Donald Devine, Ph.D., Vice Chairman of the American Conservative Union

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Lecture at 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Following Open House tour of Thales Academy 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Thales Academy

1177 Ambergate Station

Apex, NC 27502

Event is Free and Open to the Public

REGISTER HERE

Seventh Grade Students from Apex and Wake Forest joined forces for a great two days together at Blue Jay Point. Students were able to spend the two day field trip engaged in interactive science lessons, games, smores, and other great activities.

Students from each location were mixed together into teams and competed for points throughout the trip. From identifying bird behavior, to trees, to relay races, students kept high spirits throughout.

Blue Jay Point was as a wonderfulvenue for the event. Nestled into an exceptionally quiet area of Falls Lake, the park offered a chance to listen to the sounds of nature and experience the natural beauty of the area.

Many thanks to the parents and teachers who came together to make this such a great trip for the students. It served as a wonderful opportunity for the students to have a change of pace after a year filled with learning in the classroom.

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Thales Raleigh has moved closer toward construction. Families and staff are eagerly anticipating final approvals before the ground breaking. The Thales Raleigh facility will serve as the third Thales K-5 facility in Wake County.

During the 2011-2012 academic year Thales Raleigh will offer Grades K-3 in its temporary location. The construction of the new facility will allow Thales Raleigh to provide the full range of elementary grade levels. Stay tuned for exciting updates.

Beginning in the 2011-2012 school year, Thales Apex will be opening a third section of Kindergarten. We are humbled by the level of support we have received from the local community, and are excited about welcoming more students into our community.

Enrollment in the third section of Kindergarten is expected to fill quickly, apply today to ensure a spot for your student.

Click here for the Apex Admissions page: www.thalesacademy.org/apex/admissions/

At Thales, many of our students excel in things besides studying.  This February, five of our Thunderbirds have gone to the Olympics, the Junior Olympics! Five students from Thales Academy Apex were selected to compete in the North Carolina Junior Olympics swimming division. Carter B. from Ms. King’s 4th Grade, Tom H. from Ms. Guyer’s 5th Grade, Sarah L. from Mrs. Morris’ 6th grade, and  Sophie L. and Will R. from Mrs. Sharp’s seventh grade were the Thunderbird swimmers at the Triangle Aquatic Center.

All the Thunderbirds had a great time during this event. Unfortunately for Carter, he came down with the flu right before the first meet. Despite a fever, he still competed in several of his events. He is very excited to be qualified for the North Carolina Sectionals coming up in March.

Congratulations to Tom H. for also qualifying for the Sectionals. Tom’s favorite stroke is the breast stroke. He swims for the Raleigh Swimming Association, and his favorite exercise is the medicine ball crunches.

Sarah L. has been to the Junior Olympics one time before, when she was only 10 years old! Sarah is on the New Wave Swim Team, and scored many points for her team in all of her events. Her favorite stroke is the butterfly, and she loves to listen to her iPod before her races to get pump

Late this month, a Wake County K9 Police Unit came to Thales to visit the second grade.  Officer Everott brought his partner, a big black dog named Enzo.  Enzo did a few tricks, a favorite one was when Enzo climbed up the school’s playground stairs and found a set of keys.  Students were impressed by the dog’s quick movements, ability to jump over the schoolyard’s fence, and getting up the playhouse stairs.   Keelin from Mrs. Shek’s class, shared that she really liked when Enzo signaled he found the keys, by laying behind the keys and putting his two front paws on them.

Officer Everott talked to the second graders about his training Enzo and how he does it in short periods.   He shared that Enzo lives with him at home, and that they remain best friends and partners all the time.   Officer Everott shared some safety tips with the students, such as, “Don’t pet a dog without asking, because it may not be safe.”  A cool fact that students learned is that K9 dogs do not learn commands in English (to avoid confusing commands from too many people) and are trained to obey only very specific words. An example of this is “bliven,” which is the Dutch signal word to “stay put.”     The second graders had a fabulous time learning about the K9 unit, and getting to know Officer Everott and Enzo.

Credit: Heidi C., student writer.

Each year, we like to highlight some of the new faces you see at Thales Academy. New to Thales and teaching first grade this year is Ms. Versmissen.  She is from Belgium and went to Elon University.  Ms. Versmissen chose to teach at Thales because she wanted to work in a positive environment where the students are willing to work and everybody is friendly. Ms. Versmissen’s favorite subject is Math but she likes many  other subjects too. Around the school she is known as Ms. V. Her room is decorated with vegetables because she wanted her room to have something that started with v.   She wanted to be called Ms. V rather than Ms. Versmissen because it is hard to say even for some of her friends.

Her after school activities include preparing for the next day, working out at the gym, and grading papers.  Over the summer Ms. Versmissen did lots of things like going to a friend’s wedding, and preparing for a new school year. During winter break she went and visited some of her family in Belgium.

Ms. V has some family in the united states who are her parents and her brother.  She has fun teaching her students every day. Even though she is new to teaching she is a great teacher and all the kids in grade 1 are happy that she is here.

The selections sung included: Batoto Yetu, Children Go Where I Send Thee, Them Bones Gonna Rise Again, and Peace Cannon. Batoto Yetu was the hardest piece in the performance for the chorus members. It is a spiritual African Lullaby. Children Go Where I Send Thee is narrating the creation of the Lord’s Children. Them Bones Gonna Rise Again is telling the journey of creating Adam and Eve. Peace Canon is about people living in harmony. Gauging by the response, the audience’s vigorous applause appeared to indicate that Them Bones Gonna Rise Again was the favorite song of the evening.

Thank you to the students, families and staff that helped to make the event such a success!

Credit: Ayanna, student writer.

The school will be closed today (1/11/2011) due to inclement weather. The closure has been posted on WRAL. Please stay safe.