Upper School Newsletter
November 20, 2017
Dates to Remember:
November 23-27 - No school - Thanksgiving break
November 30 - Parent Meeting for Musical, Chapel, 7PM
December 1 - School Picture Retake Day
December 14 - Upper School Christmas Concert, Grades 6-12, 6:30PM
Upcoming Sports:
10 AM - Boys JV and Varsity Basketball Scrimmage vs. Biglerville
Dress Down Day Wednesday
From the Principal's Desk:
Why are we here?
Thanksgiving is far and away my favorite holiday. I am thankful for our country’s fathers who recognized the importance of setting aside a day of remembrance for the many blessings which God has showered on our family, church, school, and country. May we live every day being thankful for God’s goodness to us!
I will end by sharing the words to one of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns. It was one that I learned as a boy and still enjoy singing at this time of year. The Lord bless you this Thanksgiving!
We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing;
sing praises to His Name, He forgets not His own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning:
Thou, Lord wast at our side--the glory be Thine!
We all do extol Thee, Thou leader in battle,
and pray that Thou still our defender wilt be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised; O Lord, make us free!
2nd Marking Period Report Cards
For your planning purposes, 2nd marking period report cards will be released on Friday, January 19th rather than the 17th as the official school calendar states. This two-day extension will allow teachers and administrators a little more time to make sure they thoroughly and accurately close out the 2nd marking period.
Midterms
I wanted to take some time to outline an important coming attraction in our upper school academic calendar. Starting this year, we will be scheduling midterm exams before Christmas break as part of our academic calendar. We still very much value cumulative exams as part of our curriculum, but want to lessen the impact of final exams on course grades, while lessening the content burden placed on students (final exams will focus on the second semester rather than the entire year). Also, many of the junior and senior level courses are one semester in length, so now each course will be able to have a final exam that is administered during the midterm and final exam time windows.
In an effort to provide you with timely communication, I have sketched some important details regarding midterms and final exams for you and your child’s plans. If you are new to WSCA or a sixth grade parent, I am sure you will want to pay especially close attention to these details. Also, I am sure some of you are already beginning to finalize your Christmas vacation plans. Should you need to miss a midterm exam due to travel plans, please make sure to clearly communicate your intentions to the main office and your student’s teacher(s). Please read the following details carefully and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you!
NOTE: Midterm Exams will take place December 20-22 with review days scheduled for December 18-19. For upper school students only, December 20-22 are half days ending at 11:30 a.m. with no bussing options.
Midterms (High School)
- Full year courses: 10% of final grade, focused on first half of the year
- Semester courses: 20% of final grade, “midterm” is the course's final exam
- ALL students grades 6-12 take midterms (including seniors regardless of course grade)
- Spanish is giving a midterm
- Bible is not administering a midterm
Final Exams (High School)
- Full year courses: 10% of final grade, focused on the second half of the year (final exams can have cumulative elements from the beginning of the year but the focus is second half)
- Semester courses: 20% of final grade, this exam is the course's final exam
- Seniors or Juniors in a senior level course (AP or the highest level course within a department) are exempt from the final IF they are carrying an unweighted cumulative average grade of 94% or above
- Spanish is administering a final exam
- Bible is not administering a final
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Midterms (Middle School)
- Vision: expose students to a cumulative test without too much pressure
- Will be counted as a test in the second marking period (lessen the impact of the test on their final course grade)
- Study guides will be distributed- 6th grade: very detailed, 7th grade: a bit less detailed, 8th grade: less detailed
- Expectations for the exam will be scaled back for 6th grade as opposed to 8th grade
- English is doing an alternate assignment that will carry the same weight as a midterm exam
- Spanish is giving a midterm for the 8th graders only
Finals (Middle School)
- Vision: expose students to a cumulative test without too much pressure
- Will be counted as a test in the fourth marking period (lessen the impact of the test on their final course grade)
- Study guides will be distributed- 6th grade: very detailed, 7th grade: a bit less detailed, 8th grade: less detailed
- Expectations for the exam will be scaled back for 6th grade as opposed to 8th grade
- English is doing an alternate assignment that will carry the same weight as a final exam
- There will be no final exam for the 8th Grade Careers Course
Picture Retakes December 1st
Scholarship Opportunity for Juniors
Parent Meeting for Musical
Forensics Tournament Results
This past Saturday, WSCA's Forensics team hosted its first-ever home Speech and Debate tournament. Thanks to volunteers and sponsors from local businesses and restaurants, it was a tremendous success. Top finishers from our school include the duo of Caleb VanGrouw and Reagan Werner who won first place in Public Forum Debate, Micah Pepper who won Lincoln Douglas Debate, Caleb Shuffler who won Impromptu, Anna Wolf who won best-dressed female competitor, and, in his first tournament, Justin Rockey who took first place in Dramatic Interpretation and also won the competition for best-dressed male competitor. Special thanks to all our volunteers and Tim Skill, who helped design our custom-made trophies. Stop by the library on Wednesdays if you ever want to observe or join our growing team.
Volunteer Cashier Needed
CATS Parents Prayer Team Update
As parents, we gather in prayer for our school on Tuesday afternoons from 2:00 to 2:45 in the Lower School Conference Room. We pray for staff members, teachers, and students by name and any special requests for that week. If you aren't available on Tuesday afternoons you can get the prayer requests via email each week to commit to pray at home. For more information contact Gretchen Carvella at CatsPrayerTeam@westshorechristian.org .
Here's a link to a prayer calendar which all of us can use to pray each day for our children, our children's friends, their teachers, and all who are in the WSCA family. Just follow the date, no matter which day of the week it falls on each month -
http://www.motherhoodonadime.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/September-Prayer-Calendar1.pdf (Copyright Bob Hostetler (www.bobhostetler.com). Used with the permission of the author. Also available as an iPhone/iPad app in the iTunes app store.)
Thanks for lifting our WSCA community before the Lord in prayer!
Register Your GIANT BONUSCARD for WSCA
West Shore Christian Academy (ID#: 20565) has the opportunity to participate in Giant food store's A+ School Rewards program. This fundraising program, run through your local Giant, allows WSCA to receive a check from Giant at the end of the rewards period.
Last year WSCA raised over $3000.00 though this program! We would like to increase our potential earnings by registering more Giant bonus cards to WSCA. Anyone can register their card, so feel free to recruit family and friends to participate. There is no cost to you and signing up does not affect your other rewards.
Thank you for supporting our school!
To participate (PLEASE NOTE: You DO NOT need to re-register your card if your school selection(s) remains the same as last year.):
- Visit www.giantfoodstores.com and select Savings & Rewards.
- Follow the prompts to create your online account if you do not already have one. You’ll need your 11-digit BONUSCARD® number and the School ID #
To earn points:
- Use your registered BONUSCARD® each time you shop at Giant, and you will earn CASH for our school. You can track the number of points you are earning for our school by checking your grocery receipt.
- At the end of each month, your points are calculated and converted to CASH rewards. These CASH rewards for our school are updated monthly.
- Our school will receive one CASH awards check at the end of the program.
Save the Date!
Save the date for the Annual CSAGH Association Meeting to be held at 7 PM on January 22 at Harrisburg Christian School’s Fine Arts Center (2000 Blue Mountain Parkway, Harrisburg, PA 17112).
This meeting will provide updates on the CSAGH Strategic Plan, review of CSAGH’s Financial Plan and Tuition Schedules for 2018-2019, and the election of new CSAGH Board Members. For information about CSAGH’s Board of Directors and Board Code of Conduct please go to either of the following links:
WSCA: http://westshorechristian.org/about/csagh-board-constitution-requirement-code-of-conduct
The CSAGH Board of Directors looks forward to seeing you January 22!
Volunteers Needed for Musical
SAT/ACT Registration Dates:
West Shore Christian Academy
Email: info@westshorechristian.org
Website: www.westshorechristian.org
Location: 201 West Main Street, Shiremanstown, PA, United States
Phone: 717.737.3550
Facebook: www.facebook.com/westshorechristian
Twitter: @WSCA1