"Arrr!" Pirates at CCA?

No, this is just 5th grade student James Hansen enjoying his "out pass" from the Elementary AR store. James used points earned by reading AR books to shed his CCA uniform for the day and wear his favorite clothing.

Nicole Knorr also used her AR points to purchase an "out pass".

Fifth Grade Outreach at the Broward Children's Center

On Wednesday December 16th over twenty 5th grade students visited the Broward Children's Center to spread CHRISTmas cheer. Students first visited the daycare center, sang Christmas carols, and had a time of fellowship with the students. Next the students walked over to the living facility where students were able to sing to and fellowship with children who were physically disabled. It was a joy to see the interaction that our fifth graders had with the residents. We look forward to being able to visit again with these children.

Outreach at Mills Pond Park

On Saturday December 19th Fifth grade students had the opportunity to minister to three families at Mills Pond Park. These three families were the same families that we blessed at Thanksgiving with huge baskets of food. The students enjoyed three hours of fellowship with these families by playing football, volleyball, boccie ball and eating lots of great food! Mrs. Martin even played a game of Bingo with the moms and completed a craft.

Mrs. Martin playing Bingo with the moms

Food boxes donated by Enterprise Fleet Leasing and goodies for the moms.

Fifth Grade Celebration of The Birth of Christ

On December 15Th fifth grade students, parents, and teachers all celebrated the birth of Christ by participating in some Christmas activities. Students played games, made special ornaments for their parents, enjoyed a snowman snack, and made outreach jars. The fifth grade team of teachers want to send out a special thank you to all the moms who helped make this a special day for the students. We also want to say an extra thank you to Mrs. Starley for all the time she put into transforming the students into snowmen and Jack Frost with her talent at face painting!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Okay, even though the weather outside is hardly what this song is talking about, first grade still had fun pretending it was on Winter Wednesday and Frosty Friday. Students dressed up in Christmas colors and wore scarves, mittens, hats, boots, ear muffs, sweaters and coats. We all posed for our class pictures and then we ended the day with hot chocolate! Yummy!

Christmas Outreach Recognition 2009

Congratulations to all first through third grade Christmas outreach classes. Our school has been recognized by the Association of Christian Schools International as an "Exemplary School Program for the 2009-10 school year."

Thanks to the pastors at Calvary for leading the church to focus on outreach. Thanks to Tim Flay for having the vision to see how outreach could be accomplished by transforming the way elementary does their Christmas program. Thanks to the entire elementary team of students, parents and teachers for embracing that change and for taking one large in-house Christmas program and transforming it into 15 separate outreach events.


Our CCA objective is to share the Christmas story and the gospel with the lost in South Florida. A brief summary of our program: For years our elementary school had put on a Christmas program in the sanctuary of our church, inviting parents and guests to attend. A few years back, our church leadership had a time of getting away and seeking the Lord for direction and returned with a renewed focus on several key aspects of the ministry, one of which was outreach. As a ministry of the church, the school was encouraged to look for ways to get beyond the four walls of the church to take the gospel to the lost. One key phrase of Jesus that was focused upon was how he told the disciples in the great commission to “Go” and make disciples, rather than ask the lost to come to you.

A few summers ago, our Fine Arts Director sensed a leading from the Lord that our school should take the in-house elementary Christmas program and transform it into an outreach event. Instead of hundreds of parents coming to see their child play a small part in one large in-house Christmas program, each of our individual 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classes would perform the traditional Christmas story in a venue outside of the four walls of the church, somewhere off-site. The children learned the traditional Christmas music and their speaking parts from their music, movement, and drama teachers while in those “specials” classes while homeroom teachers focused on choosing the venue in which the class would perform. Teachers were asked to prayerfully consider where God might lead them to take their class. Some would choose nursing homes, others would choose to visit homes for foster children, others performed in downtown Miami for a homeless ministry while others might bring the light of the gospel to a neighborhood park or shopping mall.

Among the three grade levels this year we have 15 classes, each taking the Christmas story and the gospel to unique locations off-site sharing the gospel with the lost. This is our third year of outreach this way. Often a parent or teacher would share the gospel at the end of the Christmas performance and many would commit their lives to Christ. Many parents and teachers went so far as to schedule follow-up communication so that the impact could be that much greater.
We are excited and proud about this change in the Christmas program for three key reasons. First, we were taking the gospel to the streets, meeting the lost where they are. Through this new way of doing the Christmas program so many more people hear the gospel and the awesome story of what God has done for us. Second, we moved from doing modernized Christmas programs to instead acting out the biblical Christmas story and singing the traditional Christmas songs which are such a beautiful part of our Christian heritage and which so poetically share God’s glorious grace towards man. Thirdly, I know that parents enjoy seeing their children in a single class production in which each of them have a chance to play a more meaningful part of the program.

Students and parents are blessed and the gospel is going forth. Instead of asking the lost to come to us, our students will go out to them.


Please check the CCA Elementary web page for class dates and venues.
For further information please e-mail kimberlya@ccaeagles.org

Movement Class/ Brain Gym

Recently, I had the privilege of going to a Brain Gym conference. Brain Gym is a learning program that brings about rapid and often dramatic improvements in reading, writing, language, and other numerical skills. Many others use the work to profoundly enhance the quality of their attention and concentration, relationship and communication, memory and organizational skills, athletic performance and more. People of all ages can benefit from the program. This quarter the kindergarten, second, fourth and fifth grades have had the opportunity to learn one of the basic exercises to take back to their regular classroom and to use at home. There are 26 other movements that enhance the benefits of the program in which the students will continue to learn in Movement class. The second semester Pre-K, first and third grade will have the opportunity to learn about Brain Gym. We are excited to see the positive changes in our students as we enhance their learning environment.

Darci Schattinger
Movement Teacher
(954)556-4559

Did You Know?

One of our CCA teachers is a descendant
of a Mayflower passenger/pilgrim...

Elementary Music Teacher, Kimberly Adkins,
is in the line from Stephen Hopkins, a pilgrim
who was born in 1582 and died in 1644. He
was a tanner and merchant who was one of
the passengers on the Mayflower in 1620,
settling in the Plymouth Colony. Hopkins
provided governance for the colony as well as
assisted with the colony’s ventures through
1636. He was also one of forty-one signatories
of the Mayflower Compact, and was
deputized to meet the Indians and act as an
interpreter. This means that Mrs. Adkins’ kids,
Clayton and Elise, who go to CCA, are also
descendants of Stephen Hopkins. Cool stuff!

Robert Elmer visits CCA!

What a grand day we had when Christian author, Robert Elmer, spoke to students in 3rd-8th grade! The day began with an all group assembly in the Theatre from 8:15-9:00. He was able to capture and hold the students' attention while expressing the virtues of reading and writing. While every student may not become a professional writer, every student does have a story to tell. He explained further, that God has planted seeds in a each and every one of us. Those seeds are planted through our experiences and we use those experiences to relate to others whether in person or in writing.

Fourth and sixth grade students were chosen to further their understanding of the writing process by attending several workshops throughout the day. The workshops focused on ideas such as, developing characters, writing good endings and using what you know to write historical fiction.

The highlight of the day was the "Lunch with the Author" that was held in the Grill for six students-one each from 3rd-8th grade- that won the essay writing contest sponsored by the CCA Library Media Center. We are so blessed to have the resources to offer students such an incredible opportunity. We look forward to planning next year's author visit!

Collaborative Learning: High School Presents to Elementary Students

Mrs. Peyton's high school "Speech and Debate" class had an opportunity to practice their presentation skills by speaking to our elementary third and fourth grade students. Mrs. Peyton had nine students who presented a mini-devotional that focused on each individual high schooler's childhood experience and how they learned and grew from that experience.

Mrs. Peyton opened by sharing her student's favorite things with the class so they would have some knowledge about their presenters. She then opened in prayer.

The high schoolers began by individually sharing a story that had a beginning, middle, and end. They displayed positive body language, eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, and use of props. They each closed with a scripture that mirrored and taught a lesson regarding their particular story. At the end of each presentation, Mrs. Peyton framed the entire presentation with some relatable questions so our elementary students could interact with the message.

Mrs. Peyton notes... This collaborative effort has been made to give the students "real world" experience with an authentic audience. Due to the class being small, speaking to an intimate group does not afford them the opportunity of real growth in their public speaking. These elementary venues and those of the study hall for high school students provide REAL, on the spot audiences that do provide feedback. Yes, authentic assessment at its best! God is FAITHFUL!

It's Fall in Pre-K!!!

If we can't bring the kids to where the leaves change colors and fall to the ground,

then we will bring the leaves to the kids!!!

It's Fall in Mrs. Ellis' Pre-K class! They are enjoying the "falling leaves" and raking them up too!