Stuck On Reading

One of our concentrations this year as a school is on increasing reading comprehension skills.  If you want to read more about that, click here. We have employed a variety of skills each month to help our students attack words, learn to infer, use contextual clues and more. To really hone these skills, they need direct application. Considering this and knowing that the best way for students to become better readers is to actually read more, I embarked on a reading challenge for the month of February. 

We set a goal as a school to read at least 1750 books during the month of February. Preschool students will read 300, elementary will read 1000, middle school will read 300 and high school will read 150. The class that has the highest percentage of participation AND the highest number of books read will receive a class party from me. If we reach our goals, our students will get to celebrate by getting to duct tape me, the principal, to the wall in our multi-purpose room.  

I have been amazed at the response from our students! During the first week alone, we had over 600 books turned in as read. We are writing the names of books, authors and students that read them on strips and making paper chains in the hallway. Students love seeing their class. They want to get more up there than the other classes. I just love seeing that they are reading!

Students have been coming up to me and saying, “I’m going to tape you to the wall!” or “I’ve been reading every night, Mrs. Tigges” and that brings me such excitement. Parents have been telling me how much their kids want to read and it may cost me a little duct tape, but the end result will be SO WORTH IT!!!!!

 Stay tuned for pictures of the duct tape event when our students meet their goals!

- Mrs. TIgges

Re-Enrollment is Open!

We are excited to launch Re-Enrollment for the 2015-2016 school year! Just as we did Re-Enrollment electronically last year, which saved time and frustration for both parents and staff, TFCA's Re-Enrollment will be completed online, through ParentsWeb. This process is designed to be simple and to save your valuable time!

Instructions have been emailed to all current students' parents. For those of you who are visual learners (like myself!), here are some screenshots to help guide you through the process.

Before you start, make sure you have a ParentsWeb account and know how to access it. For instructions on setting that up, see this post.

We also ask every parent to review the 2015-2016 Tuition & Fees information before beginning the Re-Enrollment process.

To begin the Re-Enrollment process (or to withdraw your student for the next year), do the following:

1. Log in to ParentsWeb.

 

 

2. Click Family Information on the left-hand menu, then click Enrollment/Re-Enrollment

 

 3. On the first page of the Re-Enrollment process, this is what you'll see. You should see all students in your family. This is the step at which you either check the box to Re-Enroll or uncheck the box to Withdraw. It will be checked by default, because of course we hope you're coming back! :) Make your selections for each child and then click Next.

 

4.  After clicking Next, you will complete a set of Acknowledgements for each custodial parent in your family. Please read through each item carefully. There are some changes noted on the 2015-2016 Tuition & Fees which you will be asked to acknowledge that you have read and understand.

Be sure to scroll down on the right-hand side and complete all before clicking Next!

5. After clicking Next, you'll have the opportunity to review and edit your student's information for accuracy. Be sure to scroll down on the right-hand side for all fields.

 

6. Next, you'll review the Custodial Parent information. This is last thing you'll do before completing your Re-Enrollment.

 

 7. After clicking Next, your enrollment will be considered completed. You will receive an email confirming your submission. If you feel like what you received is in error, please contact us right away!

 

We hope you find this process to be simple to complete! Thank you!

Krista Dulaney, Director of School Relations

Academic Goals for the 2014-15 school year

Each spring, we administer the Terra Nova 3 standardized test to our students. We get the results back and we spend a great deal of time analyzing the results. We look at each subject and each grade. We identify trends, both positive and negative.  

 

As a school, we surpass national norms in every area. Many of our students score in the top 10%. Out of 300+ students, approximately 100 scored a 90% or better on the total battery or a 95% in a core subject area (reading, language, math, science or social studies).

in all areas.

This year we identified three main areas we wanted to see growth school wide. They are:

1. Reading Comprehension strategies
2. Writing mechanics skills
3. Math computation skills, including Geometry and Spatial skills

To address these areas, we have adopted a school-wide reading focus that concentrates on specific strategies for comprehension each month. These strategies will be incorporated across the curriculum in instruction. We will focus on the strategies with teachers in faculty meetings and trainings. We will also be doing quarterly progress monitoring that will illuminate growth or regression in comprehension levels.

We will do training as a faculty that focuses on improving reading/writing skills. In all subjects and grade levels, we will work on incorporating more writing opportunities. Grammar, sentence structure and analytical writing will be part of our focus. Language Arts exit criteria for each grade level will continue to be met and evaluated.

In Math, we will work to incorporate more hands-on math strategies. Students will master addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts by the time they enter the 6^th grade. There is also a need for a specific focus on geometry and spatial skills. Professional Development opportunities will be offered featuring math strategies and hands-on instruction. Teachers will also be sent to the National Math Teachers conference. Math skills will also be assessed quarterly and reported to parents.  

We will reassess overall trends and scores again in the spring 2015 following the receipt of our Terra Nova 3 score reports.  

As a school, we do not “teach to the test”. Our goal and our aim is to provide high quality, Biblically-based instruction that challenges our students at every level. We want to utilize the tests we administer to expose areas of strengths and weaknesses and help us continue to evaluate and guide our curriculum development.

Carrie Beth Tigges, Principal

Prepare Him Room...

Expectation.  Hope.  Waiting.  Patience.  Longing.  Wishing.  

 

The season of Advent and Christmas is upon us.  As a society, we don’t do waiting well.  We want instant gratification.  If someone doesn’t take off immediately at a green light, we honk our horns.  When we don’t get an immediate response to a text or email, we send another one.  We are the “microwave” generation, not the cook on the stove all day generation.  Yet, as Christians, we are waiting expectantly for the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  

In the same way, the Jewish people were waiting expectantly for their Messiah.  There had been silence.  They had turned away from God and rejected his teaching.  He withdrew from them.  Yet, he always intended to maintain his promises.  He WOULD send a Messiah.  It may not have been in the way they thought he would.  

A baby.  A manger.  A stable.  A star.  A girl.  A carpenter.  A promise.  

His story unfolded in a way that none had fathomed, yet all would come to hear.  Even then, it would be some thirty years before HIS son would be fully revealed.  Jesus came that night in a humble way, in a humble place.  His death was equally humbling.  He did not die with a huge celebration.  He died alongside criminals.  Yet, God’s promise still rang true.  His son took our sins.  He bore our shame.  He rose to life.  He ascended and now we find ourselves coming full circle.  Again, we wait.

We wait for His return.  We long for His coming.  We follow Him.  We serve Him.  We lean on Him.

If he says he is returning, we know he is returning.  We wait……expectantly.

As we prepare our hearts for this season, we as a school want to join you in Celebrating Advent with us.

Each week leading up to Christmas has a different theme.  We will focus on joy, peace, love and hope.  We will light the Advent candles each week in chapel and focus on that week’s theme.  The last chapel we will also light the Christ candle.  Traditionally, that is done on Christmas Eve, but we are not here on that day and still want to share the significance with our students.

There are many ideas for keeping the focus on Advent/Christ vs. the commercial aspect of the Christmas season.  I wanted to share a few ideas with you that our family has used over the years.  

·         Make a paper chain for Dec 1-25.  Write people or issues you want to pray for each night.  Another idea is to write the different names of Jesus with the scripture reference and look those up with your kids.  Here is an idea for this: http://www.spelloutloud.com/names-of-jesus-advent-chain.html

 

·         Consider a service idea for each day leading up to Christmas.  Here is a link to a blog with a free printable calendar of service for December:  http://www.coffeecupsandcrayons.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Random-Acts-of-Christmas-Kindness-Printable-Calendar-for-Kids.pdf

·         I wrap up books about Christmas and my boys take turns unwrapping a book each night from December 1-25.  I have done this since my oldest son’s first Christmas.  It is one more way to slow down the hustle and bustle, sit down and read with my children.

·         Another great idea is found here:  http://gracefilledmess.blogspot.com/2013/11/counting-days.html  You take the Jesus storybook Bible and read a specific part each night leading up to Christmas.

·         We will also have bookmarks that we will be sending home/giving to all of our students.  There are verses listed for each day of Advent you can read together as a family.  Consider reading them each day before you leave for work and school or around the dinner table each evening.  

However you celebrate, I pray you feel the excitement of anticipation of Christ’s return.

Blessing to you!

Carrie Beth Tigges, Principal