Grace Christian Academy March 28, 2014
The fourth quarter is a busy time of the school year. You can expect to be hearing more about these annual events which are held during the fourth quarter. GCA is a great place to be!
Spirit Week: Thank you for the extra efforts for this fun time. School spirit generates team collaboration, appreciation for the school environment and enthusiasm for life. GCA is a great place to be! It was especially nice this year to see the older students dressing up to entertain the younger students. They really enjoyed it!
Spring Break: There will be no school March 31-April 4 in celebration of the Easter Season and the Tomb Sweeping holiday. April 7 will be a full day of school.
Fall Registration: April 7-11 is the time to enroll current students before we begin to register new students April 14-18. Middle school grades are typically the first to fill up. Visitors to GCA are almost a daily experience; it’s exciting to meet students who could be joining GCA in August.
Fund Raising: Thank you for being supportive of the Berg family this year. In addition to the loss of income, the extra expenses have been challenging. As we continue to accept gifts in the school office, we will also be accepting gifts for the orphanage in Myanmar. This year, Mr. Berg had volunteered to lead the fund raising for the orphanage. If parents would like to get involved, that would be quite a blessing.
Reading Emphasis Week: Special reading and language arts activities will be held during the week of April 14-18. These events help to prepare the students for the Standardized tests.
Standardized Achievement Tests: The Iowa Achievement tests are administered to all students during the week of April 21-25. Students attend school during the morning hours only. Test results are not typically available until June. These tests monitor and document the growth in learning for individual students, and also help to build a stronger curriculum. Throughout the years of our school, the standardized tests have consistently demonstrated that our academic levels are above average in comparison to US schools.
Parent-Teacher Conferences: April 21-25. As in September, parents can schedule 30 minute private conferences with teachers. We attempt to bring together several of the teachers for each conference to share detailed information and respond to questions. Students complete their standardized tests in the morning and parent conferences are scheduled in the afternoon.
Internship Program: April 21-25. Students in grades 11 and 12 are offered volunteer opportunities in local companies. (They cannot accept any salary payments or gifts.) If your company can host 2 of our students, please call the office. Students are asked to help with simple tasks which connect them to a local business. Companies and organizations have reported that our students are polite, respectful and make a significant contribution. Students enter these internship experiences on their personal resumes and it helps as they seek admission into college.
Spiritual Emphasis Week: May 12-16. Bible classes are presented daily, involving nearly every teacher; this year, with the theme of “Wisdom for Daily Living”. Daily lessons focus on wisdom in your relationship to your parents, wisdom for maintaining high ethical standards, wisdom for assisting peers though their struggles, wisdom for eternity, and Wise decision making. No time is lost in the schedule for teaching the academic core subjects.
Graduation Ceremony: High School graduates will be honored on June 3 with performances from all students. All students in grades 6-12 will be performing. However, this does not mark the end of the school year. Graduation ceremonies are held early so that students can set aside their excitement from their performances and concentrate on quarterly exams. June 2 is the Dragon Boat Festival. There will be no classes because of this National Holiday, but please be sure to be in Taipei on June 3. Attendance is mandatory for all students.
Quarterly Exams: Quarterly exams for middle school students will be conducted June 9-12. High school exams will be conducted on June 11 and 12, with lunch being served at 11:00. The last exam will be from 12:00-1:00 on the last day of school. Students who are not in school on those two days will not have any option of taking the tests after the exam period, since the last day of school is also the last day of exams. Please do not make plans to leave school before 1:00 on June 12.
