Students in PreK4 through 5th Grade will have an opportunity to buy gifts for friends and family at the ACS 3rd annual Li’l Christmas Shopper Days, Thursday and Friday, December 7 and 8. The gifts will range in price from $1 to $5 and students will receive a shopping list budget sheet to fill out at home before the sale. Information packets were sent home with students this week. Twenty percent of all proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase gifts for a local family in need through the Family Service Association.

Volunteers are needed to assist students in making their gift selections at the sale. For information about how to help, contact Jessica Martin at (609) 653-1199, ext. 314.

Meet some of the members of the ACS Mileage Club. These students have one goal in mind – to run as many miles as possible during PE class, after school, or at special school events. For each mile they complete, they are rewarded with a brightly colored charm in the shape of a foot from Athletic Director Pam Hitchner to wear proudly on a chain around their neck. Mrs. Hitchner started the Mileage Club ten years ago and it quickly caught on. Students can start earning their charms in kindergarten and can add to their collection each year through the 5^th grade. Some club members have earned over 30 charms. Pictured below are a group of students who earned new charms for the miles they ran recently during the Race for Education.  What a great and fun way to encourage the health and fitness of our elementary students.

The beauty of the warm colors of fall that God created come to life in paintings created by our 3rd and 5th grade students in art class over the past month. The paintings are now on display in a first floor hallway. Under the direction of art teacher Sherry Mirakian, the students have been learning about the color wheel and how to mix their own fall colors from the three primary colors of yellow, red, and blue. The students also created their fall scenes cutting out silhouettes of fences, trees, and pumpkins — a type of shape they learned about in class.

Thank you to the many parents, grandparents, and other family members who supported the Scholastic Book Fair held this week in the school library by buying books and other educational materials for our students. As of Friday afternoon, sales had exceeded $6,100, a new school record, according to Mrs. Gail Alford, Director of Early and Elementary Education who oversaw the Fair. Mrs. Alford said the Book Fair sales benefit individual students as well as the school. For every purchase, ACS earns points that can be used to purchase library books, projectors, iPads, and other technology in our classrooms, subscriptions to Scholastic News for our K-5 classrooms, and much more.

Even though the Book Fair will be closed after Friday, shopping online is open until Thursday, November 30. Family and friends across the country can participate in the Fair and the proceeds will benefit ACS.  CLICK HERE to go to the Scholastic website page to shop online in our Book Fair.

Middle School basketball tryouts will be held the week after Thanksgiving, on Monday, November 27 and Tuesday, November 28, from 3:15-5:00 p.m. Matt Glancey will be returning for his second year as head coach of the boys’ team and Carly Witherow will be head coach of the girls’ team, after a two-year break. The girls’ team will begin its season participating in a tournament hosted by ACIT the first week of December. The boys’ team will begin its season on December 18 with a home game against Pilgrim Academy. The game schedules and details are posted on the ACS website. Go Cougars!

ACS coaches and parents will be out in the Egg Harbor Township community on Saturday, December 2 asking for donations to support our middle school and high school athletics program as part of our first-ever Coin Drop. ACS representatives will be approaching drivers throughout the day at the corner of Zion Road and Ocean Heights Avenue from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please encourage your family members and friends to make a generous donation to support our student athletes.

Over 400 grandparents visited the ACS campus on Friday, November 17 for our annual Grandparent Appreciation Day. Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen and Christian Loeb, a school parent and member of the Board of Directors, welcomed the grandparents to the all-school chapel program and thanked them for loving and supporting their grandchildren. Mr. Ed Paone, the keynote speaker who is an alumni parent and now has a grandson, Tyler, in kindergarten, shared how he and wife Sue have been involved in ACS for many years and are so thankful for the godly, Christian faculty and staff who made a lasting impact on their children’s lives. “This school exists to continually point our children to a life that matters, that has purpose, and away from a life that is shallow and empty,” Paone said.  He encouraged the grandparents to join him in supporting ACS.  “Your prayers, your time, your financial resources will all be well used here by God,” Paone said.  During the chapel program, ACS students from preschool through high school praised God through musical presentations and Bible readings. After the chapel program, the grandparents visited various classrooms where their grandchildren proudly shared examples of their classroom projects and gave them hand-made gifts.

The PreK4 classes recited from memory Psalm 100:4 and the 4th grade classes recited Psalm 119:9-16.  The 4th and 5th grade students in Elementary Band performed two songs.  As a sneak preview from their upcoming Christmas concert on December 5, the Middle School and High School Chorales performed two songs.  At the end of the program, the 5th grade Worship Team got everyone on their feet to join them in singing and doing movements to “Our God.”  Several members of the high school worship band presented an offertory and senior student chaplain Mariyah Black closed the chapel in prayer.

After visiting their grandchilden in the classrooms, the grandparents also had the opportunity to visit he Scholastic Book Fair in the school library, see the Shoreline Model Railroad Club’s model train Christmas display, and shop for bargains in the Cougar Closet Thrift Shop. Additional photos from Grandparents Day will be posted in a gallery under the Events tab on the school website after November 20.

Congratulations to the Lady Cougars for beating Gloucester County Christian School 2-0 to win the Tri-State Christian Athletic Conference Championship Game on Saturday, November 4, bringing home the championship trophy for the second year in a row! Special cudos to two outstanding freshman players — Chloe Vogel, who scored both goals off assists from her sister, senior Abigail Vogel, and goalie Olivia Chapman, who had 10 saves. Chloe and freshman teammate Cristen Winkel are pictured below left. Four Lady Cougars (pictured below right) were named to the TSCAC All-Star Team — (from left) junior Lindsey Ash (1st team), junior Lola Oguntuase (2nd team), who led the team in goals (23 for the season), senior Kaitlyn Kelley (2nd team),  and Abigail Vogel (1st team). An enthusiastic group of some 60 fans made the trip to Glassboro to cheer ACS on to victory. Thank you to head coach Carly Witherow, an ACS alumnus (’08) in her fourth year as head coach, and her Lady Cougars for an exciting and memorable season! CLICK HERE to see additional photos from the TSCAC Championship Game. 

The Boys’ Varsity team, under head coach Gregg Laskow, did not advance to the playoffs this season, but three strong ACS players were named to the TSCAC All-Star Team, which was announced after the Saturday Championship game  — junior Elijah Chapman, junior Luke Johnson, and sophomore Ben Noble.

Congratulations to the Middle School Boys’ and Girls Soccer Teams for two very successful seasons. The 17-member boys’ team, coached for the 2nd year by Ricardo Leon, finished with an outstanding record of 8 wins, 1 loss, and 3 ties. They were undefeated in the Atlantic Cape Junior High Athletic League’s Division 3 (based on school size), and just missed coming in first due to one tie near the end of the season.  The boys played with great enthusiasm and team spirit. Their defense was hard to beat and became known as the “Green Gate.”

The 17-member girls’ team, coached for the 4th year by Casey Hopwood, ended the season in the Atlantic Cape Junior High Atlantic League with 6 wins and 6 losses. Of the six losses, three of them were by one goal. The girls’ team played in the league’s Division 1 against schools of significantly larger size. Athletic Director Pam Hitchner said many officials commented on how well the girls passed to each other and how well they played. Hitchner said that after each game, the girls asked the other team to join them in a circle to pray and every team agreed. What a wonderful testimony for the Lord that had an impact on the teams they played as well as the officials. Well done middle school coaches and players!

Parents and guardians are invited to come out to ACS this Monday, November 13 for a new, monthly evening prayer meeting. The evening meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Annex Trailer #5, which faces the school parking lot and was the former location of the Cougar Closet Thrift Shop. For more info: contact Sharon Griffith (609) 214-2136 or Lina Lomangino (609) 517-1818.

School picture retakes for students in grades K-12 have been rescheduled to Monday,  December 4. Students who missed the first Picture Day should pick up a form in the office to schedule a time slot to have their photo taken.  Students who would like to have their picture retaken must return their original picture packet on Retake Day.  Please remember that the dress code for pictures requires an ACS polo shirt. Gym clothes, ACS hoodies and sports gear are not to be worn.

We love our grandparents and ACS students will show that love next Friday, November 17 as part of Grandparents Day. This special annual celebration will begin with a coffee social for grandparents at 9:00 a.m. in the gym, followed by an all-school chapel at 10:00 a.m., where students from preschool through high school will participate in praising God through musical presentations and Bible readings. Grandparents will then have the opportunity to spend time with their grandchildren in their classrooms from 11:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m. We hope to see all of our grandparents at ACS on November 17.

The Cougar Closet Thrift Shop is open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until its last day of operation on Saturday, November 18.  All items including toys, books, jewelry, housewares, and bedding, are 65% off as part of the Close-Out Sale.

All clothing is priced “fill-a-bag” style at $5 for small bags and $10 for large bags.

Fixtures and furnishings are for sale as well.  For more information, contact Jessica Martin at 609-653-1199, ext. 314

Chinese and Korean international students from the ACS high school “Cultural Connections” class shared highlights of their cultures with some 20 elementary students in the Servant’s Heart Club on Tuesday, November 7. Two students — Peilin “Gunther” Wang and Jihye “Chloe” Bae — dressed up in traditional Korean attire and explained when and how these clothes were worn. Other students sang a song about the Chinese “Mid-Autumn Moon Festival,” celebrated in mid-October, and several others read poetry and shared interesting facts about the upcoming Chinese New Year. After the presentations, the high school students and the elementary students in the after-school club worked together to make over 100 salvation bracelets for faculty member Anne Dice to take with her on a Fusion Church missions trip to the Dominican Republic, which is leaving this Saturday.

A friendly reminder that ACS will be closed next Thursday and Friday — November 9 and 10 — for students from kindergarten to the 12th grade to give teachers two days to participate in professional development. The Early Education Center, for children from PreK1 to PreK4, will be open and operating on its normal schedule of 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The school office will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

To kick off this month’s Scholastic Book Fair, ACS is holding a “Wild West Dress Down Day” next Wednesday, November 8. Scholastic selected “Saddle Up and Read” as the Wild West theme of their Book Fairs held in schools across the country. For a $1 donation, students in kindergarten to the 12th grade can wear a cowboy-style or flannel shirt and jeans instead of their school uniform. Cowboy hats and boots can also be worn that day. Donations collected from the dress-down event will be given to a Scholastic fund that is helping schools affected by the recent hurricanes. Students will also be able to participate in fun, Wild West-themed activities and contests during lunch on November 8.

From pink socks and hair bands to pink shirts and shoelaces, ACS students, faculty, and staff enthusiastically participated in Breast Cancer Awareness Day on Monday, October 30. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the ACS event helped raise awareness of the disease. Breast cancer is the second most common kind of cancer in women and current trends indicate that about 1 in 8 women born today in the United States will get breast cancer at some point. The fundraiser brought in $300 that will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Fifty ACS 4th and 5th grade students had the opportunity to help prepare and sample healthy, whole wheat pumpkin pancakes hot off the griddle as part of a cooking demonstration on Tuesday, October 31 presented by representatives from AtlantiCare’s Healthy Schools, Healthy Children program and a nonprofit foundation called Impact Harvest. October was National Farm to School Month and the cooking demonstration focused on preparing a healthy breakfast using the pumpkin, which is a locally harvested fall crop. The demonstration was led by Food Corps Service Members Emily Chau and Ani Karabashian, an Atlantic Christian alumnus (’12), who serve in partnership with AtlantiCare.

During the inter-active presentation, various students volunteered to help measure and mix the ingredients for the pancakes, while learning about the healthy benefits of whole wheat flour and how to follow a recipe step-by-step. The students were excited to sample the pancakes, trying them with and without syrup as part of the taste test.

The results are in and our 14th annual Race for Education on Friday, October 27 was a huge success. Under cool but sunny skies, some 330 students from preschool to the 8th grade participated, joined and cheered on by school staff, family members, and friends.  Each elementary class wore brightly colored team T-shirts named after a dozen different Bible action heroes from the Old and New Testaments, including David, Joshua, Peter, and Paul.  Many of the classes chose their action hero after learning about their accomplishments in Bible class. The students will wear these special class T-shirts throughout the year, for field trips and other school activities. Middle School students had a “Color Run” Race experience as they were doused by colored powder as they ran around the track.

Donations are still coming in for the Race for Education, with the goal of raising $25,000 for the school’s educational programs — from visual arts and music to science and technology. Donations can be mailed into the school office or made online through the school’s Facebook page or the ACS website. CLICK HERE to donate online.

We are proud of every student that participated and their desire to excel.  Fifty-five students completed 16 or more laps — that’s at least four miles — during their one-hour time slots as they walked, jogged, or ran around the school track. The girl and boy in each grade level and overall who completed the most laps will receive special recognition during a December chapel and our top student fund-raiser will also be announced. Special thanks to the Parent Teacher Fellowship for organizing the hot dog lunch for the students and to the many volunteers who counted laps, served at the water station, took photos, and threw colored powder on the students. The Race was a great ACS family event and we thank you for your support. CLICK HERE for additional photos of the Race for Education.

ACS students gathered for an all-school chapel on Friday, November 3 to honor and remember the sacrifices made by America’s veterans. Thirty-three veterans from every branch of the service, including parents, grandparents, and ACS faculty and staff, attended the chapel. Student Ambassadors greeted the veterans when they arrived and directed them to their front row seats as honored guests. The High School Wind Ensemble opened the program with a medley of patriot songs by George M. Cohan, followed by a greeting and prayer by Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen. After the chapel, various groups of ACS students greeted and thanked the veterans. Miss Price’s kindergarten students presented a large banner they painted with the image of the American flag to veterans from the Egg Harbor City American Legion Post 158, who plan to hang it in their meeting hall. CLICK HERE for additional photos from the Veterans Appreciation Chapel posted on the ACS Facebook page.

Four members of the ACS Boy Scout Troop 389 presented the colors and led the salutes to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible.  The PreK4 students made a special gift presentation to each veteran of a hand-made, red-white-and blue wooden star. The excitement and enthusiasm in the gym reached a high point during a patriotic music video, as close to 500 students and other audience members cheered and clapped as they heard each service anthem played and saw the veterans stand for the anthems.  The program also featured the first and second grades performing “You’re A Grand Old Flag,” while waving small American flags, and the 5th grade worship team leading the audience in singing “Awesome God.”

Kevin Bernat, Jr., who served for four years in the U.S. Navy on the USS George Washington as a Boatswain’s Mate Petty Officer, gave the keynote remarks.  He called on everyone in the audience to remember the sacrifices that veterans have made to protect and preserve our country’s freedoms. “Serving in the military, ordinary men and women do extraordinary things,” Bernat said. He recommended several ways that students could show their support for veterans. “First, be sure to say thank you when you see a veteran and not just on Veterans Day, but remember them every day,” Bernat said. ” Second, we should be praying for our veterans — for their protection as they serve and for those   who are dealing with post-traumatic illnesses.”

Curtis Dull, a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps who now serves on the ACS staff, closed the program with prayer after sharing his experiences in boot camp and urging the students to never take for granted  the blessings that they enjoy as Americans that have been made possible by the sacrifices of America’s veterans.

The beauty and blessings of fall have been popping up everywhere on the ACS campus this month. Students went on walks around the school campus to collect colorful fall leaves. Other students picked and decorated pumpkins and visited the school library to hear fall-themed stories as part of this Friday’s Harvest Festival. Students worked on various art projects and wrote poems that celebrated the beauty of the fall season that God created. CLICK HERE to see photos on the ACS Facebook page of our students enjoying various fall-themed activities.

Miss Joelle’s PreK2 class went on a scavenger hunt on the school campus to find acorns, colorful leaves, pine cones, and much more. The letter they learned this week, of course, was “F” for fall. Students in Mrs. Kelley’s PreK4 class used their artistic talents to create a painting of an autumn tree, using brushes and cotton swabs. Miss Karan’s PreK3 class went on a leaf walk, collecting leaves and bringing them back to their classroom where they counted the leaves, identified their colors, compared their different shapes, and practiced raking them up.

Students in the after-school Fall Art Workshop carved into clay to create clay leaves. In Mrs. Ash’s 5th grade class, students wrote acrostic poems based on the word “Autumn” that are on display in a first floor hallway bulletin board.  The students used their fives senses to select adjectives starting with each of the letters in the word autumn to describe different aspects of this special season. As part of the Harvest Festival, students did two special fall-themed art projects  — creating colorful fall leaves using scratch art paper and decorating pictures of ears of corn with popcorn. So thankful for the many ways our students are learning about amazing autumn.