Camelot Update 2014-10-26

Greetings!

I hope you are enjoying this wonderful stretch of fall weather!  The sunshine and comfortable temperatures helped to make Picture Day a success. A huge "thank you" to Ms. Wendy for all of the advance work, Ms. Jill P for handling the myriad of "day of" logistics and all of the teachers and staff who were flexible and cheerful in the midst of a long and complicated day. We are barreling towards Mid-Semester and the holidays faster than seems possible.  Fasten your seat belts for busy times!

This Friday the Lower School classes will have Fall Festival activities at the end of the day. Classroom teachers will communicate with you directly about any particular costume themes.   All costumes should adhere to our guidelines of nothing gory, no fake weapons, no witches, ghosts, devils or anything else that is not school-appropriate.

Friday is also Mid-Semester.  By the end of the following week, Middle and Upper School parents will receive an email with Mid-Semester grade info. MAPP parents will receive a report in the mail with a First Quarter update.

Is there a mechanical engineer in the parent body?  One of our students is working on an invention as part of the Science Inventions Club and is in need of a consultation.  If you can help, please let me know.  This is a Parent Service opportunity!

We have ongoing Parent Service work available for those interested in Saturday leaf raking over the next month.  Please contact Mr. Mike directly at mike@camelotacademy.org.

Here's a look at the upcoming week:

Wednesday -

- Hendrix College (AR) rep visits

Thursday -

- Earlham College (IN) rep visits

Friday -

Lower School Fall Festival activities

Mid-Semester

I hope you have a great week.

Camelot Update 2014-10-19

Greetings!

What a productive week we had - the activity spilled right into the weekend!  Yesterday, not only did we have a crew of high school students take the PSAT at school, but an equally-as-large crew showed up outside to help with the installation of the National Honor Society-inspired rain garden.  Thanks to the organizational efforts of Ms. Jenny and Ms. Amy as well as the invaluable work and input of parent Dave Milkereit, much progress was made.  NHS president senior Zax Milkereit had a great deal of additional help bringing his vision to reality  - many thanks for the wonderful parent and student turnout.

Congratulations to Senior Lance Wilkes who has been named a Commended Student by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.  His 2013 PSAT scores placed him in the top 5% of the 1.5 million juniors who took the test last year.

Our Module 1 Merit and Honor Roll students have been announced.  Please refer to the Family Handbook to review the academic, behavioral and attendance criteria for achieving each status.

Merit Award:  Ethan Salemy, Gabriella Taylor, Teresa Zimmerman, Ephram Oliver, Sofia Fonseca, Issie Brown, Heather Hartman and Mack Taylor.

Honor Roll Award:  Lance Wilkes, Zack Milkereit, Zander Hall, Ryan Felton, Fiona Castorina, Olivia Castorina, Elizabeth Provenzale,Yuqing Liu, Jeremy Lin, Cole Kurtzman, Ben Kirby, Victoria Hill, Peter Zhao, Danny Sutton, David McShea, Chase Lewis, Simon Dong, Abby Weber, Ben Sharp, Christopher Radcliffe, Chase Laster, Rachel Kowis, Willa Holt, Amzie Yurko, William Whetzel, Haley Pitino, Ray Palma, Sean Kowis, Kira Arges and Evan MacDonald.

Camelot Academy's International Program is offering Family Outreach Opportunities as a learning experience for both our International and US students. For those interested, we invite you to sign up to have one of our international students participate in a weekend activity with your family such as a dinner, a local festival, a sport's game, play, or any upcoming Halloween festivities or Thanksgiving Day traditions you are willing to share. This is a wonderful mutual exchange in which Camelot families can better get to know our international students as well as better expose them to the community in which they live.  This is also a Parent Service Opportunity!

If you would like to participate, please click on the following link: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0A44A5AD2DA6FC1-international

Please choose a general weekend that works best for you, and we will get in contact about the specifics.   Please contact Ms. Stephanie atstephanie@camelotacademy.org with any questions.

Basketball Season starts in early November.  We are in need of more players - our co-ed team is open to students in grades 6-12.  Please contact Ms. Krista for more info at krista@camelotacademy.org.  NHS has a sports scholarship available - contact Ms. Amy atamy@camelotacademy.org  for more information.

School pictures are being taken this Friday.  If you wish to order whole school or homeroom group pictures, they must be preordered with the forms that went home last week. The order deadline is this Wednesday, October 22.  Please be sure your student comes dressed appropriately on Friday - NO T-SHIRTS, please!

On Saturday October 25 from 10am - 12pm, Pfeiffer Institute Reach, located in Morrisville, is offering a FREE workshop designed to help parents learn skills that will improve their relationships with their children: opening channels of communication, parenting styles, managing inappropriate behaviors, and setting boundaries.  The workshop is open to parents and caregivers; those who attend will receive a voucher for one FREE therapy session.  Kids get something too! While their parents are in their workshop, there will be a FREE children’s workshop for ages 6-12 to improve skills such as communication and emotional self-regulation in a fun and creative way. More information can be found here: http://www.pfeifferreach.org/Workshops.en.html.

It's that time of year!  Mr. Mike is starting a list of parents willing to help with leaf raking over the coming weekends.  Please send him an email atmike@camelotacademy.org if you would like to help with this Parent Service job.

Coming up this week:

Monday -

- Centre College (KY) rep visits

Tuesday - 

- Tulane (LA), Eckerd (FL) and Vanderbilt University (TN)                                                                                                                 reps visit

Wednesday -

- Deadline to order group pictures!

Friday -

- School Picture Day!

Have a great week!

Camelot Update 2014-10-12

Greetings!

We just completed one of the most important weeks of the school year and my heart is filled with gratitude and appreciation for the wonderful work done on behalf of our students.  In addition to the stated agenda of relaying academic information and establishing benchmarks, the outcome of strengthening family-teacher relationships is equally important and a beautiful thing to behold.  Thank you to everyone for making these meetings a priority, for bringing so much to the table and for providing us your all-important feedback.  Our work for the remainder of this year - and beyond - will benefit.

I came across an important article recapping what scientists know about how we learn best and the implications to how we study.  What perfect timing for a week filled with discussions about such things!  You can find the article here:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/better-ways-to-learn/?emc=eta1

Our conference meetings resulted in a lot of brainstorming and ideas.  Below are some resulting calls to action:

From Ms. Charlotte:

We would like to find opportunities for Camelot students to use the Spanish language in our community with native speakers. Ideally, the opportunities would occur during the school day or directly after school. Please contact Charlotte@camelotacademy.org  with any leads for such opportunities.

From National Honor Society:

National Honor Society has again promised an ice cream party for the whole school once our students collectively perform 500 hours of Community Service.  Any hours that have been performed since the first day of school can count.  Forms that a parent needs to sign to verify hours will be in the Big Hall, or you can email amy@camelotacademy.org.  In keeping with the theme of the year, "Building Bridges", there is a bridge in the Big Hall across which a knight will move as the students acquire hours.  The goal is to reach 500 hours each semester.  Last year we did slightly more than this over the course of the whole year, so this is an ambitious goal, but it is reachable.  Please encourage your students to perform service and to give to our community!  We will continue to promote various options at school, and you can find other opportunities atwww.handsontriangle.org. 

One of the first ways Upper School students can do service is by coming to a Rain Garden Workday on Saturday, October 18!  National Honor Society, with help from parent Dave Milkereit and Ms. Jenny, is building a rain garden between the main school building and the playground.  If you can come from 10AM - noon or from noon - 2 PM (after the PSAT), please consider signing up here:  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0845A8AF22ABF49-upper.

From Ms. Amy:

Educational Enrichment Offering:  Duke University is now offering an educational initiative called Splash that allows middle school and high school students to participate in small, interactive seminars for one day each semester.  These seminars are taught and designed by passionate Duke students. The next Splash courses will be offered on Oct. 25 and registration is now open at https://dukesplash.learningu.org.  It is free of charge and lunch is provided.  The seminars offer a wide range of topics on everything from Astrophysics to Disney Movie Culture.

From Ms. Joyce:

The Upper School Computer Coding Class is recruiting speakers to talk to the class about the impact of computer science in their profession. Any parent who is interested in speaking or who can provide a bridge to such a speaker, please contact Joyce@camelotacademy.  This is a Parent Service Opportunity.

In other news, we have decided to move our Fall Festival this year back to a weekday afternoon.  We will plan some fun activities for the occasion on Friday, October 31.  Stay tuned for more details.

We have room for late joiners to the following after school clubs:

Wednesdays - Science Fair and Invention Club (Grades 6-12)

Thursdays - Science Extensions Club (KinderMapp and Jr MAPP)

Thursdays - Literary Magazine (Grades 7-12)

Please contact Ms. Wendy at wendy@camelotacademy.org  for pro-rated fee info.

Highlights of the upcoming week:

Wednesday:

- Virginia Commonwealth University rep visits

Thursday:

- Duke University rep visits

Friday:

- Final Home Game for our Soccer Knights at 4:30 PM (fans who wish to be transported send me an email by 5 PM Thursday.  Parents pick up at the field at 5:30 PM)

Saturday:

- 10th and 11th graders take the PSAT at Camelot - email with details will be sent Monday

Upcoming:

- Friday, October 24 -  School Picture Day

Basketball Season starts later this month.  We anticipate having a co-ed team.

If you have not already done so please contact Ms. Krista at krista@camelotacademy.org for sign up information.

IMPORTANT!  As we approach flu season, a reminder that students must be kept home if they have run a fever in the past 24 hours.  Also, students who have had stomach problems the night before or the morning of school should be kept home until several hours have passed and normal eating has resumed without incident. Not only will these steps help to keep our students and staff well, but they will prevent your child from the distress of awaiting pick-up in the midst of feeling miserable.  Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation.

Finally, please take extra care today to help your student collect and pack up all homework and other essentials needed when we return to classes tomorrow.  Students of all ages can benefit from this attention to a successful launch back into the routine following our break.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Camelot Update 2014-10-05

Greetings!

We have our first Open House of the year today from 2 - 4 PM.  This event is for prospective families.  Since word-of-mouth is by far our best means of recruitment, please be sure to reach out to any families you might know who would be interested in stopping by this afternoon.

Congratulations to Jeremy Lin, Sarah Fauver, Ben Kirby, Elizabeth Provenzale, and Johnny Qian on their recent acceptance to The National Honor Society.  On Friday, we officially initiated all members who have been accepted during the past year.  Upcoming NHS projects include building a rain garden, offering an incentive for community service hours performed by all students, building a “Can-struction” project of cans to donate to the Food Bank, and organizing the Third Annual Science Night. 

Thank you to parent Laura Fish who was our Upper School Career Speaker this week.  Our students have already had a bounty of exposure this semester to both colleges and professions.  Many thanks to Ms. Amy for the coordination of our Friday guests, and the many NHS activities.

Huge thanks to Hannah Bao, Elizabeth Provenzale, Amzie Yurko, Willa Holt, Ryan Felton, Cameron Stell, Mike Glynn and Tom Mitchell for providing child care on Thursday during Back-to-School Night for Middle Grades and Lower School.  Thanks to their efforts, we raised $140 towards canned food to start NHS’s “Can-struction” project

We look forward to welcoming you to Family Conferences this week.  Many thanks to Jill Pitino for the countless hours spent juggling a myriad of variables to produce the masterpiece of a schedule we have for next week.  Our appointment times are booked solid so please arrive a few minutes early to allow time to review student work before attending your meeting.  We also encourage you to plan for your conference by organizing your comments and questions in advance. 

This week:

Monday- Friday - No classes for Upper School

Monday and Tuesday - Lower and Middle Grades have regular hours, no clubs.

Wednesday - Friday - No classes for Lower or Middle Grades

(Optional Care by prior reservation)

Please note that students have homework assignments to complete this week! They have been coached in the creation of a study plan to use over the next several days.  Upper School students have those planners with them now and Middle Grades students will go home with them on Tuesday.

If your high school student has a Job Shadow Visit set up this week, please check the details and follow them carefully.  If any issues arise, please contact Ms. Amy at amy@camelotacademy.org.

I look forward to seeing you in conference!