Currently Reading: Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley

Movie: Love Story

Food: Ethiopian Food

Animal: Lion

This month's teacher is Ms. Tezeta from the Baby Dragon's "Blue" classroom. Ms.Tezeta was raised in Palmdale California with her parents and younger sister. Her parents migrated from Ethiopia and have been here since the 1970's. Her extended family is quite large. In fact her mother has 19 brothers and sisters. This has given Ms.Tez many playmates as well as many children to look after and mentor during the years. This is why she feels so comfortable around children. One of her personal goals for the New Year is to sell some of her oil paintings.

Ms. Tez said that she is very thankful and proud to have her job at Camelot and happy to be a part of such a supportive community of people. One of her major goals is to work towards exposing the children to experiences in the class that will encourage them artistically and encourage their verbal skills.

January  30^th, 2010 - Moving In 9am-2pm

This Saturday we are moving furniture and setting up our new classrooms in both the current building and new one.  We would love some help from some parents who don't mind a bit of lifting a bit of cleaning and a bit of fun.

February 1^st, 2010 - New Class Assignments

As of Monday the 1^st the current Little Dragon "Purple" kids will be in their new "Yellow" classroom with Miss Gaby and Miss Candy.  The Big Dragons "Yellow/Orange" will temporally move into the Purple classroom until our new classes are ready.  Everyone else will remain the same. 

Little Dragon's Purple move into their new "Yellow" classroom and officially become Little Dragons "Yellow"

February 10, 2010 - Earthquake Drill

February 11, 2010 :  Deklan's 2^nd Birthday Celebration!! - 3.30-4.30pm

Can you believe it was 2 years ago when Renae brought a 36 hour old Deklan to DSS...with his placenta still attached ("Lotus Birth") - and obtained Camelot's license?  To mark this milestone which just so happens to co-inside with the grand opening of our new building and our "Planes, Trains & Automobiles enrichment class we decided to do something extra special for the kids at Camelot.  Deklan is into "Choo Choo's" right now so everyone is welcome to come celebrate and ride the train from 3:30pm-4:30pm .   No presents please!!  If you would like to donate something towards our new classroom and for all our kids to enjoy that would be greatly appreciated.  The teachers have a wish list at https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/wishlist/wishList.jsp?grh_id=8727923301655004&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1214595465797

February 12, 2010: Parents Night Out

Do you need a break? Some time with your mate? Well this is the night to do it. This monthly event is fun filled with games, fun and pizza! Children are encouraged to wear pajamas and towards the latter part of the evening will get to watch a great movie while dozing off to sleep. The hours for this event are from 5-10p.   The rates are: $35.00 per child w/ an additional $10.00 per sibling.

February 14, 2010 - HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

February 15, 2010: CK Closed - President's Day

February 19, 2010: License Anniversary Party and Grand Opening of our New Building!

Yay! We received our license on February 14, 2008 and are very excited to celebrate our two year anniversary with families and friends!!! We're also celebrating the Grand Opening of our "Big Dragons Classroom".   It's a night where our current families can meet our new families and enjoy our new space.  The kids will watch a movie in the studio while the parents bring a dish, wine and come celebrate! 

February 26, 2010 - Picture Day

We ask that all families arrive to school ON TIME (8-9a). We will be starting promptly at 9a so that we have time to photograph all of the children (from youngest to oldest). Any families that do not attend school on this date may attend, so that they can have their pictures taken.

NEWS

Classroom Updates

As you know, Camelot is in the final stages of construction of the Big Dragons (Red & Orange classrooms). We will now expand from 4 classrooms to 6. An organized transition is very important for the many changes that will be occurring. Please see below for the new classroom locations:

Class                           Teacher                          Location

Baby Dragons              Ms. Natalie & Ms. Tez      Blue Classroom

Baby Dragons (New)    Ms Erin & Ms Doris          Purple Classroom

Little Dragons               Ms Gaby & Ms Candy      Yellow Classroom

Little Dragons (New)     Ms Gohar & Ms Kathleen  Green Classroom

Big Dragons                  Ms Tracy & Mr Robert       Red Classroom

Big Dragons                  Ms Elizabeth & Mr Sean     Orange Classroom

*Please keep in mind that the teachers are not changing just the classrooms will be moving locations.

WE NEED HELP!!!! 2009/10 Yearbook Committee:

We are looking for a few parents to organize, plan and execute our 2009/10 yearbooks. This will be our first year of yearbooks and we're so excited! The yearbooks will be a lot of work so we need some dedicated people who are willing to put in some time and effort to create the best book ever! If you're interested in putting it together please email us at info@camelotkids.com.

Welcome our New Teachers!

We are happy to be welcoming our fabulous new teachers to the Camelot Kids Community.

We hope you will too! 

Erin Carr (Baby Dragons "Purple") - Erin is originally from the east coast and just recently moved to Los Angeles. She received her Masters in Education from Wagner College in New York and has been working with children from preschool age through elementary school for the last 10 years. In her spare time she enjoys Shakespearian Literature and loves to put on dramatic plays.

Doris Ryan (Baby Dragons "Purple") - Doris graduated from Ithaca College in New York State with a BA in Spanish and earned a Masters from the University of Americas in Mexico City. She is certified in the Montessori Method and taught in The New World School in Paramus NJ for 8 years. She enjoys salsa aerobics and has raised 5 children of her own.

Gohar Abryham (Little Dragons "Green") - Gohar has been a lead teacher for Monterey Park preschool for 2 ½ years and is currently working towards her B.A in Early Childhood development. She enjoys spending time with her friends and families scrap booking, photography and shopping. 

Kathleen "Kat" Avila (Little Dragons "Green") - Kathleen has been working with preschool children for the last 6 years and is currently attending Pasadena City College and majoring in Child Development. She has completed 23 ECE units and is working towards her BA in Early Childhood Education. In her spare time she enjoys singing, dancing and going to music concerts.  She is also excited to be working with her big brother "Sean" at Camelot.

Welcome New Families

We plan on moving into the new classrooms by 16^th of February (pending final inspections) and would like to welcome our new families to Camelot.  Please make them feel at home and help them with any questions they may have.

Summer Camp 2010

Summer camp starts July 5, 2010 and goes through August 27, 2010. Please note that we are a year round program and we do not pro-rate tuition for families who leave for summer vacation.  Everyone is required to pay every month to hold your child's space for September enrollment. This is so that the staff can work their full-time schedules and to keep consistency throughout the program.

If you're a Big Dragon  we kindly request that you inform us by the 6^th of February whether you are leaving the last day of school or planning on staying through to the end of summer camp so we can offer any available spots to our wait listed parents.

Schedule Request

We are currently in the process of "Fall Enrollment" and require "ALL" parents to fill out the pre -registration form located on our website and let us know if you would like to change or add days or remain on the same schedule for July or Sept 2010.   Please hand this in to Sherilyn by 6^th February. 

Siblings - pre-registration

As you know siblings have first priority for any available spaces for the New Year, so we require all parents who intend on enrolling them for Sept 2010 or Sept 2011 to please fill out our online interest form.  This will ensure you are on our "Wait List Database" which we are using to secure spots for future enrollment.  If you are not on this new database your space may be given to other wait listed parents who are.  To secure your space please return the "Pre-Registration" form no later than February 6th, 2010.

We are closing all schedule changes and siblings pre-registration by 6^th of Feb.  Once this is closed we will be offering all available spaces to the wait listed parents.  These new families will be notified by March if they will be accepted into the program for the new school year.

Lost and Found

We are cleaning out all our Lost & Found bins and will be donating any items that are not collected by the 15^th of February to the Goodwill.  

Shoes & Jeans for Kids of Haiti

We are collecting gently used shoes & clothing for the "Kids of Haiti".  Please leave all donations in the main office by 8^th of February.

THANK YOU

A BIG BIG thank you to Tom (Audrey's Dad) for helping us design our new eco-friendly classrooms. We are sure you all agree the building looks amazing, and we cannot wait to move in and enjoy it! THANKS TOM!!!

A BIG BIG thank you to Mario (our wonderful contractor) who was a pleasure to work with and we are so proud to have had it built it in only 3 months!   If you need any construction work done we highly recommend him.  PH:  323 - 363 0619

Special Thanks to Eric Poppleton for his awesome photography presentation' that took places this last month.

We also want to Thank Mylissa Grieve for donating our beautiful concrete stain that was used for the NEW! Big Dragon Classrooms.

UPCOMING EVENTS

March 2010 - BBD & LD Field Trips

March 15, 2010 - Last week of enrichment

March 25, 2010 - Parent conferences begin