September Monthly Newsletter

Welcome September! We have been back to school 3 weeks now; can you believe it? It seems like yesterday. Time must really fly while you are having fun. We have had a very busy 3 weeks. New friends have joined our Lion's pack, new routines have been introduced and followed, new skills have been mastered, and so many benchmarks and objectives met in such a short time frame, and it only gets better!

In our Uniform store, new spirit shirts have been added, we still have water bottles, and blankets (just in time for Friday night lights). We will be adding new merch over time so make sure you check back from time to time.

A HUGE thank you to the friends, families, loved ones, and supporters for getting our fundraising efforts off to a good start. Here is where we landed in terms of donations. These are the results of the Fruits of YOUR hard work and giving hearts:

*Scooter's Total $142

*Money Dolly Total $6258.10 - minus fees (TOTAL raised $8506.53)

*Outside donations to date $1112.00

*Raffle Total $316.02

Today September 1, kicks off our State Farm Quotes for Good fundraiser. Our school has participated in this fundraiser in the past and have been able to raise money easily. Our goal is 100 quotes, that will be a donation to our school made by Mr. Walnofer. This fundraiser will begin today and run through the 30th. Please email or give Ms. Tiffany your tracker sheet weekly so it can be turned into State Farm. (I will send out a separate email with more information in this).

September fundraiser opportunities:

*9/1 to 9/30 Quotes for Good State Farm (Information will be sent home and posted soon).

*9/12 11:00 to 6:00 Kay Marie Boutique; Hazel and Billie's Childrens Store will offer a percentage of sales during the 11-6:00 time frame on 9/12.

*9/27 ACSI Christian Online Bookfair, you will be able to access a wide variety of books, resources, and material for your young readers as well as yourself. In turn HCA will receive a percentage of sales. (More information to come).

*As always donations can be mailed to our PO Box or given to Ms. Tiffany, there is a button on our website that will take you directly to PayPal (they will take a percentage). Any donation will receive a letter from HCA to use for tax purposes.

Hello PreK parents!

Can’t believe it’s already been three weeks of school! Each of your children are so special and are such a blessing to be able to teach. The first few weeks we have really been focusing on getting into a routine, playing with old friends and making new friends as well as getting started on their curriculum! Everyone loves singing so we have so much fun during circle time singing our weekly songs like the days of the week and our abc’s.

I can’t wait to see how much each of your children grow this year, they are truly little gifts.

Ms. Danielle

I cannot believe we have been in school 3 weeks already. Your children are thriving! I must brag on them; they are quick learners soaking it all up. I love to listen to their conversations and laugh to myself at their views and opinions on things. Aw, to see the world through their eyes!! They amaze me every day. We are breezing through patterns in math, almost through the alphabet in phonics and letter sounds in LA, learning about our community in SS, God's creations in science, and in art making an art portfolio and adding masterpieces to them weekly. We have some very talented artists in our class. Thank you for sharing these angels with me, we are going to make some memories this year!!

Ms. Tiffany

These 7 first graders have it all figured out already. They are super smart and inquisitive. They are teaching me a thing or 2 about their thoughts on school and life. I have already noticed such growth and maturity just in these busy short 3 weeks of school. Chapter 1 in math was more of a review, it was very easy for them, and they zipped through it with a breeze, Chapter 2 so far has not been hard, but not really easy - even a little tricky they told me. We will wrap up Chapter 2 in a few days with skip counting by 5's and 10's. Chapter 3 we get into addition and subtraction and learning how to set the problems up to solve. We have had 2 spelling tests now and man, this group can spell! They love reading out loud and are not too old to pick a book and ask me to read to them (which I secretly love very much). We are off to a wonderful start!

Ms. Tiffany

Our second graders have been working hard reviewing “building block” math skills, phonics, and language rules while also learning routines and procedures. 2nd grade is an important year for learning independence and responsibility, and this crew is really catching on! In science, we are learning about scientific investigations and creating lots of graphs.

In our 50 States study, we are learning many interesting facts about the New England states—and Thursday, we had a fun coincidence! Just as we were beginning our read-aloud of One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey, a book about Little Sal and her adventures on the day she loses her first tooth, Everett lost a tooth! The other students were excited for him and were tickled about the book’s events. They have decided that we need to read it every time someone loses a tooth!

Mrs. Crocker

We have been refreshing our memories about place value in math and learning about standard notation vs. expanded notation. In ELAR, we are working on reading comprehension skills and learning to use proper grammar for writing. We are also expanding our vocabulary and learning new spelling words. In Social Studies, we've been studying the early days of American History. The students learned a little origami and made replicas of the Mayflower at the end of a recent lesson. Our science lessons have introduced the scientific investigative method and engineering design process. Our first week in art was all about color - primary, secondary, tertiary, complimentary, analogous, monochromatic, and neutral colors. During our second week of school, I evaluated the students' drawing skills, so I'll know where to start in the next few weeks. They drew George the Avocado Plant (still life with depth, shadowing, and color) and we drew pictures based on descriptive writing/listening skills.

Mrs. Hicks

Students have adapted quickly to new places and new faces. It is hard to believe that the 6th graders in our group will be in Middle School next year. We have accomplished a lot in the past 3 weeks, it has gone by really fast. Students love PE and Art, and it is fun to watch their athletic side come out as well as their artistic side.

Hello friends! These past couple of weeks have been so much fun and very informative, we’ve played together and gotten to know our new friends better. The first week of school we tried to have gym class outside, but it was too hot, so we spent our time inside and talked about all the fun and amazing things we did this summer! The second week of school we got lucky, and the weather worked with us and not against us! We were able to play kick ball and big ball baseball, the kids were eager to learn and participate! I saw a lot of positive interactions and I absolutely loved how helpful they were with each other. I can’t wait to see how we play and use our imaginations in September.

Ms. Ashley

The Math 8/7 class has been doing review lessons since the beginning of school, but within the next week or two, we will begin learning new material. In ELAR, we have been reading several stories and discussing those stories in class. We've also been learning new vocabulary and learning to use proper grammar for writing. In Social Studies, we've been studying the early days of American History. Our Earth Science lessons have started with the Geology unit and we are currently studying rocks and minerals. In the next few days, we will be able to do some hands-on experiments with rocks and minerals. We will also have a rock collection coming up as a graded assignment. You're welcome to begin collecting rocks. I'll release the details of the assignment in the near future. Our first week in art was all about color - primary, secondary, tertiary, complimentary, analogous, monochromatic, and neutral colors. During our second week of school, I evaluated the students' drawing skills so I'll know where to start in the next few weeks. They drew George the Avocado Plant (still life with depth, shadowing, and color) and we drew pictures based on descriptive writing/listening skills. This group has asked specifically to learn about digital art and work with clay this year, so I am working on how we might accomplish both. In chapel, we've been learning about the Gospel writers and the life of Jesus.

Mrs. Hicks

Chapel 9-12

We have been talking about stories. The Bible is God's story, but we, to have a story and a role to play in God's story. In an effort to get the students involved in Biblical discussions this year, I will be expanding on the chapters in the book with more enriching and hopefully engaging lessons.

Mrs. Hicks

Spanish

We have learned the alphabet in Spanish and learned about a Spanish-speaking country. We have begun learning how to address people and learned lots of greetings. This curriculum only has 1-2 tests per quarter, and there are lots of vocabulary words and phrases to learn, so we will be having vocab quizzes regularly to break the vocabulary into more manageable chunks.

Mrs. Hicks

Child Growth and Development

Has gotten off to a wonderful start. Students have lecture and instruction on Mondays and hands on lab time in our Early Education classrooms where they can observe and see in action concepts they have learned about. I am not sure who enjoys it more, the high school students or the littles they get to observe.

Ms. Tiffany

Yearbook/Photography

This class has been so much fun to teach so far this year! I have to brag on your children as I have truly been amazed by some of their work. They are creative and many have shown an interest in truly wanting to better themselves and their photography skills. So far, we have discussed different types of photography, shutter speed, and depth of field. We have so much more to learn, and I am excited to see how their skills grow along the way.

Ms. Danielle

*9/1 Invoices sent out for October

*9/1 State Farm Quotes for Good kicks off

*9/2 NO CLASSES Happy Labor Day!!

*9/12 11:00 to 6:00 Kay Marie Boutique; Hazel and Billie's Childrens Store will offer a percentage of sales during the 11-6:00 time frame

*9/14 Progress Reports sent out

*9/15 October tuition due

*9/16 Late fees assessed

*9/27 ACSI Christian Online Bookfair

*10/12 Report Cards sent out

Here is a sneak peek of our new building, we will be submitting these plans to the City of VA. Please continue to pray for the means to complete this project. Please continue to support our Building Fund by participating in fundraisers and sharing with friends and family.