Fall Festival Fellowship
At ECA, our vision is that school families Love God, Value Learning, and Serve Others.
October 1, 2023
Community Fall Festival
Thank you to the many volunteer and community members who helped make today a great success. I am always ready to brag about what great students we have, and I also like to brag about what a great community we have. Here are some pictures of a great day on our campus!
MAP Testing This Week
During the first week October, we will carry out our first session of yearly testing. Here is a little more information about the program:
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. We are planning on staggering the testing this year to better accomodate our wireless network and computer usage. Students in grades 5-8 will test on M&W mornings this week. Students in grades K-4 will test on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Both groups should be finished by next Tuesday. 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 mornings. 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, depending on what day they are testing, 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 next week on October 12 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 testing days to keep energy and minds working. Thank you again Home & School.
Hot Lunch Program
Thank you to all of the food vendors who helped with our Fall Festival. There was just too much goodness to go around so we saved some for this Tuesday too. We do have a hot lunch planned for this Tuesday. It will be a veggie hot dog meal.
Prices for this meal will be the same price that we will start when our weekly lunch program starts on October 9
students in grades K-2 - $5,
students in grades 3-8 - $6.
Our hot lunch coordinator, Tami Waterson, will be providing us with a menu for the upcoming month of October. I am still waiting to hear back from a sales representative from Teacher Ease about incorporating the program for payment, ordering, and meal calendars. As I learn more, the school will update with a remind post. Again, we are excited to have our kitchen in place and lunchroom warm and ready for fall weather.
7th & 8th Grade DC Trip Planning Meeting
Students in grades 7&8 will have a chance to go to Washington D.C. during the last half of Spring Break and 1st half of the following week. For students and parents wishing to go, the end of September is our deadline for the $1000 deposit per person. We will have a final tally of those going on our first 2024 school year meeting. This meeting will be on Tuesday, October 3 at 6:30 in the ECA library. If you or your child is planning on going, we need you there. If you are unable to attend, we will make a ZOOM session available.
8th Grade Class Fundraiser
The 8th grade class, in addition to raising funds for their upcoming Washington D.C. trip, is also raising funds for their class trip, graduation, and school activities. If you would like to help the class, they are running a bottle/can drive this year. If you bring your bottles/cans to the the 8th grade classroom in a bag, they will be applied 100% to the 8th grade class fund.
AG Program - Mondays Science Class
This year, every student will be able to participate in ECA’s Agriculture Program. This happens on the first day of each week. Students will be outdoors doing a variety of things with Mr. Wyatt Johnson. Throughout the year, there may be a few rainy days. Boots and gloves are great things for working outdoors on Monday Science Days. Water bottles are great things to have outside too. Students are in class with Mr. Wyatt from 1:15-3:15. Here is a schedule of the days and classes:
Monday, October 2 - (K from 1:15-2:15 & Grades 1&2 from 2:15-3:15)
Monday, October 9 - Grades 7&8
Monday, October 16 - Grades 5&6
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