News Archive
In May 2012, the Primary School students reached their reading challenge goal of reading more than 300,000 pages read since November of 2011!!!
To celebrate, we transformed the school into a HUGE arcade on May 18 from 12:30-3:00. The students enjoyed food, fun, games, and their friends to recognize their accomplishment!
On April 19th, the Pre-K and Primary School students of Carolina Prep performed in the annual school musical.
Called "Broadway Beat," this year's musical featured favorite Broadway showtunes, such as "We Go Together" from Grease, "Seventy-Six Trombones" from the Music Man, and "For Good," from Wicked. All of our performers did well, and received a standing ovation from our audience of friends and family.
On Thursday, March 8th, Carolina Prep hosted its Second Annual Art Show. Artists of all ages (even as young as our infants) had the opportunity to display some of their finest creations already framed.
For this fundraiser, the staff at Artworks frames our children's creations, and produces prints for our families and friends. Each framed piece is only $35 including tax, with 25% of pre-tax sales going back to the school.
To celebrate Heart Month in February, the students, staff, and parents did a lot to get their hearts pumping.
We spread the word about heart disease through our outreach with Jump Rope For Heart and our trip to Your Carolina (watch the video here).
We took a cardiac approach to working out with our highly successful Jump Rope For Heart event where Pre-Preppers through Fifth Graders came together to jump, run, hop, kick, bounce, and toss. We even took a moment to appreciate the emotional connection of the month with Valentine's dates and classroom parties. But what we are the most proud of - the amazing success we had helping the American Heart Association. Carolina Prep is proud to announce that we surpassed our initial goal, raising $2,142.50 with our 26 students on the Carolina Prep Team.
On Monday, February 20th, the staff members of Carolina Prep were ready for learning, but not the kind you would expect.
The teachers weren't in their classroom, they didn't have their students, and they didn't use their own lesson plans. The day was devoted to staff development and training.
The school kicked off the morning with a session on Integrating Arts Into the Curriculum. This session, hosted by B.J. Dillard and Michelle Doyle, modeled methods for utilizing art, music, kinesthetic, and dramatic activities into the teacher's lessons. Given the school's excellent enrichment assets, collaborative planning was also discussed to encourage making cross-curricular connections.
The second training session of the day included a Love & Logic webinar by Dr. Charles Fay. Dr. Fay presented strategies that could be used in the classroom to effectively prevent and elminate challenging behaviors in the early childhood setting. A panel of Love & Logic trained staff members were on hand to recommend strategies for specific scenarios for any individuals that wanted further guidance.
The afternoon training included our resident medical advisor, Mr. Matt Collom, and his Bloodborne Pathogen training. At Carolina Prep, we strive to achieve safety for everyone - the students, staff, teachers, and parents. The insight provided by Mr. Collom in this training helps to eliminate the spread of germs throughout our school. In the words of Mr. Collom, "If it's wet and it's not yours...DON'T touch it!"
To finish off the day, BJ Norris led an instructional training on enhancing communication within the program. This session discussed the modes of communication that are used within our school, how these methods could be strengthened, and the positive effect of appropriate communication with students, parents, colleauges, and administration.
The staff members enjoyed having the opportunity to continue to develop their skills and knowledge base. They look forward to implementing their newly learned and developed strategies!
For Valentine's Day, our Fourth and Fifth Graders collected Sasha Bears from
Scentsy to deliver to the children of the local Ronald McDonald House and in
long-term care at Greenville Memorial.
These stuffed animals feature an opening
that accommodates a scent pack, because as several studies have shown, scent
therapy can be very beneficial for children with long-term illnesses such as
cancer.
Scentsy donated 100% of the proceeds from the bears to the national Ronald McDonald House Charity. One of our parents is a Scentsy representative, and donated all of her commission (not just from the sale of the bear) to our local Ronald McDonald House. In this way, our local children received both the bears and the financial contribution, and the national Ronald McDonald House received proceeds, as well.
2011 Holiday Food Drive
In November, our families brought in 448 pounds of food in last month's food drive! Loaves and Fishes picked up our
"harvest," and took it to local programs right here in the Upstate! We are very grateful to our families for their generosity.
Community Garden Grows Vegetables for Project HOST
Our first Community Garden was a modest success. Over the course of the summer, the Pre-School children lovingly raised pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. In all, 20 pounds of fresh vegetables were delivered to Project HOST, showing how even the smallest hands can accomplish big things.
ITBS Scores demonstrate the success of our Primary School program
Iowa Test of Basic Skills results were received in May. As always, we are very pleased with the students' hard work, and we believe that our exemplary teachers and Core Knowledge Curriculum attest to the continued success of our program.
Breast cancer is a devastating and deadly disease that has struck nearly 2 million American women in the past decade. One in eight women will suffer from the disease in her lifetime. Many of us have been affected by breast cancer or know someone who has. There is currently no cure for this deadly disease so every effort we make together is one that will benefit us all.
On September 24, Carolina Prep's "Team Prepper Steppers" took part in the Upstate's Race for the Cure. We appreciate First Grade teacher Michelle Doyle and Mrs. BJ Dillard for their efforts in coordinating Carolina Prep's participation in this worthy event!
In July 2011, our two Pre-K classes enjoyed learning about a variety of sports. While learning about football, both classes challenged each other to the first annual "Souper" Bowl. Putting aside all competitive feelings, they learned the meaning of giving back. Over several weeks they collected over 100 pounds of food items to donate to Greer Soup Kitchen. The children felt great about giving back to their community and helping those less fortunate.
In May, Carolina Prep collected almost a thousand pounds of supplies for the people of Cullman, Alabama.
The school's families and staff collected enough formula, diapers, toys and children's bedding to fill a 14-ft delivery truck, and BJ Norris, a school administrator, transported the donations to a distribution center in Birmingham on May 7, 2011.
"When we heard about the devastation in Alabama, our natural reaction was to want to help," said Ms Norris, Director of Operations at the school. "We can all empathize with the suffering that comes with that kind of loss, and our children and their families felt that we should do whatever we could do to help."
Soon after the news emerged about the destruction in Alabama, the school administration sprang into action, calling on its network of families and friends to collect anything that would be of use to someone who has lost everything. Among these items were diapers, formula, and soap.
"Many people are quick to offer food and clothing," said Ms. Norris, "but sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference. Little things like soap and toothpaste are always appreciated."
Ms. Norris and her family drove the truck to Alabama on May 7th. Deadly tornadoes swept through five states on April 28, killing at least 236 people in Alabama alone, and a hundred more in other states.