Summer Fun at Coastal Day School

We can't believe that summer is just around the corner! Our staff is Pinteresting their hearts out, determined to make this the absolute best summer ever here at Coastal Day School!!! We have so many amazing field trips planned, along with super fun activities and games here at CDS! We are confident that your child will have a blast! 

Our Summer Camp Program is for any rising Kindergarten student through Middle School. We are open Monday through Friday from 7:30am until 6pm. We offer a two-day (Tuesday and Thursday), three-day (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), and five-day option. Our full day camp is separated into two age groups. Our younger group is for children ages five years to seven years and our older group is for children ages eight years and older. Our older group goes on a field trip every day through the summer and our younger group goes on four field trips each week and also has a special guest one day each week. All field trip fees are included in your weekly tuition! Some examples of field trips offered are Jungle Rapids Water Park, movies, parks, pools, bowling, splash pad, museums, WonderWorks, and more!!! While at Coastal Day School, campers will enjoy fun activities such as cupcake wars, game show fun, crazy water games, and tons more!!! We love seeing sweet friendships form and getting to see campers enjoy all the activities our staff has spent months planning.

**Click here for our field trip calendar for our five to seven year old group**

**Click here for our field trip calendar for our eight year and older group**

**Click here for enrollment forms for our full day camp program**

We also offer an exciting, half-day program for our current preschool students ages three to five years. If we have any open spaces after May 15, 2018, we will open those spaces up to new families. Click here for more information about our Summer Preschool Program. This program has a greater focus on our weekly themes but we still offer fun, academic based activities as well! We plan fun water days and special treats throughout the summer that your child will love! If you are a new family that enrolls in our Summer Preschool Program after May 15th, it will look very different from our regular fall programs. We do not offer an Orientation or Open House for our summer programs as it is a more relaxed and smaller setting. If you have any questions along the way, we are here to answer those and help make it an easy transition for your child. 

If you are interested in registering your child for one of our summer programs, please click on the link above for registration forms. You are free to pick any weeks you want as well as pick the number of days you'd like each week (two-day option is Tuesday and Thursday, three-day option is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and we also have a five-day option-we do not offer a daily option in the summer.) We do not have a minimum on the number of weeks your child attends and you only pay for the weeks you register for!! Please keep in mind that once you have turned in a registration form, we cannot make changes to the dates you've registered for and you will be required to pay for the dates reserved, regardless of attendance. We provide a quality program with a low student/teacher ratio and awesome field trips that usually require prepayment (we've actually already paid for some of them) so when we hold a space for a child, it is important that we receive payment for that space in order to continue providing all the fun activities we do daily. We feel badly when plans change and parents are still expected to pay for the weeks they have reserved, but please understand that we cannot make any exceptions to this policy in order to be able to keep our camp open and functioning. If multiple parents ask each week to make changes to what they have reserved, it would severely affect our ability to continue to operate as it is very difficult to fill spaces last minute when parents have already made other plans for their children once our program is full. Thank you in advance for your understanding and support in this area. We know that it can be a struggle when funds are tight so please make sure to only reserve weeks you know you will need. 

We really hope your child(ren) will be joining us for a fun-filled summer here at CDS! We are excited to see our returning campers and meet new families and provide them with a safe and exciting summer camp. I know how scary it can be sending your child off to camp, especially on field trips, but our staff takes our campers' safety very seriously and we work diligently to ensure your child is well taken care of. Our staff has been trained to obsessively count campers (I mean really OBSESSIVELY-we count in our sleep during the summer-true story 😆) and monitor their group very closely. We are so grateful for such an amazing staff that truly loves our campers! If you have any questions, please feel free to email our Summer Camp Director, Veronnica, at veronnica@coastaldayschool.com or contact us by phone at 910.383.3919. If you would like to register your child, please feel free to stop by Monday through Friday between 10am and noon or 1pm and 3pm or call us to schedule an earlier or later time that works for you! We will not be available to accept registration on Friday, March 30th or the week of April 2-5, 2018.

We are looking forward to another amazing summer!!
-Ashley 

Where should my child go to Kindergarten?!

        

One of the most frequent questions I get from parents is about Kindergarten…which Kindergarten is best, is my child ready, should we do public or private, half day or full day?  For most parents (usually with their first child), this feels like an overwhelming decision.  Of course as parents, we all want to make sure we are making the best possible decision for our children!  I understand this completely, as I felt the same way with my oldest!  I agonized over making the perfect decision for him!  What I have learned, after sending three kids off to kindergarten, is that, while important, whatever you decide, your child will very likely thrive, and be successful and happy!

It’s hard to answer this question for parents, when I get asked where I would recommend they send their child, because each child and family is different.  I believe we have so many wonderful choices in Leland!  Of course I am partial to our private Kindergarten program 😊 but I believe our public and charter schools in Leland are great options as well.  I encounter many parents that are very happy with our local public and charter schools, and while no school is perfect, I truly believe they strive to do their best and create a good learning environment.

For some reason, public schools seem scary to many parents.  I get the pleasure of working with amazing teachers everyday and really believe that the teachers at all our local schools love and care about their students and work hard to help them be successful, just like our teachers do here at CDS!  Several of our CDS parents are public school teachers and, just as we take care of our sweet kids like we would our own, so do these teachers.  The difference between the public charter schools and the public schools usually comes down to teaching styles, curriculum, and core values.   If you want to know if a school is a good fit for your child and your family you can always request a tour at a school so you can see the classrooms and get to know the staff 😊

Our private, half-day Kindergarten, is a wonderful option and has the unique distinction of being the only half-day Kindergarten in Leland.   My daughter attended our half-day Kindergarten last year and it was such a great decision for her!  While advanced academically, she was on the immature side and also has a birthday that missed the cutoff.  The small class size was absolutely perfect for her!  She was able to receive a lot of individualized instruction.  Coastal Day School’s Kindergarten certainly prepared my daughter to be more independent, as well as, having good work habits that set her up for success at the public charter school she is currently attending. 

Our Kindergarten program has a class size of 12 students with 1 teacher. Our small class size has several obvious benefits, such as more one on one interaction with a teacher.  However, there are other benefits that are less obvious.  What I have observed each year, is a closeness and sweet friendships between the children in our kindergarten.  We have been blessed with kids that love one another and work well in groups and treat each other with respect.  It’s a great environment to grow and feel secure as your child starts learning to be independent in schoolwork as well as in relationships with friends.

Another question that I frequently get is, is Coastal Day School’s Kindergarten a “real” Kindergarten?  Yes!  We are absolutely a real Kindergarten!  People worry because it is a half day program that it doesn’t count.  Because of our small size we cut out a lot of transition times that other schools spend much of their day on.  We are able to focus on learning and our time is used more efficiently.  Our Kindergarten teachers have their degrees in Education and are dedicated educators.  Much of the learning is able to focus on where your child is academically.  If they need more advanced work or need to slow down we are able to provide that.  We meet all Kindergarten standards and your child can leave us and go straight to first grade well prepared!

Whatever decision you make, take a deep breath, it will be okay! We are here to support you even after your child moves onto big school so please let us know if you have any questions!

-Caroline

 

My son, Jack, on his first day of Kindergarten

 

My son, Luke, on his first day of Kindergarten

 My daughter, Katie, on her first day of Kindergarten