a park, because it's not like you're doing weekly lessons that can really build. So I got to see Carrie in action in Sutter Creek, and so I got a taste for the music. But why don't you tell our listeners, Carrie, a little bit about what you can accomplish with music, and maybe we can touch on each of the different. Like, I'm trying to imagine theater in.

Jenna: The park, too, so.

Carrie: Absolutely. Well, one of my overall goals being part of Sequoia Studio and a music educator, is to focus on musical literacy. And that can happen in so many different ways. But ultimately, I want those children to have an experience, because when they have a kinesthetic, visceral experience with, let's just say, a steady musical beat, then when you try to teach them what that might look like in musical notation, they'll know what they're doing. They'll know what that is. They'll have a sense of that concept. So if I go to a four different park days, it might look a little different at each park day. But overall, all of the students that participated got a chance to write their own musical composition. Whether they knew it was music at the time or not. Wasn't my goal, but that's how we learn best, by uncovering and. And experiencing.

Jenna: And Carrie is the queen of pivoting, according to who shows up to any park day and what's available. There was a lesson, was that just last week, I think, where family liaison had taken out one of those giant parachutes, and she knew that she was not going to be able to peel these kiddos away from that parachute once they saw that parachute. So she turned it into a music lesson, and she had them go bring it up for four counts and down for four counts and walk for four counts and turned it into this really fun music game.

Rebecca: What age are your lessons aimed at? That whole TK to 8th range, or.

Carrie: I would say for myself. Yes. I'm always thinking ahead that how can I scaffold it up or scaffold it down as it needs. Needs to, depending on who shows up. But definitely all students want to play. All students want to learn through play, which I think that's part of the beauty of our program, Sequoia Studio. We're allowing students to access their higher prefrontal cortex through the arts. We know there's so much research now through art and music, how that helps us take in sensory information and how it gets us ready to learn. So that's one thing I'm really passionate about. And when I'm developing my lessons, I want to make sure I'm including movement, music, the creative process, asking students for input, making them part of it. I'm not there just to fill them up as a vessel with, hey, this is what we're learning. Hey, what can they bring to this experience? And we all learn together through play.

Jenna: Yeah, because you learn best not by memorizing, but by creating memories. And that's what we get to do in this program. That's what makes it so special.

Rebecca: So, Jenna, tell us about what the theater and art lessons look like at the park.

Jenna: Yeah. So, so far, Jana has been doing theater in the park lessons, which I know might seem a little bit tricky or daunting, but she does it in a really organic, beautiful way. They've been learning about stage directions and creating games out of that. And so she will draw a giant stage out of sidewalk chalk and have them run to the parts of the stage that she calls out. And so she's just teaching them those, like, bones of theater. And then Christina has been bringing printmaking to the park. She's been doing a radial printmaking lesson, which has been really, really cool. It's, I think, been really fabulous to have her because it is one of those lessons where you need a little bit of expertise in the field. It's not something a student could easily just sit down and do on their own. So it's been really fabulous to see her just really support the students in creating these really amazing art pieces.

Rebecca: You'll go through sort of a whole cycle of. Of park days doing the same basic lessons. Right. And so it's not like every park day is a different thing. So somebody should chase in in order to get the full experience. They should chase you around all the days. Like they should get more or less the same lesson at each Park Day, Right? Correct.

Jenna: Yeah. And the results might be different and they can.

Rebecca: There's different dynamics with different personalities and.

Jenna: Absolutely, yes. But they will be getting the same park day lesson for two sessions in a row. We align our park day sessions, our Sequoia Studio Park Day sessions, with our club sessions.

Rebecca: Okay.

Jenna: And so for sessions two and three, they are going to be the same lessons, and then session 4, 5, 6 will be the same lessons as well.

Rebecca: Okay. How will you know by the end of the year if this has been successful? What is, what is your ultimate sort of goal?

Carrie: Well, I love that question myself because I think ultimately one of our focuses is about building school community. We have such a wonderful organization in Sequoia Grove Charter alliance already. But to add music, movement, art, all of those pieces connect us in a way that basic conversation just doesn't. Whether it's the vocabulary we're using or it's, we're all feeling that same rhythm, or we're. We're exposing ourselves selves and opening ourselves up to the curious possibilities of what might come next. On my page, on my blank canvas. Right?

Jenna: Definitely. I think we're excited to have conversations with the family liaisons and see what we can do differently next year to make it more successful. However, we also are already gauging our success this year based on student responses and family responses, and they've been really incredible. And we've had, like Carrie mentioned, a lot of students coming to the same clubs over and over, coming to park Days. It's. We're getting to know a lot of these kids that are coming to all things Sequoia Studio, and that's been really incredible. And I even just had an email come in our Sequoia Studio inbox that said, thank you. You have made such an impact on my students lives this year. And to me, that's how we can gauge our success.

Carrie: What could be more rewarding?

Jenna: What can be More rewarding than that. Absolutely.

Carrie: And I've loved how they've said, where can we find all Sequoia Studio information right in one place?

Jenna: Yes.

Rebecca: Is there an answer to that?

Jenna: There will be very soon, because we were working on a page in the bridge right now, and so we were. We're currently building that to. So that families can see everywhere we're going to be.

Rebecca: And go ahead and tell us your email so that families know how to get a hold of you.

Jenna: Our email is sequoia studio, grove.org so.

Rebecca: Learn to spell Sequoia. And you're good.

Jenna: Yes.

Carrie: U O I A We need a song with that.

Jenna: Yes, we do.

Rebecca: So, I mean, it sounds like it's going fabulously. So one of my questions is, how's it going so far? Well, you've clearly. What are you looking forward to going forward? Like, what are you looking forward to as the year continues? I mean, really, you're just kind of a month into this in a lot of ways. Right. Like, before, that was planning, and now you're just starting to execute, and we're actually recording this fairly close to when we're going to release it. So it's. It's just. It's still pretty new. And I'm confident that in a year, this conversation will be a little outdated because I know you guys are going to grow and adjust and come up with new ideas. But for now, like, what are you looking forward to for the rest of this year or in the future?

Carrie: Well, I'm already just enjoying utilizing the skills I've developed after teaching so many years as an elementary classroom teacher and music teacher. And like Jenna said, I do love pivoting when I. I see what needs to be done. So that's. That's refreshing for me to get back to teaching and really focusing on the student need and what I might bring to them. The other thing I'm really excited about, and I won't lie, I want. I want to bring musical literacy to all students. So they're learning a language. Music is a language. And even the last four park days I had, it was really exciting for me to see students start to come up with their own symbol, sound, relationship, meanings. And then even some students knew something about musical notation and ended up teaching that to the other students that were there. So I was. I couldn't be more thrilled if I could see our community of students learn that language.

Rebecca: That's cool.

Jenna: Yeah.

Rebecca: Yeah, that's neat.

Jenna: And I'm just looking forward to getting our name out there more. And for families and students to know what is available through Sequoia Studio. So it's been so amazing getting to know these kiddos already and I really want to just keep that ball rolling and see even more kiddos show up to these park days and clubs. And I can tell you in terms of next year, we're looking forward to providing, you know, pre organized Park Day activities, art lessons specifically to outlying areas that we can't go out to ourselves because our. Unfortunately our teachers can't be everywhere all the time. But we can certainly help put some lessons together for family liaisons and Park Day hosts.

Carrie: One thing that strikes me as exciting is that when we meet our students at club days or even in person at park days where we're surrounded by other HSTs, family liaisons and parents and siblings even for that matter, we're having what, what I call a numerous experience which that's really bringing the community together. We're experiencing something together in the arts which is play. It's helping develop students brains basically. You know. Right. The neuroscience is in that all of those things, play, movement, art, connecting helps students, not helps students, but also helps us as adults get to the prefrontal cortex of our rational brains. So I'm, I'm really excited that our community, even as stellar as it is, what if we could connect our community even further having having these experiences through.

Rebecca: The arts and the research is in that art and music is huge for your, your brain's development, your brain's health, your like it all across the board. Which I assume is the reason we have this propos 28 to fund it.

Jenna: It absolutely is. Yeah. And I think that, you know, a lot of people see the value in art and music and bringing those elements into core subject to enhance learning, which is incredible. But it's also incredibly powerful on its own. And they're, you know, doing art for art sake or music for music's sake. It doesn't have to be tied to a core subject to be powerful and really beneficial. And so I think that that's what we get to do is experience that ourselves and then also bring it to students to experience in that way.

Rebecca: I know my kids have really experienced that performance high too. Like yeah, when you, when you get really involved and there is, I mean it's a very real thing. The endorphins are.

Jenna: Oh for sure. And I think you even get that in creating art. I mean creating something that didn't exist before, I think you get that same experience and feeling out of it and you see it even in the Clubs. And the students are so proud of their artwork at the end, and they just want to spend the last 20 minutes just showing off and talking about everything they did in their art at piece. And it's just. Yeah, it's amazing. I think social, emotional benefits of doing art in both visual and performing arts, to help regulate emotions, to help express yourself. There's just so much value in the.

Rebecca: Arts and experience success. Yeah. And because it doesn't take much like it. Like your lesson, Carrie, wasn't nobody needed to know anything about music. And you're not throwing big, complicated things at them. You're not asking them to sing on key. You're just complaining.

Carrie: I went through the back door. I went through the back door. But I think that is the value of so many years of teaching, all the experience of my past, and finally coming to this realization. Going through the back door is the most fun. And what do students want? They want fun. And what a joy it is when they figure out they've learned something that they didn't really realize they were learning. I love those light bulb aha moments.

Jenna: Yeah. And you've talked about building community, and it's been so fun, like I've said, to see some of the same students, but they're also having a blast getting to know each other. And so that's been really fun to see as well as students, you know, show up to a virtual club that I'm teaching. And hey, I saw you at the Park Day yesterday. And so it's been. Yeah. A really great way to build community.

Rebecca: And these are such great ways also for shy kids, too. Like, because you can kind of be in your own little world, but you're doing the same thing as somebody else next to you, and you can, you know, it slowly can break down.

Jenna: Yeah. And they can go at their own pace. Absolutely.

Rebecca: So there's plenty of Park Days coming. There are clubs to join. You guys are a creative force. So I know that you're going to come up with some more great ideas and. And everything that you're doing is really high quality and well thought out. And I can't wait to see what else. I can't wait to have more people come to our Park Day.

Jenna: Yeah, us too.

Rebecca: It'll be ugly. It'll be so fun. So thank you guys for being here today, for telling us all about this and for putting all of your. I can. You're both shining while you're talking about this. Like, I can see like, you're putting heart and soul.

Jenna: We are having way too Much fun.

Carrie: Yes, we are.

Rebecca: We.

Jenna: Yeah. I think it's something we all care so much about and are so passionate about. And so it just, it makes this team so much fun because everybody just cares and puts their heart into it. It's like this matters. We're here to have fun. Yes. But it matters for so much more than that and for a lot of the reasons that we've discussed. And so I think everybody just knows the power of the visual and performing arts. You know, we've experienced it ourselves. And so we are just thrilled to have the opportunity to bring that to students.

Rebecca: I'm totally confident that in a couple of years you're going to start hearing stories like, my kid did an art project at the park and realized how much they loved it. And now they've gone on to do these lessons and have learned, blah, blah, blah.

Jenna: Yeah. And I cannot wait because I was that kid with that story in high school and I can't wait to hear that from students.

Rebecca: Or we tried this music lesson or this ukulele and my kids loved it and now they're like going crazy with the guitar or violin or whatever. You know, I just, I know those stories are gonna come in teaching.

Jenna: It has always been one of my very favorite things to see students surprise themselves because I think that art, and I know even like singing, there's this misconception that you're gifted or you're not, that you can do it or you can't. And I can't tell you how many times I've heard an adult say, oh, I can't even draw a stick figure. Well, the last. Or I can't sing or I can't sing. But when's the last time you tried. Tried to draw? Maybe when you were 12. That's probably why you draw like a 12 year old. You know, it kind of tracks. And so it's just always been really fun to teach art and see students make progress and begin to learn things and surprise themselves and go, oh my goodness, I can do this. I am an artist.

Rebecca: And there's so many different ways to be an artist too. I think that's something I very much learned further into my adulthood, even in like watching how my own kids are creative in so very different ways. Both artists, you know, they might all be artistic, but in it exhibits itself in such completely different way.

Jenna: Oh, totally. I think my daughter is a lot like me and is a works on paper kind of girl. And my son, I mean, we have to hide the boxes from Amazon when we get them because he will build everything, and all of his creations are forever things that we can't get from. So as soon as we get a delivery, I'm like, throw out the box.

Rebecca: There's no more room.

Jenna: There's no more space in our house.

Rebecca: Well, ladies, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing your talents and knowledge and excitement with our families. And I can't wait to see where this goes and hear the feedback from families and families. When you're getting a new project started, it's so encouraging to hear that you've enjoyed it. So email them at sequoiastudio@sequoiagrove.org and let them know what's going well and how that's impacted your kids and how they can encourage your kids further. They'd love to hear from you.

Jenna: Yes, we love to hear from you. Thank you so much for having us.

Rebecca: Oh, it's been my pleasure. Thank you listeners for joining us today on the Sequoia Breeze Podcast. I hope this has been a breath of fresh air for your homeschool. I've been your host, Rebecca La Salvio. I'd love to hear from you at podcasts@sequoiagrove.org and don't forget to find Sequoia Studio at a park day near you or a club. You can always find out where they're at in the Sequoia Scoop. And coming soon to the Bridge.