Coming Together as a School Family
At ECA, our vision is that school families Love God, Value Learning, and Serve Others.
Fall Festival 2022
October 2, 2022
Hello ECA families,
If you travel to the Assam Province of British India, you will come across the Baktawng Village. Once there, you might notice that many of the people running around look alike in many ways. The world’s record holder for the largest family lived there until his death in 2021. His 94 children still call this place home. Today, ECA hosted its annual Fall Festival. Although we may not look alike, we all have a common desire to grow closer in our relationship with our heavenly father. Our school family was able to connect at our first school event. Thank you so much to our Home & School leaders and all of the volunteers who worked so hard to put this together. As you look through this week’s post of pictures, I hope you feel God’s connection to our school family.
“Now you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” - Ephesians 2:19
MAP Testing This Week
Tomorrow morning, students in grades K-8, will have three days of testing in the morning hours from about 8:30-11:00. The three tests that your child will take are reading, ELA, and math. They will take one test each day. The results of this Fall testing will be shared with you at our P/T conference in early November. Each test is customized to your child’s ability to answer questions. Most tests take between 45 minutes - 1 1/2 hours. We are able to pause testing sessions so students will be taking breaks midway through the tests. If possible, this would be a great week for a little extra sleep, a good breakfast, and a readiness to do their best each of the three days M-W. Because some students may finish before others, please make sure your child has a book or reading material in case they finish before others. Because this testing will take place during our morning core teaching time, homeroom teachers may have altered teaching schedules for this week. As a result, there should be no new homework for your child this week, but it is possible your child may be catching up on some unfinished work from last week.
We will also have a makeup testing period on Thursday, October 6 in the middle of the day for students who may have missed a day or still need to finish a test. This first testing session will be one of three testing sessions we will use this year. We also do testing in January and late April. Home & School will be providing healthy snacks during each of the three days to keep energy and minds working. Thank you again Home & School.
Hot Lunch Tomorrow, Monday, October 3
We had so much fun today. The food was amazing and we still have food available for a hot lunch tomorrow. The meal will include baked potatoes, cornbread, a vegetable, and drink. The price for the meal is $5. If you would like to sign your child up for hot lunch, please let us know by responding to the Remind Notice that will be going out to all families. If you reply to the notice, I will get a notice and I can send that information onto Home & School. All money raised will go to Home & School.
1/2 Day Friday this Friday
This Friday, we will be having our October 1/2 day Friday. Usually, we have it on the 2nd Friday of each month. This month, our teaching staff will be having a professional day with other conference teachers in Oregon on the 13th. School will dismiss at 12:30 this Friday, October 7. Home & School will also be providing hot lunch this Friday too. Every 1/2 day Friday, our Home & School will be presenting a hot lunch. More information will go out this week about the meal. So for this week, you can plan on two hot lunches. Our kitchen is still under construction and we look forward to its completion so we can offer more meal choices for your family.
K-4 Field Trip to Our Local Pumpkin Patch this 1/2 Day Friday
Students in K-4 will be leaving school following our morning Friday chapel time together. We will be traveling to Northern Lights Christmas Tree Farm for Fall activities and a chance to take home a pumpkin for the season. Plan on wearing shoes that could become dirty and sending a bag to bring a pumpkin home in. Look for more information from your homeroom teacher as this Friday gets closer.
Afternoon Week of Prayer
ECA is excited to welcome Wyatt Johnston as our Week of Prayer presenter this week in the afternoon. Students in grades K-4 will be meeting in the library from 2:00-2:30 each day M-Th. Students in grades 5-8 will be meeting from 2:30-3:00. Wyatt has been a missionary in Africa working with agriculture programs for communities for the past year. He is a member of the Springfield SDA Church and we are excited to hear more about how God can work in our lives. Wyatt will be joining us as our outdoor agricultural program leader beginning in January 2023. We are so excited to see God working in our school.
After-School Tutor Position Still Available
ECA is looking to fill a position for an after-school tutor/helper with our after-school program. This position would be from 3:00 - 5:00 M-Th. As a part-time worker for the school, you would be compensated with an hourly pay. You would work with our CORE Full-Time teachers to help students in reading, math, and writing. You could also help out with after-school programs. If this sounds like an adventure you would like more information about, please call the office or send an email to principal@emeraldchristianacademy.com.
Fall Festival 2022
Christian Counseling Available - Free Resources:
The NAD (North American Division of SDA) has recently shared new resources for children and teens that offer a safe and anonymous place to talk or text. Here is a news release from the NAD.
We’re excited to announce the launch of www.aruggedjourney.org our newest NAD site providing free online mentoring for guys. A Rugged Journey joins www.gorgeous2god.org (for young women) which has grown in its scope and ministry since its beginning in 2017.
These sites, along with their counterparts on social media, provide free help to our teens/young adults in a space they can ask questions without judgment or fear. The questions are answered by a team of dedicated Seventh-day Adventists at AIM on the campus of Andrews University.
In addition to the confidential Q & A, positive content is provided through videos, posts, etc.
www.gorgeous2god.org/ FB: gorgeous2god/ IG: @gorgeous2god
www.aruggedjourney.org/ FB: aruggedjourney/ IG: @aruggedjourney
Announcements & Upcoming Events
Monday, Oct. 3 - Friday, Oct. 7 - Week of Prayer (Afternoon). This will also be the only month with our 1/2 day Friday on the first Friday of the month
Monday, Oct. 3 -Wednesday, Oct. 5 - MAP Testing (Morning).
Friday, October 7 - 1/2 Day Friday & Hot Lunch (Home & School Fundraiser)
Friday, October 14 - No school - Teacher In-service
"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” - Psalm 118:24