Camelot Update 1/22/12

Greetings!

Congratulations to senior Will Cunningham on his acceptance to Columbia College in Chicago.

We've had a very busy first week of the second semester.  One of the things I cherish the most about Camelot is the faculty's commitment to actively and flexibly work to best meet the needs of each and every one of our students each and every day.  As first semester assessment results have posted, there's a great deal of meeting, planning and reconfiguring that has gone on behind the scenes to fine-tune each student's experience.  Meanwhile, I've been reading, reading and reading every subject area report for every student......to ensure that our documentation of first semester progress is as informative and thorough as possible.  I am impressed and proud of the care our faculty has taken to produce these reports and I trust that you will find them a valuable tool in working with our school.  As per the school calendar, reports cards will be mailed by Monday, January 30.

Thanks to Christyn Klinck and Scott Mitchell for the GREAT Upper School volunteer pictures that were posted to our website this week.   Check it out here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camelotacademy/sets/72157628943507207/

This week is Club Preview Week!  What does that mean?  Your student may stay after school this week to "try out" any club that might be of interest.  Attendance will be taken as per the usual after school protocol.  Based on your student's try-out experience you have until this Friday to sign up for the club for the remainder of the semester.  (Camelot athletes will be provided a pro-rated option based on their sport schedule.)  All students received a blue club sign-up form last Thursday.  Please note that some of the forms did not include the Thursday Yearbook Club option.  You can download a form from our website here:

http://www.camelotacademy.org/forms.php

My Friday morning (8 AM) IPAD group is back in session.  We are spending the week trying the various note-taking apps (one per day) and will collect our reviews/feedback this Friday.  The apps under review are: Pages, Notability,Penultimate, UPAD, Evernote, Quickoffice and Notepad Pro.  We'll keep you posted on the student feedback.

Please remember that Wednesday, February 1 is the Option 3 and 4 Re-Enrollment Deadline.  This is the final date to re-enroll for 2012-13 for those seeking extended payment arrangements. 

Have a great week!

Best,
Thelma

Camelot Update 1/15/12

Greetings!

I hope that you are enjoying the long holiday weekend!

Three cheers for  seventh grader Richard Carruthers - our grand champion spelling bee winner!  We look forward to Richard representing our school at the regional competition in March.

Congratulations to Module 5 Merit Award students:  Evan Mac Donald, Cameron Kenchen, Xander Lord, Ray Palma, Kathleen Stancil-Sutton and William Whetzel.

Kudos to Module 5 Honor Roll students:  Briana Benkin, Carson Blythe, Virginia Bruhn, Wyatt Grose, Zachary Kartcheske, Sophie Ko, Stacia Jordan, Collin Wilkes, Sprout Royal, Richard Carruthers, David McShea, Rachel Milkereit, Danny Sutton, Ben Kirby, Elizabeth Provenzale, Sophie Reiter, Cameron Stell, Tessa Young, Alex Berro, Fiona Castorina, Olivia Castorina, Zander Hall, Zack Milkereit, Lance Wilkes, Spencer Ahn, Olivia Arges, Carolyn MacNair, Lyn Mattox, Elisabeth Parker, Brian Powell, Rachel Roush, AJ Palomar, Zachariah Claypole White, Zoe Dodge, Max Fried, Bri Oleson, Josh Pettway-Hinton, William Radcliffe, Megan Rusconi-Warner, Tate Arges, Sarah Chetty, Will Cunningham, Amber Rogers, Ryan Siebens and Eva Sutton.

Huge thanks to our two outside facilitators who made the events of this week possible - Christyn Klinck in the Upper School and Stephen Mullaney in the Middle Grades.  We look forward to working with them more in the upcoming semester.  Also, much gratitude to Upper School students Josh Stallings, Liz Reeder, William Radcliffe, Ryan Siebens and Brian Powell who have worked behind the scenes for the past two months to coordinate the Special Session activities of the Upper School.  Our students volunteered at the Food Bank, Community Gardens, Piedmont Wildlife, the Salvation Army, Habitat Restore, Habitat Build, Threshold, Human Kindness Foundation, and Book Harvest - to which we contributed approximately 1000 books!  In addition, parent Jennifer Sherwin of Self-Help Credit Union was among the guest speakers who came in to educate our students about organizations in our community with a mission to make a positive difference.  Of course, none of this could have been accomplished without the huge efforts, energy and flexibility of our teachers and staff who gave very generously to create a meaningful and memorable experience to our students.  Thanks, also, to Ms Judith for coordinating the trip to the Rembrandt exhibit and to parents Julie Smith, Karen Fried and Holly Franklin who helped with the transportation.  And yet more appreciation to Ms Krista for setting up the Middle Grades yoga trip.  You can check out the pictures to all of this and more on our web site photo gallery:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camelotacademy/sets/

We are now ready to plunge in to all of the learning and activities of Second Semester.  

Middle Grades students will enjoy very focused learning groups tailor-made to their progress in the first semester.  

Upper School students have had the option of making a few changes to their schedule - most notably the option of adding an introductory Latin class to their schedule taught by Ms Erin.  

All performance groups with Mr Glenn resume this week - for those who have enrolled.  

Students will come home with club sign up forms this week and we have lots of new additions - Shakespeare, knitting and computers - to name a few - in addition to the return of Lower School Lego Club and Upper School drama club.  Club Preview week is next week (week of January 23) and we are excited to launch this great slate of options for our students.

My IPAD group will resume this Friday at 8 AM.  I know that the holidays produced many new tablet users and I'm excited to work with students to maximize their use of these amazing devices.

Parent service help is needed this Saturday morning (January 21) in preparation for our afternoon open house.  Please sign up with Mike at  mike@camelotacademy.org

Speaking of Open House, please refer your friends and be sure Scott knows of any family that you send so that you get the appropriate account credit if the referral results in an enrollment.

Lastly, the next re-enrollment deadline is Wednesday, February 1.  This is the deadline for both extended payment options.  Please contact us with any questions.

We look forward to seeing you when classes resume on Tuesday.

Best,

Thelma

Camelot Update 1/8/12

Greetings!  

I hope that your first week of 2012 went as well as ours at Camelot.  The students and teachers were genuinely thrilled to see each other and everyone has gotten down to business with good attitudes, effort and results.  The Kindergarten and MAPP students have been "knocking the socks" off of their teachers with their assessment results, the Middle Grades students have wrapped up some loose ends and been doing some additional placement work in vocabulary and writing and the Upper School students reviewed and started their semester exams.  Everyone is looking forward to the excitement planned for Special Session next week.

Special Session, this Wednesday-Friday (January 11- 13) includes the following plans:

Kindergarten- Eighth grade spelling finalists will participate in the final round of the spelling bee to select one winner to move forward to the regional competition. Our classroom winners are:
Kindergarten - Andrew Sergison; Jr MAPP - Tully Daniel and Ephram Oliver; Sr MAPP - Olivia Goldsmith and Ryan Rusconi-Warner; Middle Grades - Evan MacDonald and Willa Holt; 7th/8th Grade - Ben Kirby and Sean MacNair. All of our students have learned valuable lessons about participating in this kind of "game" and we've been very proud of their sportsmanship and support of each other.  Special thanks to Ms Denise for coordinating the participation of our school. 

In addition to all of this spelling fun, some of the "specials teachers" have special activities planned next week for our youngest students.

Middle Grades students will have an outing to a yoga class on Wednesday to build on skills they learned in PE last semester.   On Friday, they will have an all-day clinic on setting individual and group goals conducted by Stephen Mullaney, an outside facilitator with whom we have been coordinating to plan a meaningful day.

Upper School students will host a series of guest presenters on Wednesday morning to learn about civic engagement opportunities.  They will then spend the next day and a half mostly off-campus working for some of these community causes.  On Friday, they will have a morning of extracurriculars hosted by their teachers with choices in everything from cake decorating to a jazz improv session.  On Friday afternoon they will travel to the NC Museum of Art to see the Rembrandt exhibit. We may need some parent service helpers to transport to the art museum on Friday.  If you are available from 12-3:15 PM and have a vehicle that transports at least five passengers please let me know if you are interested.

One of the organizations our Upper School students will be helping on Wednesday is the Book Harvest (http://www.bookharvestnc.org/ ).  As such, if you have any used children's books that you are willing to donate to this worthy cause please send them in no later than Wednesday morning. (No textbooks, please.)

On Tuesday - Upper School Students have an optional early dismissal following their morning exam.  Students may leave at 12:30 PM or may stay for a movie.

Friday (January 13) is the Option One Re-enrollment Deadline for 2012-13.  Please consult the paperwork you received last week (if your family did not choose the Early Re-Enrollment discount program).

The Yosemite trip is a GO!  We can add a few more folks - but the absolute airline deadline is this Friday (January 13).  If we can be helpful in putting together the logistics for your family, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thanks to RL Parker for the great pictures of the Camelot holiday concert held at Southpoint Mall.  Check them out here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camelotacademy/sets/72157628732132623/

Finally, congratulations to Senior Ryan Siebens on his acceptance to UNC-Asheville.

Next weekend is a three day weekend in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr holiday.  When we return on Tuesday, January 17, Second Semester will begin!

Have a great week!

Best,

Thelma

Camelot Update 1/1/12

Greetings and Happy New Year!  I hope that you and your family have enjoyed a 

nice break and are ready for the great things to come in 2012!



Congratulations to senior Ryn Wilkes on her acceptances to Fordham University 

and UNC Asheville.



Thanks to everyone for the great turnout to the Southpoint Mall concert two 

weeks ago.  Mr Glenn and his performers did a magnificent job - truly one of the 

highlights of the season!



Following are a few reminders to ease us into the new year and the month of 

January...



All classes resume on Wednesday, January 4.  

Upper School students embark on two days of review before starting their 

semester exams on Friday.  Upper School crates are out for parents to review on 

Wednesday and Thursday and Thursday from 8-8:30 AM is also drop in time with the 

teachers.



Yosemite trip sign up is due from Middle and Upper School students by Thursday, January 5.



January 11-13 is Special Session - a few days of special activities before the 

MLK weekend and the official start of second semester. Upper School students 

will be involved in community service, a trip to the Rembrandt exhibit and more.  

Middle Grades students will have activities with an on-site facilitator.  



Friday, January 13 is Option One Re-enrollment deadline - info being mailed home 

on Tuesday!



Later this month we will have second semester sign-up for clubs and the music 

performance groups.  Those activities are on hiatus for the next few weeks with 

Club Preview Week scheduled for the week of January 23.



First Semester grades will be mailed home on Monday, January 30.



There you go - a whole month of activity to look forward to!  Enjoy the rest of 

your break and I'll see you on Wednesday!



Best,

Thelma