The Junior League of Albany, Georgia, Inc. each year invites teachers to apply for grants through their Grants for Innovative Teachers Program. This program provides up to $500 for each winner to support and enhance their classroom instruction and curriculum. This year SCA is pleased to announce that three of our teachers were recipients of individual grants. Congratulations to Mrs. Sharon Howard (K5), Mrs. Peggy Bullock (K5), and Mrs. Vickie Knuckles (Music/Theatre Arts Instructor)!

Mrs. Howard’s grant will be used to further enhance the education and use of technology in K4 and K5. They will set up a mobile tablet lab with 12 Kindle devices to be used by students in each classroom. The teachers will further enhance instruction with the mobile Promethean Board already in the PK/kindergarten department. One of the first plans for the devices includes having the K4 and K5 classes create digital portfolios of their work using Seesaw on the Kindle. Students will use this for reading journals to facilitate conversation between students, parents, and teachers about reading.

Mrs. Bullock’s grant will be used to purchase additional books for the K5 students to support their thematic unit studies. Our kindergarten teachers add additional unit studies to their daily curriculum in order to encourage exploration and help increase their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The teachers often read stories to enhance thematic units (community helpers, cowboys, birds, kindness, etc.) and provide additional books for the students to enjoy independently. This grant will allow kindergarten to grow their class library giving the students additional visual lessons.

Mrs. Knuckles’s grant will be used for the project, Uke, Can Play the Ukulele. Learning to play the ukulele develops skills in students that are essential to creating music, mathematics, history, culture, social skills, and responsibility. Students learning to play the ukulele will learn music theory, ear training, composition, repertoire, improvisation as well as strumming exercises, note reading, rhythm, and scales.

We are very thankful to The Junior League of Albany, Georgia, Inc. for providing the opportunity for our teachers to apply for these grants and for their support to our local schools. We look forward to seeing all these resources being used in the classroom in the near future.

For the first time in SCA’s history, we have a tie for STAR student! Seniors Andrew Orr and Charlie Taylor were honored today in a STAR student/teacher luncheon sponsored by the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. Andrew chose Mrs. Sharon Howard as his STAR teacher and Charlie chose Mrs. Beth Shepard.

The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program, now in its 62nd year, is sponsored, administered and promoted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). Since its creation by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the STAR program has honored nearly 27,000 high school seniors and the teachers they have selected as having had the most influence on their academic achievement. To obtain the 2020 STAR nomination, graduating high school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the SAT and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average.

We are very proud of Andrew, Mrs. Howard, Charlie, and Mrs. Shepard and the academic excellence they exemplify at Sherwood Christian Academy!

A big ‘Thank You’ goes out to the entire Eagle Nation for participating in this year’s Great Turkey Race. With coordination from Student Council sponsors Tiffany Carter and Cheryl Thompson and the middle and high school student council members, students throughout the school helped collect 2772 items of food and $4779 in cash that was taken to the Lord’s Pantry to bless their ministry and those they serve this holiday season!

Congratulations to all the secondary grades for meeting their individual class goals!

I am so pleased to see our school be the hands and feet of Jesus to serve those less fortunate at this time of year. May each of you have a blessed Thanksgiving this year!

Dr. Dougherty

Sherwood Christian Academy announced this week that the school received re-accreditation this spring. Since 2007, SCA has been accredited by AdvancEd (the umbrella organization for the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools/SACS) and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI).

This dual accreditation speaks of operational and academic excellence as well as the implementation of best practices of Christian education. Being an accredited school puts a stamp of approval and legitimacy on SCA’s diploma, allowing its students to attend the colleges of their choice and to be eligible for a broad range of scholarships nationwide.

Accreditation is a process whereby a school places itself under the inspection of a visiting team of educational professionals representing the two aforementioned accrediting bodies and their prescribed standards. The specifics cover the areas of mission and philosophy; governance and leadership; and operations including security, academics, programming, spiritual formation and strategic planning. SCA passed the standards inspection with exemplary marks.

As a mature school, SCA leadership chose to embark on Accreditation by School Progress (ASP), adding an additional writing component to this accreditation cycle that would have an appreciable effect on student achievement.

“Ultimately, we see effective communication skills as the currency of influence with others and as very important for students’ success in the future job market,” Headmaster Dr. Brian Dougherty said. “We developed a writing project called Writing the SCA Way as a way to increase our instruction in this area across the grades and the disciplines.

“This new curriculum helps every grade K-12 place a strong emphasis on writing and communication skills. The goal is that by the next accreditation cycle in five years, our writing project blueprint is reproduceable by other schools.”

(article courtesy of the Albany Herald, 6-22-19)