Holiday wreaths/Greenery are available for pick-up at the school, starting tonight through the Winter Festival on Friday.

Dear Family and Friends of ACS,

Our Winter Festival is tomorrow at 6:00 here at ACS! In your student’s Friday folder tomorrow, you will find a puzzle piece. Please bring this puzzle piece to the Winter Festival. If your student’s puzzle piece is one of the 20 missing pieces to the puzzle, they will win a prize. Prizes include a skateboard, mini-basketball hoop, stuffed animals, snow disk, gift certificates and much more. Good luck! Please plan on attending this very special fundraising event for ACS!

Please welcome Morgan Pears to our ACS team! He is our new Facility Manager, as Boyd Peterson will be moving on to a wonderful opportunity to work with his brother in Oklahoma. We will miss Boyd, but welcome Morgan to our team!

Remember- Our PTO is moving ahead to create a Business Directory. This fundraiser is being created as a resource for our parents. You will be able to look in this directory for different services you may need knowing that these parents have paid advertising fees that have come right back to the school. If you would like to advertise your business or service through our Business Directory, please print off the form attached to this Newsletter and follow all of the instructions. You can also get a form from our office. The deadline is December 8th, so please get your form in if you want to be part of the Business Directory!

Please do not go out or come into the school through any of our doors except the front doors! This is a very important part of our safety plan, and we need all parents and staff to adhere to this rule! Thank you for your help!

Dates to Remember:

• Thursday, November 30- Girl’s Basketball Game- away- 4:00 (A Team Only)
• Thursday, November 30- Boy’s Basketball Game- away- 4:00 & 5:00
• Thursday, November 30- 4-8 Band Program, 6:30, Gym
• Friday, December 1- Winter Festival!
• Monday, December 4- Girls Basketball Game- home- 4:00 & 5:00
• Tuesday, December 5- Girls Basketball Game- home- 4:30 (B Team only)
• December 5- Boys Basketball Game- away- 4:30 (A Team only)
• Wednesday, December 6- K-2 Winter Program, 6:00, Gym
• Thursday, December 7- Girls Basketball Game- away- 4:00 & 5:00
  • December 7- Boys Basketball Game- home- 4:00 & 5:00
  • December 7- Orchestra Concert, 6:30, Gym
• Saturday, December 9- Boys Basketball Legacy Tournament- away- TBD (B Team only)
• Monday, December 11- Girls Basketball Game- home- 4:00 (A Team only)
  • December 11- Boys Basketball Game- home- 5:00 & 6:00
  • December 11- Governing Board Meeting, 6:00, Cafeteria
• Tuesday, December 12- Girls Basketball Game- away- 4:00 & 5:00
  • December 12- Boys Basketball Game- home- 4:00 & 5:00
• Wednesday, December 13- 3-5 Winter Program, 6:00, Gym
• Thursday, December 14- Dress Down Day!
  • December 14- End of Second Quarter
  • December 14- Elementary Virtue Assembly, 8:50, Cafeteria
  • December 14- MS Virtue Assembly, 2:50, Cafeteria
• Friday, December 15- Teacher Work Day- No Students
• December 16- December 31- Winter Break- School Closed!
• Monday, January 1- New Year’s Day- School Closed!
• Tuesday, January 2- K-8 Testing Day; Students by Appt.
  • January 2- Beginning of Third Quarter

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Kindra Whitmyre-Nelson
Dean of Academy Charter School
email: nelsonk@academycharter.org

Dear Families and Friends of ACS,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! I know I really enjoyed the time off with mine!

Here are a few of the activities that are happening for the rest of this month as well as some important events scheduled for January!

• Our next Virtue Assembly will be held on Friday, December 14th, at 8:50 in the cafeteria for elementary students and at 11:50 in the Gym for Middle school students. Please join us as we celebrate our Core Virtues!
• Elementary Homeroom parents are beginning to plan for their Winter Holiday parties. Please consult your elementary teacher’s newsletter for more details regarding this. Middle School grade level coordinators are also busy planning for the Middle school holiday parties. Please contact the following grade level coordinators and let them know how you can assist! 6th grade: Jill Charlton-Cramm, 303-660-4663; 7th grade: Karen Cox, 303-663-7461; 8th grade: Carolyn Kouts, 303-663-1688.
• The first Band program of the year will be held today, Thursday, November 30th, at 6:30 p.m. in the ACS gym. I know the students are working hard on their selections and are anxious to play for an audience!
• The first Orchestra program will be held on Thursday, December 7th, at 6:30 p.m. in the music room. The students have been working on their selections and are ready to “show off” their skills! Please join us for this event!
• The elementary Winter Program dates have been set. The K-2 program will be held on Wednesday, December 6th, at 6:00 p.m. in the ACS gym and the 3-5 program will be held on Wednesday, December 13th, at 6:00 p.m. in the ACS gym. You can always find this information on the ‘Event Calendar’ at the ACS website for all of these important dates! Once again this year, our teachers worked hard to create and organize the Winter productions. Our teachers can create a program consistent with a Winter Theme or they can create a program that celebrates the holidays. If they choose to celebrate the holidays, they work really hard to be sure we are celebrating all the holidays represented in our school community. The teachers who have chosen to celebrate the holidays will be observing Christmas and Hanukkah. We would like to know if there are any other seasonal holiday traditions that you would like to see represented. Please let your classroom teacher know if there is something else we need to include! Thank you for your help!
• Tuesday, January 2nd, is a reading testing day for all of our students. Please read the following information so you are well informed regarding how this important day will work:
• Elementary parents- Please come in and sign up for a testing time outside your student's classroom. Sheets will be posted by Friday, December 1st.
• MS parents- Middle School testing this year will be similar to last year’s testing in the spring. Some of our students will be individually tested, while others will be tested in a group. Please call our office on Monday, December 4th, or as soon as you can after that day, to schedule a time for your student to come in for testing. The office will let you know if your student will be tested individually or in a group, the times available and how long the testing will take. We need to have these scheduled before we go to Winter Break. If students have not been signed up by December 11th for a testing time, the office will be calling to schedule your student for a testing time.

It is such a pleasure to be a part of such a wonderful school community like ACS! I look forward to seeing many of you at the PTO Winter Festival!

Kendra Peters
Assistant Dean of Academy Charter School
email: petersk@academycharter.org

I am so happy to let you know that Robin and Sarah Gray were the lucky winners of our Volunteer Drawing and received a 20 pound turkey! Congratulations to these hard working volunteers!

We will have a drawing this month for all volunteers who have completed 20 or more hours. Please keep logging your hours so you can have a chance for a special prize.

A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who have been working on the Winter Festival—you folks have done a lot of work and I encourage all of our parents to support the school by attending the Winter Festival tomorrow night.

Thanks again for volunteering on our team!

Anne Belfrage
Volunteer Coordinator
belfragea@academycharter.org

Calendar

The PTO would like to thank the parent volunteers for helping with the baskets, decorations and working the Winter Festival event. Without all of your help, we could not have pulled this off. Thank you to Cheryl Ardrey for providing the crafts and to Ms. Villari for helping with the posters and signage.

A special thanks to the teachers and students for taking the time out of their day to create very special decorations for the Winter Festival. Your contributions to this event is what will make it special and unique.

A gigantic thank you to Kristen Bushlack and Brandi Essegian…the two ladies that brought all of these ideas together to provide the students and families of ACS and the Castle Rock community a wonderful start to the Holiday Season. These ladies have spent many sleepless nights and fought many battles to pull this new event together. Their talents, ideas and determination have amazed me every step of the way. The PTO and ACS are very fortunate to have you both!

On behalf of the ACS-PTO, we hope you and your family enjoy a fun start to the Holiday Season at Friday’s WINTER FESTIVAL

Misty O'Leary

Special Messages
We are excited about our fast-approaching Winter Festival, this Friday, December 1st, from 6pm-9pm. MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY!!!

Thank you for helping us to make this a successful fundraiser.

Denver Broncos offensive lineman Erik Pears (#64) will be at our Winter Festival signing autographs. If you bring in your Bronco paraphernalia he will be happy to sign it. We will also be auctioning off a signed Denver Broncos Football.

The PTO would like to sell Christmas trees at our Winter Festival on December 1st. If you might be interested in purchasing one of the beautiful live trees that will be at the festival, please let us know. If you let us know, you are under no obligation to purchase the tree, we would just like an idea of how many trees to order. The prices will be comparable to any other tree lots around town. Please contact Kristen Bushlack or Brandi Essegian if interested in purchasing a tree.

We would be pleased to have any help you might wish to offer, so please contact Kristen Bushlack at bradbushlack@msn.com (303-663-8966) or Brandi Essegian at BEssegian@aol.com to learn how to assist with the Winter Festival.

IMPORTANT – ACS BUSINESS DIRECTORY INPUT NEEDED
The PTO has approved the production of a Parent Resource Directory promoting businesses owned by ACS Parents. This will be a great, affordable way for businesses to gain exposure to families and staff as well as a way for the entire ACS family to help support businesses owned by ACS parents. If you are interested in learning more about advertising through school-based media, please contact both Greg Polashock and Kindra Nelson immediately by email. Their email addresses are Greg@GregIsFinancingSolutions.com and nelsonk@academycharter.org.

Fundraising Corner
Believe! Orders…
… came a bit over a week ago and were distributed to all the classes. The children should have come home with them. If an order is incorrect or damaged in any way, please call the number on your packing slip ASAP to get issues taken care of. Three orders were received that didn't have a child’s name on it. If you haven't gotten your order, please stop at the ACS front desk to pick it up.

Enrichment Corner
The registration form for the Abrakadoodle art education class was recently included in Friday Folders. The classes are on Tuesday December 5, Thursday, December 7th, and Tuesday December 12th from 4:15 PM – 5:30 PM. The instructor will need 15 minutes to set up the class before instruction can begin at the scheduled time. The registrations were due Wednesday, November 22. Check with Sherri Hill, Enrichment Committee Chair, regarding registration by the form or online at www.abrakadoodle.com/co04.html. Sherri’s contact information is below.

December – Abrakadoodle Art Education (Grades 1-8) (3 days, 12/5, 12/7, and 12/12, from 4:15 to 5:30 in Room 128) Cost is $45 and materials are included

Doodlers develop new skills and talents while designing unique creations using a variety of wonderful tools and materials. Each lesson introduces new techniques and artistic styles featuring contemporary and master artists specializing in acrylics on canvas, watercolor and sculpture. Children develop skills and confidence while having a blast. Always a new lesson!

To learn more about Enrichment opportunities, contact Sherry Hill at s.hill@beef.org or 303-814-2115.

Social Corner
PTO Social Committee coordinates Teacher Breakfasts on a monthly basis. To learn more about helping, contact Allyson Ford at allyson4d@hotmail.com.

Thanks so much to the following who helped make our November teacher breakfast a success! It was an awesome spread and the teachers really appreciated it!

Special thanks to:
Cinzia Bale, Debbie Davis,Mary Dunn, Cali Hanson, Tina Rolle, Mary Keller, Jill Cramm, Kim Gentry, Jan Cline, Jenni Schaffer, Carrie Herren, Melea Benzel, Cori Ruth, Debra Mirizio, Terri Nevarez, Susan Gadekan, Jenny Verberkmoes, Brandi Butticaz.
You guys are terrific!!!

Next Breakfast January the 26th.

Teacher Breakfasts are a great and easy way to not only show support for our outstanding staff; it is also an easy way to help satisfy part of your time commitment to the school.

… and Don’t Forget!…
Restaurant Nights
December’s Applebee’s Night is 12/5. Don’t forget to take your flyer, which will be included in Friday Folders. The Chick-Fil-A Restaurant Night (12/21) will be for the benefit of our Eighth Grade classes. As always, Chick-Fil-A accepts ACS participants ALL DAY LONG! Everyone is welcome to participate and, Eighth Grade Families, this is a great chance to show your school spirit by literally putting your money where your mouth is! Please show your school spirit and take advantage of restaurant nights. This is an easy way to support the classrooms and departments… and all you have to do is eat!!

Thank you for your continued support of these fun-alicious fundraisers that directly impacts the grades and departments at ACS!

Budget Requests
Budget Request deadline for the Feb. 8 meeting is January 24. Please remember, all budget requests must have completed its process and be in the PTO Board’s possession two weeks prior to a budget meeting. For more information, contact a PTO Board Member.

Teacher “Wish Lists”
Don’t forget to check out the teacher “Wish Lists” located on the ACS website. This is a great way to support the teachers and departments for the extra needs and wants that make the teachers jobs easier and more creative, and ultimately make our students learning experience even more fun.

ACS Middle School Alumni Spotlight - Andre

We are beginning a series of articles about former ACS students and their time at ACS, and how they are currently doing in high school. This information may be of interest to many ACS parents, and we encourage them to share the article with their children as well. This first interview focuses on ACS alumni Andre. His thoughts, in his own words, are shown in bold below:

What grade are you in and where do you currently attend high school?
I am a 9th grader at Regis Jesuit High School.

What was the biggest adjustment in your transition from ACS Middle School to high school?
The biggest transition I faced when transferring to high school was getting used to all the upper classmen and all the new people there at school including teachers and other previous members at the school before me.

How well did ACS prepare you academically? Are you more advanced in any subjects, behind in any, or seem to be even with everyone else?
ACS has truly prepared me for high school. Academically, for example I have been moved to advance math classes, science classes, and Spanish classes. I also had the opportunity to proceed to advance English classes but turned that down. I’m also prepared for all other classes that they throw at me so I’m going to have to say they really do help for your academic future.

Does anyone or anything in particular stand out from your years at ACS (teachers, classes, activities), and why?
Well, my math class at ACS, Algebra I, has helped me the most and it is the class I remember most at ACS. It has helped me have one of the highest grades in an advanced math class for sophomores.

Were you involved in any extracurricular activities while at ACS?
At ACS I was in Basketball.

Do you feel like you missed out on anything because you did not attend a different middle school?
Well previously before ACS I did attend Castle Rock Middle School, so I know what I would’ve been missing, and I’ve already experienced it, so no I don’t think I missed out on anything.

Were you prepared for high school because of what you learned at ACS?
I feel that ACS has helped prepare me tremendously for high school because I have learned so much material that will help in high school and will prepare you for life.

Do you have any final comments?
I feel as though ACS has done the most for me out of any other school I had been to previously. I also know that many middle school students have left ACS to go to CRMS, to them I would have to ask them what are you really going to school for, social time or academic? You should want to prepare yourself academically instead of socially for high school even though it is a big difference. Stick it out.

IB Program Enrollment

If your 8th grade student is interested in enrolling in the IB program at Douglas County High School, you can download the application form from the Douglas County High School website. The deadline for submitting these applications is December 1, 2006. Get an application here.

Deborah Wick
Admin. Asst.
303-387-1109