Science Fair Summary
On Jan. 24 th 19 men and women volunteered their time at ACA to judge the Ankeny Christian Academy Science Fair. Students in fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth grades researched a topic and presented a report or conducted behavioral or experimental research to provide information about their hypothesis. Their final project included biblical integration or a Bible verse or passage, an abstract (title and description of the project or research), photographs, data collection sometimes in graph/chart form, a paper, a summary and a bibliography. An oral presentation where each student individually answered questions or defended their hypothesis for a judge was the capstone of the scientists work! Students who graduate and go into the world often credit the research and oral presentation as a life skill that has helped them to communicate in an effective way in the real world!
Mr. Jacob Taber, Mr. Ben Weber, Mr. Garrett Crown and sixth grade science teacher Miss Brugioni
Aidan Beck presents to Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Long
Mr. and Mrs. Cathey and Mr. and Mrs.Weathers join as a team to assess science fair projects
Elianna Ruggles presents her project to Mrs. Logemann and Mrs.Huckaby
Garrett Crown, ACA Alumni class of 2015, and Jacob Taber Drake Secondary Chemistry student evaluate a student’s display
Mr. Mahoney and Mr. Wolterman determine what score this display earns
Teachers Have an Opportunity to Learn
Teachers gathered to learn all day on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. The topic for the learning was a gradual release model where teachers help learners by showing first doing together then having the learner be responsible. In one session during the day long professional learning, the topic of guiding learning was addressed and an article was read speaking to the importance of using questions, prompts and cues. These techniques when used in the classroom can lead students to think through their own misunderstandings and is a powerful way to teach.
Two consultants from Heartland Area Education Association presented sessions on students evaluating their own learning using seven strategies of assessment for learning and the importance of using debate in the classroom. Third grade teacher, Miss Suzanne Sears and fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Lisa Ihnen presented information on metacognition- thinking about thinking!
A time during the day was dedicated to teaching from a biblical worldview. The upper elementary faculty gathered to view a video while primary grade teachers and Mrs.Thompson viewed another with a brief introduction from Miss Hult. She and two other teachers, Jenny Anderson and Joel Willoughby, form the Biblical World View Task Force. Three years ago they were asked by the Instructional Leadership Team and the Board of Education to create a resource bank of articles and videos to saturate one’s heart and mind so that as teachers teach God’s word. I praise God that HIS word is taught here at ACA!
Mentoring Matters
Photographs of first grade children in Mrs. Kelli Moore’s classroom with his/her high school mentor are highlighted below. Weekly highschool students leave their Bible classroom where Mr. Willoughby is their instructor to assist younger students with Bible verse memorization, reading and writing tasks. ACA is blessed by a mentoring program where begindergarten students are mentored by seventh graders, kindergarten students are mentored by eighth grade students and first graders are mentored by ninth grade young men and women. In these photos a few older highschool students joined in on the FUN!
