Thank you for everyone who has put in a word about uniforms! I've made today's message into this short video! Please also check out the attached MT document for announcements and dates.
Thanks for taking time to stay connected to ICA! Brenda
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Reminder: Tomorrow, Wednesday the 21st, is an early release at 12:30 to allow our staff to convene for valuable development opportunities. This time there will be regular bus service at 12:30.
The countdown is on to reenrollment week! Beginning March 6th, you'll be able to access reenrollment on your Gradelink account, and the following week classes open up to new families who would like to enroll. The board and I will be making a final decision on whether or not to add uniforms for next school year before that date. If you haven't responded (you can reply to this email if you would like) with your recommendation, I would be VERY glad to hear from you after you read the information here. We are up to about 60% of families who have expressed their opinions. Thank you!! ICA to Olympia: Spending time with fantastic students is part of the joy of working at ICA. Today I accompanied Mr. Bacigalupi, his American Government class, and the other Mr. Bacigalupi (his son) to Olympia to experience state government in action. Over the course of the day we toured our marble-laden capitol building, hearing its 100 plus year history and also interacted with three representatives from our legislative district. Norma Smith, Barbara Bailey and Dave Hayes, who all took time to greet us and snap the picture below. Rep. Hayes spent another 15 minutes relating some of his own story and answering questions. Being in that setting reminded me of two former students, Naomi Bartel and Zane Vanderwood, who participated in the Page Program for the Washington State legislature during their high school years, and a third ICA student, Shelby Lubchuck, who is currently serving Senator Randi Becker from the 2nd legislative district as an intern! We love seeing our students get involved in government! Thank you to Mr. Bacigalupi for setting up this trip for us. Now on to Washington, DC! Please read the attached Message Tuesday document for all of the details and dates. Thank you for taking the time to stay connected to ICA! Blessings, Brenda Red, pink, sugar and hearts made today a lovely day with plenty of smiles around ICA. We had a great day celebrating the friendships with which we are blessed.
Several classes have intriguing field trips this month which you may not be aware of: PreK to Payless: We are very thankful to the generous people at Payless who hosted our PreK class last week for a store tour with emphasis on healthy foods as a culmination to a study on nutrition. The produce man gave each student five pieces of fruit to represent the five servings of fruit they should have each day. Each student was able to scan and pay for his/her own cheese stick with dimes provided by the store. Our 6th-8th grade students will be traveling to Providence Regional Medical Center for a presentation where they can see human organs like hearts, lungs, brains, livers, and kidneys that have been impacted by harmful habits and lifestyles and compare them to healthy organs. High School students in Mr. Bacigalupi's American Government class will be traveling next Tuesday to Olympia to tour the capitol, meet with some of our legislators, and observe the government at work! There are almost always pictures posted of these trips on our closed Facebook Group. If you are a Facebook person, search for Island Christian Academy Group and request to join. We're thankful to each of these teachers and Mrs. Ohme for arranging these educational opportunities outside of the classroom! Uniform investigation: I have responses from 38% of families so far, and I sincerely appreciate each response received. My goal is to hear from everyone before coming to a decision along with the board. I truly want to know what you think. If you have not responded to the uniform question yet, please do so after reading the information found here. Reenrollment information for the 2017-18 school year will be sent out the last week of February for a March 10th completion date. We are already having inquiries and tours for next year, but will not open up seats to those families until March 13th. Hopefully you'll take a minute to open up the attachment and take note of some of the announcements and events coming up! Blessings, Brenda As a classical school we are somewhat of an anomaly in that we have not yet adopted a school uniform policy. We have at times conversed about the possibility among the school community, but never felt the timing was right to implement. While I’m not saying this is the right time, I would like to begin a dialogue with our current families to see if it we might be getting close. I have read much on the pros and cons of school uniforms, and will present some of the case here as it applies to our context It’s not a dialogue I’ve entered without thought, and I sincerely want to know what you, the parents, are thinking AFTER you have read the pros and cons link.
Just in case you are picturing your 8th grade student hyperventilating to know I have even said the “U” word, please be aware that I’m looking toward one of the following possibilities: 1. Adopting a uniform policy for all K-8 students for the 2017-18 school year 2. Adopting a uniform policy for K-6 students for the 2017-18 school year 3. Adopting a uniform policy for K-3 students for the 2017-18 school year and adding uniform requirements per grade as they continue up through grade 8 4. Adopting a uniform policy for Kindergarten students for the 2017-18 school year and adding uniform requirements per grade as they continue up through grade 8 Access a link to some of my thoughts on the pros and cons of uniforms at Island Christian Academy by clicking here. There is much on the internet to read, but many of the arguments (gangs and violence, etc..) don’t necessarily apply to ICA. I’ve delineated the concerns I think our families might have and would be very glad to hear your thoughts once you have read and thought about the topic. Other ICA news: Spelling Bee winners: Joyful congratulations to Shannon Justus, who has spelled her way to the regional level of the National Scripps spelling bee! Last Tuesday Shannon became our school champion and will be representing at the next level in March. Kudos as well to Henry Ohme, who came in as second top speller and will continue in Shannon’s place if she is unable to attend. Thank you both for your hard work and dedication to excellence! See the attached MT for a full list of classroom winners! Electives Week: This week’s diversion from the usual schedule should provide for many interesting dinner table conversations. Be sure to ask your student what new skill or knowledge they have come into possession of today. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on school uniforms! Sincerely, Brenda National School Choice Week: You may have seen a few yellow fleece scarves and maybe a sign or two around campus this week as you drop students off or pick them up. This week is National School Choice Week. We have chosen to participate in the celebration this year as it gives us another opportunity to be thankful for the ability we have to choose a private school.
As a school we get to integrate faith and learning every day as we discover truth, and learn how our creator views truth in every subject. We believe that a Christian worldview as presented in Scripture provides students with a valuable framework for understanding the world around them, and learning in this context will give them the foundation they will need to navigate a changing and sometimes confusing world. This week we are thankful for the opportunity to do just that at Island Christian Academy! Spelling Bee: Just in case you are free this afternoon and would like to join us, the 3rd-8th grades will be competing in our Scripps Spelling Bee at 1:15 today. By the end of the day we'll know who will represent us at the Regional Spelling Bee in March! Parenting Teens Summit: Those of you with teens or up-and-coming teens, may be interested in this free on-line summit! Axis, the sponsoring organization, provides resources to parents and leaders to help them "empower the next generation to think clearly and critically about what they believe and to take ownership of their faith." I utilize their services weekly through an email they send out called the Culture Translator. In February they are sponsoring an on-line conference which will include some well known leaders who will provide practical talks to help you parent your teens. Ravi Zacharias, Tim Keller, John Eldredge, Kathy Koch, John Stonestreet, Kara Powell and a host of other experts will equip you to start conversations with your teen about faith, body-image, failure, pornography, sex, social media, leadership, prayer, college prep and more. Get your free digital seat at the conference today! You can tune in to a session at the scheduled time or watch over the following three days at your convenience. Please mark your calendar with some of the dates on the attached MT document. Thanks for reading! Brenda "The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful." Plato (The Republic)
To be classically educated means to learn to recognize what is true, good and beautiful in the world and to begin to develop a lifelong love of things represented by these three adjectives. To obtain a Classical Christian education means to learn to love the true, good and beautiful as defined by God and revealed in Scripture. At ICA we are striving to help students recognize these three attributes in the world around them. This is one of the catalysts for our "Readers of the Round Table" society, which is feeding a love for beautiful literature in many of our students. At present we have six students who have read books to obtain page status, two squires, and one student who has reached knighthood already! See the attached MT document to find our who! Way to read! We have many of the books from the reading list in our growing "Round Table" library, so encourage your student to visit the office and start their "great book". The buzz about our spring art fair has also begun as many student are deciding on an artist to study and imitate for our Spring Art Fair (March 21). Several of our Electives Week choices are geared toward the arts this year, encouraging students to learn to recognize and discern what is true, good and beautiful in the realm of art. Electives Week Preveiw will be this coming Friday at the end of the school day (2:30). This is when students 3rd grade and up will get a look at the electives from which they will choose to attend during the four days of Jan. 31-Feb 3. Look for sign up sheets in backpacks this Friday with instructions for students to collaborate with their parents to help decide which four of the offered electives would be most beneficial for them personally. Some of the classes have a $5 fee to help cover supplies, which (should you choose one of these electives) will show up on your next invoice from ICA. Parents are asked to help their student make a wise decision, then to sign and return the form on Monday, January 23rd so we can develop each student's unique schedule. As some classes are limited, priority follows seniority - older students will be more likely to get their first choice classes. Other thoughts: Please note that tomorrow is a half day and that there is no public school bus service at that time. Thanks so much for allowing us to be a part of your student's education! Please remember to check out the attached MT! Blessings, Brenda We have welcomed four new students to ICA this past week: Maya (grade 5), Jacob (grade 3), Marisa (grade 5), and Alysha (grade 7). We're delighted to have them as part of our student body and are working to help make their transition pleasant.
As the end of first semester approaches, we are gearing up for Electives Week. For those who are new to ICA this year, here is a brief overview of this much-anticipated multi-day event: Each year between the1st and 2nd semester ICA hosts four days of classes presented by our staff, parents of ICA students, as well as various members of the Whidbey community. During the four-day Electives Week, each student in grades 3 and higher chooses four electives out of a pool of 18-20 choices, and attends the same four classes each day for one hour. The PreK-2nd grades also participate by inviting presenters to come to their classrooms to demonstrate and teach them as a class. This allows students to get exposure to skills and topics that they might not encounter in the average school year. The week also serves to infuse some extra energy into that long stretch between Christmas and Spring breaks. Here is a preview of a few of some of this year's offerings: Knitting, The Art of Cookies, Taekwondo, Intro to Ukelele, Measure Like a Scientist, Programming Mindstorm Robots, Intro to Volleyball Basics, Watercolors, Lego Stop Animation, Bread-making, Intro to Harmonica and many more! If you have a special skill you would like to share or have an idea for a class, we would love to hear from you! We will also need a few parent volunteers to help with class and break monitoring during those days. You can come for any amount of time that you have available (respond to Mrs. Ohme at islandchristianacademy@gmail.com). It's such a delight to offer this gift to our students. Each year they are inspired and learn new things. We will have a showcase of learning at our next Quarterly Awards dinner February 7th at 6 pm in the gym. Be sure to peruse the newly-designed Message Tuesday document attached to this email. Have a blessed week! Brenda Merry Christmas!
May I suggest you encourage your student to enjoy the holidays with a great book chosen from our (attached) Readers of the Round Table literature list? They earn personal and House points for every book as well as develop an appetite for quality literature! If your family doesn't have a church you regularly attend, I would like to invite you to come for the one-hour Christmas Eve Candlelight service at South Whidbey Assembly of God, our school's host church, starting at 6:00 pm. (See below for more details.) It's a lovely hour of Christmas carols and a poignant message that sets the tone for your holiday together as a family. Merry Christmas and we'll see your students back on January 4th! Brenda P.S. Thanks to our South Whidbey Fire/EMS for delivering stockings for every student in our school today! Tonight is the night! You are invited to join our ICA student body as together we honor the birth of our Savior! Angels, shepherds, wise men and of course several of the animals with whom the baby Jesus and his family shared the stable will grace the evening.
Students are asked to dress nicely for performance and arrive at 6:45 pm. At that time our ICA band will be presenting a pre-program presentation for the early birds. Initiated just nine months ago, this group is building confidence and skill by the week, and I think you'll enjoy hearing them play. For the first time in many years we'll also welcome participation by secondary students, who will be giving us a little taste of Charlie Brown's Christmas. At last we'll top off the evening with a treat purchased from the students who are raising funds for their Spring Break trip to Washington, D.C. We are anticipating a heart-warming evening that will remind us all of the heart of Christmas! The program begins at 7:00 pm in the gym. Hope to see you there! Brenda Today I was delighted to accompany our high school Mr. Garth Bacigalupi and his American Government class to Coupeville to learn about county government. As we trecked from office to office throughout the day, we gleaned knowledge about not only our county government, but also learned about certain jobs that would be common to many businesses like IT, human resources, and accounting.
The class spent about 20 minutes in each department, hearing from the people who take care of county business. We were able to see where and how tax payments are processed in the Treasurer's office, how the land and private property values are determined in the Assessor's office, visited with Island County Commissioner Rick Hannold, learned what a coroner's job entails along with visiting with Sheriff Mark Brown and Deputy County Prosecutor Eric Ohme! In all, we visited eleven county offices - a whirlwind tour! We are so grateful to these very busy public servants who each took a small part of their day to inspire our students. Below is a picture with Island County Treasurer Wanda Grone's office staff. Ms. Grone graciously set up our itinerary for the day. Thanks to Mr. Bacigalupi for taking the initiative! If you happen to know any of the folks who work at the county offices, you might tell them you're thankful for all they do. None of them made their jobs sound very easy! Please read all the info in the attached MT document. Two weeks from tonight is our annual Christmas Pageant. The students are diligently preparing for that event. Christmas music is in the air at ICA! Have a blessed week, Brenda |
Island Christian ACademyDecidedly Academic - Distinctively Christian. A few of our wax museum participants
Electives week with Detective Farr from Island County
Grandparents Day
Service Project, Langley
High School students visit the capital building in Olympia
Spelling bee winners
Sno-Isle Skill Center graduate and ICA senior
Secondary Leadership Retreat
Community service project at the Island County Fairgrounds
Northwest Institute of the Literary Arts winners
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