CALENDAR OF EVENTS     

Reminder that Michael Cerkovnik will be Featured
on Fox News Morning Show
To help promote Davidson Day School’s 2009-2010 Lecture Series (beginning November 18th at 8:30 am) Michael Cerkovnik, Head of Lower and Middle School, has been asked to appear on the popular local TV morning show, Fox News Rising. The hosts of Fox News Rising, Anna Kooiman and Mark Mathis, will have a sit-down interview with Michael as he talks about the book The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. The interview will take place on Tuesday, November 17th during the 8:00 morning hour.


Two Upper School Students Make National Magazine
Tyler Malone and Tyler Parrott were pictured in Archaeology Magazine last month capturing their efforts in Belize as part of our school’s international trip this past summer. A dozen of our students joined an ongoing archaeological dig site excavating an ancient Mayan ruin and uncovering various artifacts. Click here to read the article.

Open House Expecting Record Attendance;
Space Still Available
Tell your friends and neighbors about our upcoming Admissions Open House being held on Saturday, November 21st from 10:00 am-12:00 pm in the Commons. Your word of mouth and personal recommendation about our school are still the best way for us to continue building our student enrollment with amazing families like yours. For more information, call Anne Buechler in Admission at 704-237-5223.

CASINO NIGHT 2009 - The Best Deal in Town
Fun, Friends, Prizes…Casino Night 2009 has it all. The excitement begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 21st at Race World USA. And it’s not too late to buy your ticket. Come bid on fabulous, one-of-a-kind prizes, like Café DDS, a four night stay at St. Thomas Villa, and much more.

Click here for more on our fabulous prizes and auction items.

Many thanks to our wonderful sponsors for helping to make our evening a success: StrataForce (The Greene family), Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (Bernie Sandler), Cunningham Wholesale (Gina and Mike Nichols), Piedmont Bank, L. Gordon Iron & Metal (The Gordon family), Stanley Tools, Davidson Chocolate Factory, Waterfront Group (Will & Lavi Adkins) and Devore, Acton & Stafford (The Stafford family).

We are honored to have their valuable support of our school through their participation in this grand event. For more information, contact Susan Sandler (Casino Night 2009-Chairperson) at sandler411@mi-connection.com or Deanne James at deannej02@yahoo.com or Nancy Rosato at n.rosato@roadrunner.com.

Lunch Program Update
Lunch menus for December are now available; please download them from the links below. Remember, completed menus are due to the school by 8:30am on Thursday, November 19th.

Early Childhood Lunch Menu
LS/MS/US Lunch menu

Prior to completing your child’s lunch menu please do the following:

• Review any external school activities that may affect your child’s lunch selection on the calendar located on the parent portal.
  
  
• Make a copy of the lunch menu for yourself.
  
  
• Welcome to McAlister’s Deli which has joined us in providing another great lunch choice for our children each month.
  
  
• Special note to Upper School student families: Headmaster Bonnie Cotter will be taking Upper School students out to lunch according the following schedule, so please do not order school lunch on the day that affects your child:
  • Tuesday, Dec 1st – 12th graders H-Z last name
  • Wednesday, Dec 2nd – 10th graders A-J
  • Friday, Dec. 4th – 10 graders K-Z
  • Monday, Dec 7th – all 11th graders
  • Wednesday, Dec. 9th – 9th  graders A-I
  • Friday, Dec 11th – 9th graders J-Z

Welcome to Troy VonHall
Please join us in welcoming Troy VonHall to our school as our new IT Assistant. Troy brings a wealth of IT know-how and experience working with students and teachers in independent schools. He already is a tremendous addition to the school. “I’m very excited to be a part of Davidson Day,” said Troy. “Everyone has given me a great welcome.”

Upper School News

College Counseling News
The College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC) College Application Week will be Monday, November 16th - Friday, November 20th — this is a great opportunity to apply to some NC colleges for free!  There is also a lot of great information about college admission and financial aid for colleges in North Carolina.  Please view this link for more information: http://www.cfnc.org/

Middle School News

MS Students Join Together for a Great Cause
As part of their community service commitment, our 7th and 8th graders are sponsoring a food drive to benefit Loaves and Fishes. The food pantry, located at the Ada Jenkins Center, serves our local community and needs the following: canned veggies, canned meat, peanut butter, soup, canned fruit, dishwashing liquid and canned fruit, but no glass for safety. Join the effort by bringing in your food items to the school by Monday, November 23rd for delivery on Tuesday, November 24th; just in time for Thanksgiving!

MS Division Head Observes Students in Action
“Our students are impressive,” says Michael Cerkovnik, LS/MS Division Head. “I had the good fortune to observe a lively give and take in 8th grade Geography classes. I first experienced Mr. Davis' class presenting on urban sprawl and then Mr. Tobias' class asking questions of the presenters. I was highly impressed with the preparation and the ability of our students to ask relevant, critical questions as well as the ability of those on the receiving end to think on their feet. Kudos to all the students and to both teachers for making me proud and my day more enjoyable.”


Looking at the World Through the Eyes of 5th Graders
“I think that global citizenship looks like the world coming together to build a bridge of friendship or community…" --Marin Harnett, 5th grader.

In conjunction with their study of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, 5th graders have continued to explore themes in the book including: global citizenship, sacrifice, humanitarianism, compassion, and perseverance. This week they made collages of magazine and newspaper articles. They have also created a quilt they are proudly offering as an auction item at Casino Night.

Lower School News

Carolina Raptor Center Flies into Davidson Day
Carolina Raptor Center visited 1st grade on Thursday, October 29th. The children sat in awe and silence as the raptors appeared from their cages. From a Great Horned Owl, which fell out of its nest as an owlet, a Barn Owl which hurt its wing while trying to retrieve food near a busy road, to a Screech Owl which was blind in one eye and was learning how to hunt again, the raptor center was an amazing experience and enabled our students to show off their owl facts that they learned this year while studying nocturnal animals. Check out photos in the gallery.

Breakfast for Lunch? Never Tasted Better!
Lower School Outdoors Club had a sizzlin' time cooking "breakfast for lunch" last Friday, November 6th. 3rd and 4th grade club members have been busy over the last month planning and preparing for their big feast.  From sit-upons woven out of newspaper and tuna cans turned into fuel by adding cardboard and wax, to ovens made out of large, aluminum sauce cans, students set up outside of the gym and cooked a three course breakfast.  The menu included eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, orange juice, and hot cocoa – with s'mores for dessert, of course.

Classroom Guidance Discussions with 4th Graders
Megan Orr-Murphy from Southlake Counseling is working with our 4th grade students to begin discussion around the inevitable social issues that arise at this developmental stage. Ms.Orr-Murphy will be using the following three books by Trudy Ludwig to help ground the discussions in literature that speaks to this age range. The books include: Just Kidding, My Secret Bully and Sorry!  Trudy's website is www.trudyludwig.com, and her readings lists are a fantastic resource for both parents and educators.

Early Childhood News

Early Childhood Helps Make History for Read for the Record
Early Childhood classes participated in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record on October 8th, 2009, and helped make history!   Our ECH students were among the 2,019,752 children across the U.S. and around the world who listened to their teachers read Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar on October 8th.  With the support of all teachers and students who participated, more than 275,000 books were donated to children in need, some of whom received their very first book.  Congratulations to all the ECH classes!

TK Learns About Pilgrims and Indians
Ms. Nina’s TK class is learning about the Pilgrims and Indians and their first Thanksgiving celebration by hosting a mock Thanksgiving feast in their Thanksgiving Social Studies Center. The students can choose to wear Pilgrim hats and bonnets or dress as Native Americans.  Activities are split between Pilgrims and Indians and include: comparing the first Thanksgiving to our own Thanksgiving today, writing from an Indian's or a Pilgrim’s point of view using various tribal symbols, and drawing an Indian village or making Indian pottery from Play-Doh.

Sports News

Athletic Calendar
Check out Davidsonday.org/sports for next week’s schedules.

First Game of Davidson Day Basketball is November 19th
The wait is almost over, as the first basletball game of the year for DDS Boys and Girls Varsity will be next Thursday, November 19th. Tip off starts at 5:00 pm as the Patriots battle Trinity Academy of Raleigh.

Parent Council Corner

It’s that Time Again for Davidson Day to Walk and Roll
Walking Wednesday is coming up next week on November 18th! This month’s theme is “Giving Thanks.” All walkers are asked to wear a shirt, hat, or jacket, which displays something for which they are thankful. As always, walkers may wear their theme attire for the rest of the day to show their support for this great program. We meet at the Sadler Square shopping plaza/The Egg at 231 Griffith St in Davidson, and at 7:45am we “walk and roll” to school! Please join in the fun and show us what you are thankful for. We’ve had two very successful walks; let’s keep the numbers growing! All walkers are invited for coffee after drop off at the Egg. For more information, please contact Laurie Dennis at Laraz@live.com.