PRINCIPALLY SPEAKING - SEPT 2016

 
What a great start to the new year we have had! I want to once again thank you all for partnering with Upland Christian Academy for your child’s education! I have already heard from so many of you about your child actually being EXCITED to go to school, something that makes all of us, parents and educators alike, thrilled to hear and witness!

I wanted to let you know about some of the things happening in Elementary this year, particularly in the month of September, so that you are fully informed. I intend to send monthly messages like this one, so that you are not over-bombarded with school communication. You will also hear regularly from Debbie Acheson, the Office Manager, but her emails soon will be shorter and more bullet-pointed, and we will direct you to Parents Web to refer to news and events information.

It is very exciting that this year, all our classrooms now have instructional aides! This is an important development as we endeavor to support our teachers and students in the strongest ways possible. Having an instructional aide is like having an extra “arm” for our teachers, allowing them to multitask, assist individual students more often, and the like. We are thrilled to have these dedicated people here!

We had a wonderful school year dedication ceremony in the Abundant Living Family Church sanctuary on August 17! It was our first time using the sanctuary for this annual event, and it was the first time Pastor Diego Mesa helped us kick off a new school year since our first one on this campus in 2009! We are so blessed at Upland Christian, and we thank God for all that He has done to provide for us and even prosper us as a ministry and school! We put our trust in Him, as displayed when our parents surrounded the students while praying the Lord’s blessing on our school year.

One of the ways we are being blessed by the Lord is added enrollment. We have a whopping 34 additional students in Elementary this year over last! That is amazing, and we praise God for it!

Besides learning new routines and policies, one of the other things that is happening in your child’s classroom right now is individual assessments. The teachers are trying to get a handle on where your child is developmentally and academically, so that they know exactly how to meet your child’s educational needs. That’s what we do at Upland Christian—we provide a standards-based education for our students, while delivering that information in a way that suits your child! Your child’s teacher appreciates your patience in this, and are happy to answer any questions you may have during this process.

Another thing related to assessment that we are preparing to do immediately is our biannual standardized MAP Testing. As an administration, we are always looking for better and effective ways to assess our students’ progress. After careful consideration a couple years ago, we decided to use the NWEA MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Assessment as a way of monitoring our student’s academic growth both individually and across the grade levels.

We see several benefits in using the MAP Assessment. The test is adaptive which means that the difficulty of each question is based on how well a student answers all the previous questions. As the student answers correctly, questions become more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the questions become easier. Through this process, the final score is typically a reliable measurement of the student’s academic progress to date. The MAP Assessment can also be used as a benchmark to track student progress throughout the year and assist in making instructional decisions. In addition, the MAP Assessment is aligned to the Common Core Standards.

All students, Kindergarten through 12th Grade will test two times per year. Our Elementary department will begin testing September 6th. Please see the schedule below for your child’s testing dates. Students will be tested in Reading, Language and Math. With the exception of Kindergarten and 1st Grade, students will test for about one hour a day in the morning for four days during their testing week. Please be sure that your child gets plenty of rest and eats a good breakfast during their week of testing.

September 6-9
4th and 5th Grades

September 12-16
3rd Grade - Mrs. Johnston’s Class
1st Grade

September 19-23
3rd Grade- Mrs. Kreuger’s Class
Kindergarten

September 26-30
2nd Grade

At Upland Christian, we like your child to have FUN at school while learning! As such, we have monthly “Spirit Rallies” in the Gymnasium at the end of the school day. These rallies consist of a fun game, some singing, and awards for attendance. Parents are always welcome to join us! As of this typing, those dates are: September 16, October 14, November 17, December 9, January 13, February 10, March 24, April 27, and May 12. All rallies begin at 2:10 and will be over by 2:40. Another fun aspect about rally days is that the students get to dress up according to a theme. For example, “Cowboy Day,” or “Career Day,” etc. Our first dress up day will be September 16, and the theme will be “Disney Day,” where students may dress up as their favorite Disney character, or simply wear their favorite Disney clothing! Jeans are acceptable that day. So, dust off those Mickey ears on September 16!

I want to remind you that there is no school this coming Monday for Labor Day. Both the school and Extended Care are closed that day.

Don’t forget that our annual School Picture Day is coming up on Tuesday, September 13! You will be getting more information on that soon, including package ordering and payment envelopes from the studio. Students may wear free dress that day, within the dress code outlined in the Elementary Handbook. Thank you!

And believe it or not, we are already coming up on our first Parent-Teacher Conferences season! That will be on Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30, and they are both minimum days for students (dismissal at 11:30; Extended Care still available until 6:00).

Lastly, I am hearing that many of our boys are really into Pokemon, and are bringing their game/trading cards with them to school. I understand that there may have been some conflicting messages about this, but I want to declare at this point that we are simply asking students to stop bringing them to school. In addition to taking on the risk of losing them, damaging them, or having hurt feelings when they are traded to another student as part of the game, it has also become a major distraction in classes and even in Extended Care. We appreciate parental support on this matter. Thank you!

I can’t thank you enough for all of your support and cheerful smiles as I see you around campus! You are all a blessing to me, and I really do love my job! My door (and email inbox) are always open to you should you have any questions!

Praying the Lord’s blessings for your family’s school year!

I'M BACK!

Hello, friends!

Shame on me for not updating my school blog yet this school year! Things have been a bit busy, as we moved into a brand-new building with six new classrooms on the Abundant Living Family Church campus!

Mrs. Currier (Assistant Principal) and I share a small space for an office, but we are glad to have our own space, apart from the old Administration office. We have a beautiful view of Mount Baldy from our office window!

A lot of wonderful things are happening at UC Academy Elementary! First, it is priority registration time! This means that we are giving our current families priority registration before opening registration up to the public. Registration for returning families is open NOW! Please take advantage of this opportunity! In the past, we have been blessed to not create waiting lists for our grade levels, but we can see that time soon coming to an end as we have limited space in the classrooms, and increasing interest in our school. We want your child back next year (and we hope you do, too), so please don’t delay! Information was sent home last week in a letter, explaining the new process of online registration. Open Enrollment to the public begins on February 10. If you have any questions, please call the school office!

Next, we had a Spirit Rally on Friday, February 5, which means it was also a “Dress-Up” day! In honor of last weekend’s Super Bowl, the dress theme was Sports or “Football Friday." Of course, since I am not a big sports fanatic, but I love my rock & roll, I wore a shirt resembling the jersey of an L.A. Kiss (arena football) player!

I am excited to announce that UCA has adopted a new international mission. For years, we have been supporting a sister school in Zambia, and we are proud of the thousands of dollars (perhaps hundreds of thousands) Elementary students have raised over the years. This year, we have adopted an orphanage in Guatemala called “Ahikam.” Every week, we take a bucket to Chapel to collect loose change, all of which will go to Ahikam at the end of the year. So whenever you think of it, maybe send your child with some change on Thursday mornings!

Later this month, UCA is hosting a fundraising event called “APEX Fun Run.” You will start to receive information in emails and letters sent home with your child soon, but I also wanted to make you aware of it directly from me. The actual “run” will be very much like a Jog-A-Thon and will take place on Friday, February 26. But before that, your child will meet a high school partner to help encourage and cheer them on, as well as the APEX coaches who will be coming on campus to drum up excitement among the students. The proceeds of this fundraiser will mostly be going toward the aforementioned Ahikam orphanage in Guatemala, and 10% of what your child’s class raises will go back to their classroom! Every child will participate, so we hope you can get behind this spring fundraiser! More details will be coming, so be on the lookout!

I also want to remind you that we have a four-day weekend coming up, February 12-15, for Presidents Day and Lincoln’s Birthday. The school will be completely closed, as will Extended Care, so be sure to mark your calendars!