School News 2/21/2024

School News 2/21/2024

What is FASTAR®?

A month before the most famous auto race in America, the Indianapolis 500, CCS-America students will compete in a race of their own, a voluntary, extracurricular academic tournament known as FASTAR® (Fluent Academic Skills Tournament in Arithmetic and Reading). The goal of FASTAR® is to encourage students to improve their basic skills through practice in an exciting and rewarding tournament modeled after automobile racing. Research shows that practicing to the point of fluency – able to give fast, smooth, and nearly automatic responses – has several benefits: skills are retained longer, students are able to perform the skills for longer periods of time before tiring, comprehension may be improved, mastery of basic skills make it easier to succeed at more-complex tasks, and homework time may decrease.

FASTAR® racers will participate in tune-up sessions in advance and are encouraged to practice at home. Race days occur in April. The trophy winners from each campus will then meet at the Race of Champions on April 24th where the school with the most speed and accuracy will take home the overall trophy. Sign your student up by this Friday, February 23rd to participate!

Check out last year’s pictures below.

CCS-Leland

CCS-Southport

CCS-Whiteville

CCS-Wilmington

Beta Clubs Travel to State Convention

Members of the CCS-Leland and CCS-Whiteville Beta Clubs traveled to Greensboro last month to participate in the North Carolina’s 32nd annual Junior Beta Convention.

The students competed with distinction in individual and team events in the Arts and Academics that relate to classes at CCS-America. Congratulations to all for impressive performances! We are so proud of how they represented CCS-America.

The mission of the Beta Club is to promote academic achievement, character, service, and leadership. Middle school students interested in these values are welcome to join the Beta Club in the 2024-2025 school year!

Event Winners

Learn more about Beta Club here

State Archery Tournament 

Classical Charter Schools of America’s three middle school teams from Leland, Southport, and Whiteville participated in the National Archery Schools Program’s (NASP) North Carolina State Tournament in Winston-Salem this past weekend.

Our teams have been involved in NASP for fourteen years and have garnered nine State Championships, two second-place trophies, and numerous individual awards with two students placing in the top 10 in the middle school boy’s division this year – Colton Riley (Leland, 8th grade) ranked 6th in the State, and Ethan Stanley (Leland, 7th grade) placed 7th. All our team members should be commended for their hard work because the growth and popularity of the sport is making it increasingly more competitive each year.  

“Our middle school students have the opportunity to participate in our archery elective classes, and students are then selected for the competition archery teams,” explained Leland Head Coach LaFave. “We are thankful to all our coaches and administrators for supporting our student-athletes, and we are excited to continue to grow the archery programs on all our middle school campuses,” he added. 

CCS-Leland

CCS-Southport

CCS-Whiteville

Celebrating Frederick Douglass

“Once you learn to read, you are forever free.” -Frederick Douglass

Born into slavery in February 1818, it was illegal for Frederick Douglass to be taught how to read and write, but the wife of his master taught him the alphabet and how to read the Bible. After he learned, Douglass read everything he could and went on to become a champion of the abolitionist and women’s rights movements.

Each year, CCS-Wilmington, previously named after Frederick Douglass, celebrates his birthday and contribution to our country. Teachers read books about Douglass to students and they even get a special visit from Mr. Douglass himself!

Pictures

Learn more about Fredrick Douglass

School News 2/7/2024

School News 2/7/2024

2024 Handwriting Contest Winners

National Handwriting Day is celebrated each year on January 23rd, the birthday of John Hancock. Hancock is best known for being the first and most prominent signatory to the Declaration of Independence. Because of this, a person’s signature is often referred to as his or her “John Hancock.”

As handwriting is an important aspect of CCS-America’s curriculum, the annual Handwriting Competition is held each year on National Handwriting Day. Students in all grades are given a phrase to copy and a prompt to answer in their neatest handwriting. Grades 4-8 are required to write in cursive. Entries are then judged on spacing, size, shape, slant, the use of proper capitalization, and content. First-place winners and honorable mentions receive cash prizes and classrooms that display overall handwriting excellence receive door medallions.

Check out the winners and honorable mentions at the links below! Great job to all CCS-America students for their hard work!

CCS-Leland

CCS-Southport

CCS-Whiteville

CCS-Wilmington

Support CCS-Wilmington! 

CCS-Wilmington is partnering with Office Depot as their Title I School for the 2024 School Supply Drive!

After a successful School Supply Drive from April to December 2023, we are grateful to have support from Wilmington’s Office Depot again. During those nine months, Office Depot raised over $10,000 and provided students with book bags full of supplies.

Visit Office Depot at 3727 Oleander Drive in Wilmington and donate at the end of your purchase to support CCS-Wilmington students! Donations will go to CCS-Wilmington through December 2024.

Thank you Office Depot for your continuing support!

More Information

Pictures

Students of the Month

CCS-America students are recognized monthly for displaying a specific character trait from our School Pledge that they not only say, but also practice in their daily lives.

January’s character trait was Honesty. Students who show honesty are truthful in what they say and how they conduct their everyday lives. Honesty is seen in the School Pledge as “I Pledge to be truthful in all my works.” Students apply these words by telling the truth, playing by the rules, and not exaggerating facts.

Congratulations to all of these students who demonstrated exemplary honesty. Check them out on the links below!

CCS-Leland

CCS-Southport

CCS-Whiteville

CCS-Wilmington

School News – 1/24/2024

School News – 1/24/2024

Dean Lopez

Classical Charter Schools of Leland Receives National Award for the CLT8

Classical Charter Schools of Leland has earned its ranking in the Classic Learning Test’s (CLT) 2022-2023 CLT8 School Rankings as one of the top twenty schools in the entire country.

The CLT8 diagnostic test is given each year to middle-school students at hundreds of schools nationally to evaluate their reading, grammar, and mathematical skills. The award recognizes CCS-Leland’s student body for collectively receiving the highest score on the exam of any charter school during the 2022-2023 academic year.

“We’re extremely proud of our students and staff,” said Headmaster Laurie Benton, who noted that CCS-Leland was the only tuition-free, open-to-all charter school on the list of top performers. CCS-Leland is also a Title I school, with a large diverse enrollment of low-income and disadvantaged students. All of the other schools in the top twenty, she noted, are “private schools charging tuition.”

The CLT8, designed for 7th and 8th graders, is a cumulative diagnostic assessment offered by the Annapolis, MD based Classic Learning Test, providing a comprehensive measure of achievement and aptitude. Much of the content is drawn from classic literature and historical tests, which are central to the curriculum at CCS-Leland and the other Classical Charter Schools of America campuses.

Since its inception in 2016, Classic Learning Test has offered assessments steeped in more intellectually rich and rigorous content than other standardized tests. CLT’s suite of assessments now serves grades 3-12.

“Out of the hundreds of schools that take the CLT8 every year,” CCS-Leland’s ranking is “a remarkable achievement,” CLT officials said.

Dean of Classical Humanities Jessica Lopez adds, “The nationally high ranking that our 8th grade students achieved on the CLT8 is a testament to our 25 years of curriculum development. The high results are also a reflection of the superior training and standards provided by the Roger Bacon Academy to its educators. I offer my gratitude and accolades to our students and staff for this well-deserved outcome of our first time participating in the CLT8.”  

What is the CLT8?

The CCS-America Spelling Bee

The first annual CCS-America Spelling Bee kicked off in October, with students at each campus competing in the first of two mock Spelling Bees to narrow the field down to just five students in grades 1-8. These finalists from each campus competed last Friday, January 19th, at CCS-Leland to crown the overall winner in each grade. 

The journey to the final Spelling Bee showcased the academic talents of the participating students and celebrated their achievements in spelling. Congratulations to the winners!

1st grade: Cebastian Valdez from CCS-Whiteville

2nd grade: Brynlee Gooden from CCS-Whiteville

3rd grade: Benjamin Gomez from CCS-Southport

4th grade: Emma Evans from CCS-Southport

5th grade: Wyatt Midgett from CCS-Leland

6th grade: Benjamin Antosiak from CCS-Leland

7th grade: Jackson Boren from CCS-Whiteville

8th grade: Callum Brown from CCS-Southport

Pictures

Photo by Matt Born, StarNews

CCS-Wilmington Marches in the MLK Day Parade

Classical Charter Schools of Wilmington joined the Wilmington community on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the annual downtown Parade.

This year marked 10 years of CCS-Wilmington’s participation in the event to honor Dr. King. This parade serves as an opportunity to bring people together and pay tribute to the positive changes he brought to our country.

Dr. King was due to visit Wilmington on April 4, 1968, the day he was killed. He had postponed his trip to assist striking sanitation workers in Memphis, where he met his untimely death.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Parade

 

Celebrating Your Choice 

National School Choice Week, which is being observed this year from Jan. 21-27, is here! As we celebrate your choice in your student’s education, here are some facts on the charter school movement:

⭐ The charter school movement started in 1992 when Minnesota parents revolted against the state’s failing government-run schools. The legislature allowed privately operated groups to establish schools under a charter granted by the state.

⭐ North Carolina passed its charter school law four years later in 1996.

⭐ In 2024, 46 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam have charter school laws.

⭐ There are over 3.7 million charter students in 7,996 charter schools nationwide.

⭐ In North Carolina, 131,624 students are enrolled in 206 charter schools.

Since opening in 2000 with 53 students in a single location, CCS-America now serves over 2,000 students in four schools. Thank you for choosing CCS-America to educate your students and for being part of the movement!

More Charter Schools Data

School News – 1/10/2024

School News – 1/10/2024

Welcome to Quarter 3! 

 

 

Classically Educated: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Did you know Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received a classical education? Throughout his life, Dr. King embodied the principles and applied the core aspects of a classical education to his writings and speeches.

Before Dr. King’s vital role in the Civil Rights Movement, he studied the nonviolent ways of Mahatma Gandhi, India’s celebrated human rights leader. The study of others’ works, reading, and the use of classical rhetoric are just a few examples of Dr. King’s classical education. Read Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” below, and take note of his use of themes from the ancient classical world. Each day, we honor the memory and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by seeking knowledge and being virtuous.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Students of the Month 

CCS-America students are recognized monthly for displaying a specific character trait from our School Pledge that they not only are saying, but also practicing in their daily lives.

December’s character trait was Generosity. Students who show generosity are careful with what they have so they can share with others. Generosity is seen in the School Pledge as “I pledge to be virtuous in all my deeds.” Virtuous students apply these words to their everyday lives and do good for others without seeking anything in return.

Congratulations to all students who demonstrated exemplary generosity. Check them out on the links below!

CCS-Leland

CCS-Southport

CCS-Whiteville

School News – 12/13/2023

School News – 12/13/2023

The Roger Bacon Academy wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

We hope you all have a wonderful and safe break, and we will see you all on January 4th for the start of Quarter 3. 

 

Art and Religion Over the Ages on Display

Before widespread literacy, art was used to communicate. To spread the word of Christianity, priests decorated churches with large pictures of scenes from the Bible.

One popular scene displayed was “The Adoration of the Shepherds.” Throughout history, many artists have recreated this scene in their distinctive styles and interpretations. In 1609, Italian artist Caravaggio revolutionized art through the adept use of light, shadow, real-life models, and smooth depth transitions.

An exhibit featuring seven different renditions of “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” showing the evolution of art over a 215-year period, is currently on display at the shelter across from Classical Charter Schools of Leland. The free exhibit is sponsored by The Roger Bacon Academy Founder Baker A. Mitchell.

The Art of Christmas

Charters in the News 

North Carolina charter schools continue to see a rise in enrollment. There are currently 139,985 students in 209 charter schools throughout the state. This 4.9% enrollment increase indicates that more and more N.C. families are choosing schools of choice. Read more here.

Introducing Middle School Sports

CCS-America middle schools will start competing in intramural sports this spring, kicking off with boys and girls basketball.

Building on the skills learned in the elementary school PE curriculum, the exciting new program will enable students in grades 6-8 to compete against each other in after-school games. Soccer, baseball, and more are scheduled to begin in 2025.

There is so much to look forward to! Stay tuned for more details to come.

Facebook Post

School News – 11/29/2023

School News – 11/29/2023

CCS-Leland Auditorium & Gymnasium Grand Reveal 

On Tuesday, November 21st, we celebrated the opening of another CCS-America Auditorium and Gymnasium!

The Leland campus’s grand reveal was a momentous occasion featuring speakers such as Headmaster Mrs. Benton, Assistant Headmaster Mrs. Crawford, Parent and Board Member Ms. Gott, Teacher Mr. Wingett, and Student Ms. Stevie Chambers. The event was filled with student performances, culminating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by elected officials and CCS-Leland staff, officially inaugurating the extraordinary new space.

As our school community continues to grow, so do our campuses! We are so excited to see students and staff utilize this new building with all of the new opportunities it will bring.

Check it out here!

Open Enrollment Begins Friday

Open Enrollment is right around the corner! Current students do not need to re-enroll during this period, but we encourage you to invite your friends and family to join us for the 2024-2025 school year.

Starting this Friday, December 1st, new students can enroll awww.EnrollRBA.com. We are already looking forward to what the next school year will bring for both new and current students!

Demonstrating Self-Control 

CCS-America students are recognized monthly for displaying a specific character trait from our school Pledge that they not only are saying, but also practicing in their daily lives.

November’s character trait was Self-Control. Students who show self-control choose to do what is right, even if it is not the easiest choice. Self-control is seen in the Pledge as “I pledge to be virtuous in all my deeds.” Students apply these words to their everyday lives by being calm and respectful in class, using good manners, and making good decisions.

Congratulations to all of the students who demonstrated exemplary self-control. Check them out on the links below.

CCS-Leland

CCS-Southport

CCS-Whiteville

CCS-Wilmington