15 Dec Vol 45: Issue 3 (November–December 2023)
Vol 45: Issue 3 (November–December 2023)
Welcome to our November–December Blog!
We celebrated our new Student Body Government (SBG)
and kicked off the month of November with SBG-led School Spirit Week.
We celebrated all our children & cultures on World Children’s Day
and wrapped up the month with our All-School Thanksgiving Assembly!
With fresh hearts of thanksgiving,
We sang and danced into the last month of the year
and said our “goodbyes” with two AWESOME Christmas Musicals!
Take a virtual walk down memory lane with us,
as we bring you all the fresh highlights
from our Thanksgiving month all the way through Christmas,
in this combined NOVEMBER–DECEMBER Blog!
It's a THANKSGIVING x CHRISTMAS
Deluxe Edition!
ACA’s Monthly Blog remains your number one destination and visual insight into life across school at the American Christian Academy and in your child’s classrooms.
Welcome to our special 2-in-1 November–December Blog!
In this month’s highlights, we bring you the best from our Thanksgiving and Christmas programs, welcome our new Student Body Government (SBG) with special highlights from the SBG-coordinated School Spirit Week and World Children’s Day celebration, and welcome our new PTA Exco in a special “Parent Highlights” segment.
Our Monthly Class Features walk you from Preschool through High School with special activity highlights in each school, and we wrap up our Club Highlights for Semester I!
Make sure you scroll all the way down to the end for our Semester II calendars, and an exclusive recap of Christmas at ACA (2021–2022).
Have a wonderful holiday!
Leave a comment below to let us know your favorite highlight from the school year so far, and share this special edition with a friend!
"Around Our ACA World in 120 Seconds"
(A Quick Tour)
As we wrap up the year 2023, we’re bringing you a quick 2-minute tour around our beautiful little world!
What have you enjoyed most about ACA so far?
Catch the full video transcript with details and contact info in the YouTube description, and don’t forget to share with a friend!
Welcome to our Thanksgiving Month!
ALL-SCHOOL THANKSGIVING ASSEMBLY
Theme: “Let everything that has breath…”
Indeed, we all have a lot to be thankful for!
Here are some highlights from our All-School Thanksgiving Assembly 2023!
Scroll through < > in the image carousel below and click on your favorite photos to enlarge/save.
A Musical ACA Christmas
Here are some highlights from our Christmas at ACA 2023!
Scroll through < > our image carousels below and click on your favorite photos to enlarge/save.
All parents have access to our full gallery of photos (including Santa’s Grotto individual portraits) via the Media Drive link in our bonus Christmas Newsletter!
PRESCHOOL: Santa’s Grotto and Christmas Carols
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: “Little Drummer Dude” (A Christmas Musical)
MIDDLE–HIGH SCHOOL: A Night in Bethlehem (Christmas Opera) and Other Performances
An Official "WELCOME!" to our new Student Body Government (SBG)
Let’s meet our new Student Body Government for the 2023–2024 academic year!
SBG ExCo (Executive-Committee)
We welcome our new SBG President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer of the 2023–2024 academic year!
SBG Class Representatives (Middle–High School):
Let’s meet our Class Representatives in each class.
High School (9th–12th Grade) and Middle School (6th–8th Grade):
SBG Representatives (Middle–High School):
Let’s meet our SBG Representatives from each class.
High School (9th–12th Grade) and Middle School (6th–8th Grade):
World Children's Day
(An All-School SBG-Coordinated Event)
NOVEMBER 20, 2023 – Celebrated on Monday, November 27, 2023
We love celebrating the diversity of our student body! On World Children’s Day every year, we encourage all our children to come dressed in their different cultural attire from around the world. It is a day set aside by the UN to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide. “Every child is made in the image of God and is therefore of inestimable worth”
Follow us on our Instagram page @ACAOneFamily and STAY TUNED for an exclusive 1-minute recap as we look back on our World Children’s Day this week, featuring portraits from 2022 & 2023 and a very special student-led Independent Project (IP) titled, “Who are we? (ACA’s Holy Nation)” by our [now] 10th Grade student, Ife.
COMING SOON (Video): World Children’s Day Portraits feat. ACA’s Holy Nation (1-min Instagram Reel)
This year, the SBG led our World Children’s Day celebration. Preschool and Elementary school participated in a cultural parade, while Middle and High School enjoyed a competitive geography/language quiz and karaoke. SBG crowned the best dressed students from each region.
SBG-Coordinated SCHOOL SPIRIT WEEK!
ACA’s Student Body Government kicked off their 2023-2024 tenure with School Spirit Week! This fun week-long school-wide event brings a dress-up theme each day to encourage school spirit, unity, fun, and creativity. We love it when our students look forward to coming to school! The added joy and uplifted school spirit all across campus was felt.
Check out the SBG Highlight on our Instagram page @ACAOneFamily for 5 fun 90-second Instagram reels for a recap of each day’s best! Look out for the image covers above in our feed and click one each to watch. Here’s our favorite from Twin Tuesday:
SBG and Student-Led IP Fundraising Activities
Our Student Body Government (SBG) and Student-Led Independent Project (IP) Fundraising Activities were a huge success! We are proud of our student leaders and want to say a huge “THANK YOU!” to all our parents for supporting IP and SBG fundraising efforts and for donating in kind.
Supporting MAIYEN’s Mission:
ACA’s 11th & 12th Grade IP students, alongside the Student Body Government [SBG], showcased immense heart by raising ₦331,700 through their bake sales and suya & drinks sales and car wash, as well as donating in-kind items, supporting MAYEIN’s mission. MAYEIN, a non-profit dedicated to advancing Positive Youth Development in Nigeria, particularly in education, entrepreneurship, and civic leadership, is now fostering digital literacy through mobile classrooms.
During a visit to MAYEIN on Saturday, December 9, ACA’s students demonstrated unwavering dedication, selflessly mentoring, counseling, and spreading joy among the less privileged. We are thankful for this experience for our students and for the opportunity to impact and give during this season. Heartfelt thanks to their parents for fostering such kindness. We are happy for the youth of MAYEIN and our continued partnership, and we extend our gratitude to all staff.
Together, we’re actively shaping brighter futures! #CommunityKindness #ACAForChange
Parent Highlights: PTA, PTC & ESL Moms!
We welcomed our new PTA Exco and held our first PTA meeting. Following this, we opened our doors to welcome parents in our Parent–Teacher Conferences (PTC’s) from Preschool through High School, including Wellspring Suites (Boarding). We are also excited for our growing community of ESL Moms and were happy to celebrate together with Grandma Monie this Thanksgiving!
Here at ACA, we remain committed to the lives, growth and development of your children through parental involvement and support. Make sure you scroll all the way to our “School Announcements & Calendars” the end of our blog to view our PTA calendar. Let’s make 2024 a year of connection, learning, and fun together!
Here are some snapshots from our first PTA meeting of the academic year, a group photo with some of our ESL Moms, and our open Middle–High School PTC’s:
Reading Awareness at ACA with Mrs Bukola Ladoja
Former First Lady of Oyo State, Mrs Bukola Ladoja, visited ACA as part of her 60th Birthday Anniversary Reading Awareness Campaign. She shared with our Elementary School students about the importance of developing a reading culture and donated books to our ACA Library! We appreciate her passion for the promotion of reading culture in Africa and extend our gratitude to RASDA (Reading Awareness Society for Development in Africa).
Monthly Class Features
COME! Let’s Take a Walk into our ACA Classrooms…
PRESCHOOL
Preschool Activity HIGHLIGHT
“We’re all dressed up for our Christmas class parties and activities!”
NURSERY: Letter Recognition
In this fun activity, Nursery students got some practice matching uppercase and lowercase letters:
PRE-K: Sponge-Painting Thanksgiving Turkeys!
KG Social Studies: Family Tree Presentation!
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Elementary School Activity HIGHLIGHT
It was lots of fun and talent displayed at our Elementary School Talent Show & Christmas Class Parties!
1ST GRADE Science: Parts of a Fish
1ST GRADE Science: Animals and their Babies — Birds
1ST GRADE Science: Plants
2ND GRADE Science: Field Trip to UI Zoological Garden!
2ND GRADE Art: Earth Day Nature Walk
2ND GRADE Devotion: A Thanksgiving Lesson
This Thanksgiving month, Grandma Monie taught us about the importance of gratitude. “Who are we thankful for, and how do we show them?” As she asked our young students, she reminded us all that we should be thankful not just for our close family and friends, but for the people around us that support us in different ways:
The gardener who tends the landscape around us
The cleaners who clean our homes and schools
The security guard who keeps us safe
The driver who gets us safely to school and back
The help who keeps the house organized
The chef who cooks our meals…
And so we went round saying, “Thank you!”
3RD GRADE Geography Project: Landforms
Scroll < > through our gallery to have a look at some of our awesome projects!
3RD GRADE Science: Pollen from Flowers
4TH GRADE Art: “Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain”
5TH GRADE Diction: A Fun Elocution Game – “Catch the Word!”
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Middle School Activity HIGHLIGHT
“Check out our Social Studies Website Design!”
Our Middle Schoolers continue to impress us all wit their guided application of technological tools in the classroom! This time, our 6th and 8th Grade students were given a task to create a study website using Canva Pro tools. This independent group activity developed their research & presentation skills and creative teaching & learning methods. They are learning about history and geography in fun, engaging and creative ways, while incorporating modern tools and building technological skills. Students created animated study websites on a variety of topics in Geography and World History, complete with a bibliography of sources at the end.
Scroll through our gallery below with the < > arrows to view some screenshots from our top entries!
6TH & 9TH GRADE Inter-Class Commerce Competition!
In their first semester of Middle and High School, Commerce students have been learning similar concepts at different levels. They drilled each other in this fun competition outdoors in preparation for exams. Who do you think won?!
6TH GRADE Art: Toucans – A James Audubon Study
John James Audubon was a French-American artist, conservationist, ornithologist and naturalist who drew hundreds of birds in their natural habitats. His book, “Birds of America”, was an inspiration in this “Drop Everything and Draw” unit, as students studied lines using birds and animals as subjects.
6TH GRADE English: Personal Poetry Presentation
6TH GRADE Science: Cells
6TH GRADE STEM: Engineering Design
7TH GRADE Commerce: 3D Coffee Shop Design
[ADD Caption]
7TH GRADE Music: Music Around the World
8TH GRADE Commerce: Exam Prep Outdoors with Afternoon Tea!
HIGH SCHOOL
High School Activity HIGHLIGHT
Our High Schoolers spread good cheer all month long!
From donuts and happy hugs in Elementary School for World Children’s Day,
to dressing up as Santa and his elves for Preschool’s Santa’s Grotto,
and from a well-deserved End-of-Year/Christmas Fair featuring karaoke,
to a rewarding visit to MAYEIN with the results of their fundraising efforts…
We are so proud of the leadership efforts and community-building initiative in our older students.
9TH GRADE Chemistry: Measuring the Rate of a Reaction
9th Grade students conducted a practical to learn and test their skills in measuring the rate of a chemical reaction. They used clean magnesium ribbon in hydrochloric acid in a flask with a stopper and syringe. They started their stopwatches and waited for the reaction to start…
Hydrogen begins to bubble off! It rises up the flask and into the gas syringe, pushing the plunger out. The students measured the volume of hydrogen gas in the syringe at intervals (for example, every half a minute), and used the resulting figures to calculate the rate of this chemical reaction. We think our young scientists did an excellent job!
10TH GRADE (IGCSE) Geography: Map Reading
AP World History: The Rise and Expansion of Gunpowder Empires
11TH–12TH GRADE Design & Technology (DT): Desk Tidy Project
12TH GRADE Entrepreneurship: Dissertation Proposal
“The Rise of Freelance Ghostwriting and Economic Implications in the Gig Economy”
12TH GRADE A-Level Biology: Kidney Anatomy & Physiology
Club Highlights
Last month, we brought you highlights from swimming, taekwondo, basketball, chess, crafts, violin and more. This month, we wrapped up our clubs for the semester and are bringing you the rest of our Semester I highlights! We’ll be back with more in Semester II. Until then, we’re looking forward to having you join us at the pool for our very first in-house Swimming Gala next year!
BEYOND BEAUTY
CREATIVE DESIGN
CUISINE
GUITAR
HINDI
PIANO
SMART KIDS ENGINEERING
SOCCER
TENNIS
School Announcements & Calendars
AND THAT’S A WRAP!
We look forward to seeing you again in our next monthly blog,
Vol 45: Issue 4 (January 2023)
Until then, we’re wishing you a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Birthdays
DECEMBER
1 Jameel, Gabby A
3 Ms. Modupe
4 Leya
5 Mr. Ade, Mr. Kenny, Chef Royce
8 Mr. Kayode
9 Ms. Wunmi
10 Ashley, Tracy
11 Adyant, Mr. James, Mr. Solomon (Econs)
12 Yoonna, Fikun
13 Mojisola, Ms. Kosi, Mr. Emma
14 Mr. Olumide A
17 Ms. Christiana
18 Adefemi, Ms. Tosin, Esther F, Amir
19 Saad
21 Seyi
23 Ms. KC, Maryam
24 Dante-Giovanni
25 Jamal, Ms. Magaret V.
26 Temi A., Jeremiah
28 Bianca
31 Chisom, Mesooma, Mr. Dominic
JANUARY
1 Hidara, Mehvish, Nahla
2 Chukwubueze
3 Mr. Success
5 Sophia
8 Neel, Merlin
10 Motirayo
12 Ms. Tolu, Ismail
13 Arhaan
14 Michael Okoli
15 Folakunmi, Miriam, Emmanuella
16 Mr.Tommy
17 Aavya
18 Chloe, Jovany, Nimi J, Safi
19 Tomiwa A., Arya D, Divya, Khush, Mr Samuel
20 Mr. Samson
21 Oreofe
22 Mr. Olumide, Ewoma
23 Mr. Taiwo
24 Mira E., Mr. Doyin
25 David A.
27 Temilade, Eyimofe
28 Ms. Kehinde, Ms. Ruth, Mr. Joseph, Ini Adediran, Pragya
29 Rakshat
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