We also celebrated Black History Month by having guest speaker Ms. Elizabeth Kahura come and show the children a presentation on ‘A Day in Africa’. You can see the pictures on the ACA Facebook page.

Our next PTA meeting will be April 18th. We will need everyone present so that we can start planning the Green Market Festival and Teacher Appreciation Week.

We will be hosting Movie Night at ACA on Friday April 20th.

We look forward to an exciting Spring with everyone!

Nicole Huebner
President
Austin Children’s Academy PTA

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Even the day itself has changed many times. The current calendar system, known as the Gregorian calendar, places the new year on the first of January, but previously the new year has been observed on March 25th, September 1st, and even December 25th, among others. Enacted in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, the Gregorian calendar fixed the date on January 1st to remedy some calculation issues with the previous calendar, the Julian calendar. In 1751, January 1st started to become internationally recognized as the first day of the year.

Presently, New Year celebrations are almost universally celebrated on January 1st, even in countries such as China or Pakistan which independently observe the new year. The explosion of Western culture in the 20th century has led to this widespread observance, and some countries like the Czech Republic and Italy even recognize the date as a national holiday.

Americans will most likely be familiar with the ball-dropping ceremony in Times Square, New York and most will agree that this is the definitive celebration of the new year in the States. Nearly every year since 1907, the Times Square Ball has been dropped the 77 feet to the bottom of its flagpole over the course of the minute leading up to the new year. The event has garnered much international attention, and it is estimated that around 1 billion people watch the event every year, 100 million of which live in America.

But no matter when or where the New Year celebration is held, it has always stood for one thing: a new beginning. People make resolutions to make the new year better than the last or to accomplish a long-term goal over the course of the next 365 (or 366!) days, and as the holiday season comes to a close the last chance to visit family becomes yet another time for celebration. From your extended family at Austin Children’s Academy, Happy New Year!

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We believe that Christmas, more than any other time of year, is a time to be joyful and thankful for the family and friends that have stuck with us over the years, and each and every one of the kids holds a special place in our hearts. Whether it is their first day or their third year, we love all of them and are extremely thankful for the opportunity to play a part in their lives.

This holiday season, set time aside to call your family that you hardly see and the friends you haven’t talked to in a while. Even something as simple as a Merry Christmas wish can make someone’s day a bit better, so from all of us at ACA to you: happy holidays and Merry Christmas!

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The Holiday season is a time for celebration, giving, and reflection. Every year, children go through the holidays and don’t receive any of the gifts that characterize this beautiful holiday and that we all look forward to over the course of the rest of the year. Brown Santa aims to provide gifts to children living below the United States poverty line that would otherwise be going without. Any monetary donations collected are put towards buying presents for kids in need to make the holidays a little bit brighter.

We spoke with the county sheriff and asked him if there was any special focus to this year’s donation drive and he said that the greatest need each year is for gifts focused on teenagers. He recommended iTunes and other gift cards, small mp3 players and electronics, and other gifts geared towards older children. If you can, please consider making a donation and changing the holidays for a local child.

Please consider donating and being a part of ACA’s holiday initiative. Every child deserves a happy holiday season no matter their income level, and even small gifts can make a world of difference. Thank you all for another great year of ACA, and Happy Holidays!

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We’ve all heard the stories about the pilgrims sharing food with Native Americans for the first Thanksgiving, and although usually simplified this version of the story is not far from the truth. Late November marked the end of the harvest season for both the natives and the pilgrims and, when the time came to celebrate, the two groups came together and shared their customs with each other to create one big harvest festival. We don’t know for sure whether the traditional foods like roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, or cranberry sauce were at their table, but we do know that the sentiment of sharing and kinship haven’t changed much.

Today, Thanksgiving is a precursor to other winter holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa and the traditions have been pretty set for the last hundred years or so: we meet at a relative’s house to enjoy festive food and the company of our family until we fall asleep from eating so much. As long as we don’t forget the second one we are in good standing.

ACA is celebrating Thanksgiving with our extended family on the Wednesday before the holiday from 11:00am until 12:00pm and, directly afterwards, the kids will be released with a half day to spend with their parents and any visitors. From all of us here at Austin Children’s Academy, Happy Thanksgiving!

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We believe that a sense of community is important for children to learn at an early age, instilling in them the virtues of charity, sharing, and appreciation that will follow them for the rest of their lives. We also believe that no family should ever have to go hungry, especially during the fast-approaching holiday season.

We will work together and collect a large donation to the Hill Country Community Ministries (HCCM), an organization dedicated to providing to hurting families in the southwest Williamson and northwest Travis counties. Unfortunately, donations have become more and more difficult to come by over the past few years, so we’re hoping for a large turnout from our drive to brighten the days of those in charge of HCCM and the people they distribute to.

Every donation provided helps someone in need, and there is no better way to get into the holiday spirit than by sharing what you have with struggling families.

To get the kids involved, we will reward a pizza party to whichever class has the highest average number of cans per student. We hope that you can participate in the drive and thank you in advance for your donations!

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Veterans Day began in 1919, first proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson as Armistice Day and originally intended to be a day to remember the signing of the armistice that ended World War 1. In 1938, Congress passed an Act that made Armistice Day an official holiday and set November 11th, or the closest weekday to that date, as the day to remember. It wasn’t until 1953 when a man living in Kansas proposed that the day be extended to include all veterans, not just those involved in World War 1. This revised version of Veterans Day, as we know it today, was signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on May 26, 1954.

Veterans Day is a federal holiday, meaning that many schools and businesses let their students and employees have the day off to celebrate. Traditional celebrations include parades, school rallies, and the somewhat strange tradition of eating ravioli for dinner. The latter date back to the closing days of World War 1 when President Wilson invited more than 2,000 soldiers, who the President felt would be starving for a home-cooked meal, into the White House and had the chefs prepare ravioli for all of the guests.

If you know any veterans, we encourage you to take some time out of your day to call them and thank them for their service. ACA will hold a remembrance ceremony in each of the classes to demonstrate the importance of the men and women who fight for our country to the students. We encourage parents and students to get involved in the celebrations going on in the community.

ACA humbly thanks those who have bravely served. From our students, our teachers, and our country, thank you.

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The fashion show was a hit, as parents acted as the paparazzi with their flashes lighting up the room as they witnessed the memorable and precious moments. Please enjoy our Facebook Page, and share your own thoughts and pictures. Also be sure to stay updated about our upcoming events by visiting our website at www.AustinChildrensAcademy.org.

On Wednesday November 9th at 5:00pm the PTA will hold their first official meeting as a chapter and will announce and discuss the amount of funds raised and how it will benefit the students and community of ACA.

We encourage you come and join the meeting so you can be informed about the PTA and the purpose of this non-profit organization. This organization is open to any member who lives in the greater Austin, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Leander areas.

Be involved by making a choice for our children, and help enrich their academic and life experience.

Special thanks to our PTA and sponsors, who made this all happen.

Liberty Mutual
Point Security
Builder’s Preferred Mortgage
Hay Compere
Baldo Face Painting
Gallagher Studios
The Little Gym
Troy Insurance Group
Miss Texas Organization

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ACA had a really busy month of September. Grandparents’ Day was a memorable morning for ACA children. Thanks to all of the grandparents for coming to breakfast with their grandchildren. Our main attraction of last month was our Annual Parents’ Meet & Greet Night. It was an enjoyable evening for the parents who had a chance to get a glimpse of their child’s every day Montessori classroom. ACA introduced a new after-school enrichment program – Soccer Shots. This is a program for fundamental and creative athletics catering to our 3-5 year old children. Our students are very enthusiastic to participate in this sports program. If you are interested in enrolling your child, call ACA for more information. If you are interested in any of our enrichment programs, please sign up by the end of this month. Classes are filling up fast!

We will be having two School Spirit Days again this month. Please mark your calendar so your child can participate in these creative, fun days. ACA is also having a Free “Maximized Living Makeover workshop” by Dr. Kyle Meers for all the parents on October 15th from 9-11:30AM. The Sign-up sheet can be found at the reception desk. Please bring your friends, family members and colleagues or anyone who would benefit from this workshop. ACA is having our annual Halloween Fashion Show and Pot Luck Dinner on Friday, October 28th from 6 to 8PM. Bring your cameras and join us for this special event. If you would like to volunteer for our upcoming events, please sign up. We need many volunteers to make these events successful for the children.

November is a very special month for everyone. ACA will be having a Canned Food Drive, so start collecting now as we a will have a bin set for each class starting mid October. Please have your child bring non-perishable food items in a brown bag labeled with your child’s class name (Primary-Jupiter, Primary-Saturn, Toddler-Pluto, Toddler-Venus, Infant-Mercury) on it. This Food Drive ends November 18th.

Our Book Drive will continue through next month. If you have any books to donate to your child’s class, please bring them in a box or a brown bag with your child’s name and class marked on it. Happy Halloween!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gupta, Director

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Contrary to popular belief, Benjamin Franklin did not create the system. Franklin’s proposal was actually a satire piece mocking Parisians for their leisurely ways – he anonymously wrote a letter to a newspaper saying that window shutters should be taxed and cannons should be fired when it’s time for everyone to wake up. Modern Daylight Saving Time was proposed by a New Zealander named George Hudson in an attempt to increase the number of daylight hours people had for pleasure activities after finishing their day at work. The History and Importance of Daylight Saving Time (DST)Oddly enough, an Englishman named William Willett thought up the same idea ten years later in 1905 completely independently of Hudson.

The first few countries to enact Daylight Saving Time were Germany and its allies in 1916 to conserve coal usage during World War I. Britain and the rest of Europe followed shortly after and the United States adopted the system in 1918. Present-day, Daylight Saving Time is practiced around the globe and in every state in the U.S. except Arizona, who stopped changing their clocks in 1969.

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