IMPORTANT EVENTS & DATES FOR AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
Parents, please take a moment to mark your calendars. The following are important dates that you do not want to miss:
- September 2nd: Kindergarten Brown Bear Play 2:15pm (Kindergarten Classrooms)
- September 5th: Labor Day-Student/Teacher Holiday
- September 6th: Parent Association Meeting-All Divisions 8:15-9:45am (Faith Hall 301)
- September 7th: LS Coffee with the Principal 8:15am (Location TBD)
- September 13th: LS Portraits (Gym)
- September 20th-22nd: Lower School Student-Led Conferences (By Appointment)
- September 20th-22nd: Early Dismissal 12:15pm
CHAPEL VENUES, DATES, & TIMES
The following is a list of upcoming chapel dates and times:
- August 25th: K4-5th Grade Chapel 8:30-9:15am (Faith Hall)
- August 25th: Middle School Chapel (6th-8th) 9:30-10:10am (Faith Hall)
- September 1st: K4-5th Grade Chapel 8:30-9:15am (Faith Hall)
- September 1st: Middle School Chapel (6th-8th) 9:30-10:10am (Faith Hall)
- September 8th: K4-5th Grade Chapel-Mrs. Bell’s Chapel Presentation 8:30-9:15am (Henry Chapel)
- September 8th: Middle School Chapel (6th-8th) 9:30-10:10am (Henry Chapel)
- September 15th: K4-5th Grade Chapel-Mrs. Combs’s Chapel Presentation 8:30-9:15am (Faith Hall)
- September 15th: No Chapel for 6th Grade Due to NJHS Induction Ceremony in MS
- September 29th: K4-5th Grade Chapel-Mrs. Smith’s Chapel Presentation 8:30-9:15am (Faith Hall)
- September 29th: Middle School Chapel (6th-8th) 9:30-10:10am (Faith Hall)
A NOTE FROM MRS. JACKSON
It was wonderful to see all of our parents back on campus Tuesday morning at our PA Volunteer Breakfast. This special event is such a great way to kick off the school year as both new and returning parents hear about volunteer opportunities across the campus. We love parent support in Lower School and fully understand that we could not accomplish many of our special events without the help of our dedicated parents.
Now is the time to complete or update your background check. Please review our Volunteer Background Screening Instructions for information on how to complete this process. In order to help ensure the safety and security of our students, all volunteers at The First Academy must undergo a background screening. Parents must be approved before volunteering in the classroom or serving as a chaperone on a field trip. If you are not sure if you need an updated background screening, please contact Cheryl Louis at 407-206-8610.
Thank you, parents,, for all of the hours you invest in serving our students, faculty, and staff!
RECOGNITION
Breakout!!!
I’m sure you’ve heard about the three R’s, reading, writing, and arithmetic, but have you hear of the three C’s? Critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity? Let me introduce you to Breakout EDU! Breakout EDU is a way to get students out of their desks and using these three important strategies of learning! Students are placed in teams and have to solve puzzles and locks to get into the Breakout Box! Third and fourth-grade students at The First Academy engaged last week in a Breakout session! Students worked together to solve the mysteries of the clues and crack the locks! They had a blast! It’s time for something different!
Gold Medal Readers-Week 1 Results
Here are the results for week 1 of our Gold Medal Reader Reading Incentive Program. Gold Medal winning classes earned a free spirit wear day for this Thursday, August 18th. We are completely blown away by how many points our students earned over the summer and the first three days of school. Altogether, K-6 earned a total of 3,815.6 points!!!
Kindergarten: Gold-Cline (2.5) Silver-Martin (2.0) Bronze-Burns (0.0)
1st Grade: Gold-Williams (50.6) Silver-Agan (39.3) Bronze-Fox (36.3)
2nd Grade: Gold-Smith (179.4) Silver-Wall (29.3) Bronze-Makar (15.6)
2nd/3rd Grade: Gold-Schuessler (146.4) Silver-Lamp (94.0) Bronze-Dowling (20.0)4th Grade: Gold-Walton (684.8!!!!) Silver-Rowley (424.3) Bronze-Combs (81.9)
5th Grade: Gold-Bell (584.0) Silver-Camblin (404.8) Bronze-Brown (102.8)
6th Grade: Gold-Parmer (229.0) Silver-Dvorak (214.9) Bronze-Diehl (210.7)
NEW THIS WEEK
Student-Led Conferences
Mark your calendars for the week of September 20-22nd. These 3 days are early dismissal days (12:15pm) for all of Lower School as we conduct our annual Student-Led Conferences. What is a Student-Led Conference? It is exactly what the name suggests. During these individually-scheduled conference times, students will walk the parents through their beginning-of-the-year work samples and test scores. In the weeks leading up to Student-Led Conferences, the classroom teachers will be conferencing with the students to discuss their information in preparation. We are always impressed with how well the students do when it comes to talking about their school work.
AR HomeConnect
Over the summer, we had an update to our Renaissance Learning program that we use for Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, and STAR Testing. Many parents like to receive email updates when their children take Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math tests. You can set your preferences using Renaissance Learning HomeConnect. If you had this set up previously, you will need to complete the process again.
Library Hours
The Boyd Moline Library will be open until 3:45pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays this year. It will close at 3:30pm on Monday and Friday and at 2:40pm on Wednesdays.
REMINDERS
Calendar Link
The TFA Calendar is a wonderful way to find the dates of upcoming events. Access our web-based calendar anytime. We recommend that you subscribe to all relevant calendars so you can keep up with all of the events going on around the school.
Parent Volunteer Background Check
If you are a new parent and would like to volunteer in your child(ren)’s classroom(s) or chaperone on field trips please complete our free background check. Please note that the background check site only works on Internet Explorer or Firefox on a desktop computer. Safari and Chrome are not supported by the site. Approvals take a few weeks so plan ahead! All parents must have a completed background check before volunteering of chaperoning on a field trip.