Camelot Kids
December 2009
Teacher of the Month
Ms.  Elizabeth
Ms Elizabeth
Favorites:
Color: Blue
Book: "A Child Called It"
Food: "Guisado De Res"
Movie: "Beauty and the Beast"
This month's teacher is Ms. Elizabeth from the Big Dragons yellow class. Ms. Elizabeth was born in Mexico City, Mexico. When she was 6 Years old she moved to Los Angeles with her mother and her two brothers. In her spare time she enjoys watching TV, playing with her little pit-bull "Charlie" and listening to music. She is now in the process of creating a resource center filled with books that will aid her in reaching what she calls "Her highest teaching potential". As a child she always had very hard time learning in school. She believes that this was because the people who taught her we're not able to reach her  and academically she felt she did not reach her full potential; because of this she is focused on reaching each student in her class. She sits and spends a lot of individualized time with each child. She actively works towards understanding every child that she is surrounded by to see how each of them thinks and learns. This can be very difficult to do, but when she does this, she gains more empathy and understanding towards all her students. The result brings more knowledge and insight as to why each child says and does what they do.
Thanks Ms. Elizabeth!

 
BRAGGIN DRAGON NEWSLETTER
Dear Parents,

There are a lot of updates for December so please make sure you read them all.
Artist of the month:
Fernando Botero- (born April 19,1932) is a Colombian figurative artist, self-titled "the most Colombian of Colombian artists" early on, coming to prominence when he won the first prize at the Salón de Artistas Colombianos in 1958.[1]. Botero's work includes still-lifes and landscapes, but Botero tends to primarily focus on situational portraiture. His paintings and sculptures are united by their proportionally exaggerated figures.

Career of the month: Painter

Word of the month: Caring

Feeling and exhibiting concern and empathy for others
Important Updates:

December 2009: Parent Conference Schedules Begin

Your classroom teachers will be contacting you in more detail, in regards to your parent conferences. Please look at the dates below so that you can set time aside during these weeks to come in and ask developmental questions as well as get to know your teachers better.
 
Baby Dragons & Big Dragons Yellow
Nov. 30 - Dec. 4 - M-F (8-8:45am)
 
Little Dragons & Big Dragons Green
December 7- 11 (M-F) 8-8:45am
 
Early Dismissal Day Friday December 11 (8-2p)
Conferences (2:30- 6:00p)


December 3, 2009 - Wednesday - Food donations due:
Our Winter Solstice Committee is having our final meeting before the big event and we need all the non perishable food donations to be dropped off by Wednesday 9am in order for us to sort and work out what we still need.  This includes champagne, juice boxes & food or things that can be stored in our fridge or freezers until the event.  All fresh food needs to be dropped off either Friday afternoon or 8am on Saturday.  If you have any questions about this please contact Renae or Loni.

December 4, 2009 - Decorating 12-5pm

We are setting up for the Winter Solstice from 12-5pm on Friday.  So if you signed up to help decorate your child will be able to stay with our teachers while we work outside.   If you haven't signed up but would like to help come by it's going to be fun!!

December 5, 2009: Winter Solstice (10-1p)

This year's Winter Solstice is the best one yet! We've added more crafts and games, delicious food, train rides and bouncy castle, plus our grand mound of snow for all the kiddies to ride down on. Santa will be visiting too and don't forget to purchase a tree here from "Delancy Trees". They'll be here supplying us with fabulous fresh trees for our train ride and for purchase!  We still have some fliers in the office to post throughout the neighborhood so please help us distribute them and promote this fun event.

December 9, 2009: Important Community Meeting at Ivanhoe Elementary School (5-7p)
Learn about the upcoming construction of the River Supply Conduit Improvement Project. They plan on closing lanes on Rowena and Silverlake Blvd will only be open to pedestrians for at least 6 months.  This will affect all of us and we highly recommend everyone attend.

December 10, 2009:  Thursday - Special Parent's Night Out
This year we decided to make a special "Shopping edition" of parent's night out. This will give some of our hard working parent's some much need "shopping without kids"/catch up time. This Parents Night Out by RSVP only, so please RSVP on EZ care when requested to let us know that you will be attending.

December 11, 2009: Early Dismissal Day (Parent Conferences)
School ends at 2pm on Friday December 11, 2009.   All children need to be picked up at 2pm in order for the teachers to meet with parents for conferences.

December 18, 2009: Last Day of School & Winter Showcase (12-1p)
This holiday event will be filled with holiday cheer. Bring out the grandmas & grandpas and don't forget the cameras. Seating is limited, so come early to get a good seat!

December 21st-December 31st.  Camelot Closed for Christmas Break
Enjoy your holidays and Happy New Year!

January 4, 2010: First Day of School

Important Reminders

JANUARY'S TUTION FREE - ENTER RAFFLE TO WIN!
We are raffling off a month of FREE tuition for the month of January. Contact Sherilyn to buy your tickets in advance or you can enter the day of the Winter Solstice.  Santa Clause will be drawing the winner at 12.30pm on December 5, 2009.  Tickets are $15 each or 2 for $20.  Enter as many times as you'd like.  YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

EZ CARE System:
Just a reminder that in December EZ Care will automatically charge you $10 for any late pickups.  We have a 15 minute grace period after your scheduled pick up time so it will charge you after 1:15, 2:15, 5:15 or 6:15pm.  No exceptions. 

It is a DSS requirement that all children are signed in/out each day so you will also be charged $10 if you forget to sign in/out.  If the system is down for any reason during your sign in/out please notify one of our staff and sign out manually on the sheet provided in front of the keyboard.  We will log you out once it is back up. 

EZ care will automatically charge $25 late fee for any tuition not received by the 5th of each month as per our tuition agreement.  No exceptions.

The system now leaves you messages and important reminders about upcoming events so please make sure you check messages or account balances before logging out.  The system will not let you press DONE until you have checked messages.

It is advised to sign in immediately upon arrival so that it staggers people and does not become too congested in the office right after 9am drop off. 

Photo Forum:
Camelot Kids has a photo forum which is by invitation only ensuring it is only used by our Camelot families and allows families to upload photos they take during the year of special events and classes.  These photos can then be shared with other families and on our website or used for our  "Yearbook".   So if you want to join click on the link and a request will be sent for us to approve you as a member.    http://camelotkids.ning.com/main/invitation/new 

THANK YOUS
A BIG BIG thank you to Canale restaurant for lending us their two fabulous Chefs (Ms. Corina & Ms. Aliza). The children took part in their "How to make a canale!" presentation. The best part of course was at the end when they got to try them.  Photos of the presentation are on our website.

BIG BIG Thank You to Daisy (Devon's mommy) for helping us paint all of our holiday decorations for our Winter Solstice.

A BIG BIG thank you to our Winter Solstice Committee (Renee, Sandra, Ali, Aleli, Heidi, Carrie, Patty, Latha, and Jess) for coming in and helping us plan and execute all of our events and crafts for our wonderful holiday event.  Also a big thanks to all the parents who have helped prep the items needed for the event.  We still have some last minute jobs that need to be done this week so please stop by and find out how you can help. 

Thank you again to all the wonderful families who brought a dish to our lovely Thanksgiving gathering!

Upcoming Events:
-January 4, 2010: First Day of school
-January 15, 2010: Parent's Night Out
-January 18, 2010: Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday-Camelot Closed
-January 25, 2010:  Winter Enrichment Begins
 
Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season.
 
Sincerely,
 

Renae, Loni and the staff
Camelot Kids