Fulton Science Academy
EXCELLENCE, INNOVATION, CHARACTER
Week of March 13, 2017
PRINCIPAL'S CORNER
Dear Friends, Family, and FSA Supporters:
In some schools, tomorrow will be a regular Tuesday, but at FSA, it's (Tuesday, March 14) NATIONAL PI DAY! Largely considered one of the most enjoyable days of the school year, students will enjoy pie shaped foods, recite pi digits, play songs in support of this special day, and have a chance to wear their personally designed "pi hat!" What could be more fun for our academic Mustangs>?!*
As we move through this week, I'd like to once again congratulate our many high-achieving academic teams, including our all-female robotics team, "Control+Alt+Delete" who made history this week after being selected as the first and only FLL team in Georgia to advance to the prestigious UK competition in Bath, UK, in late June. Our math students, Model UN members, and Tech fair participants are also blazing an impressive path as we move through the second semester of the 2017-2018 school year. Our children are such an inspiration to us!
A few quick reminders:
- In support of National Pi Day, our wonderful MSO volunteers are selling huge pizza slices and bottled water to all students tomorrow during lunch periods. Cost is $2 per order. Please send your children to school with cash if they would like to participate in this fun event.
- Best wishes are extended to our own, Dr. Hawk, on the inaugural performance of the Alpharetta Symphony Orchestra this weekend. Details are below, and we are thrilled to announce that several of our performing arts students will be supporting the event as ushers.
- I'd like to wish good luck to our Middle School Science Olympiad Team who will be competing at the State Level at South Cobb High School this upcoming Saturday!
- We are excited to host another Open House this Sunday, March 19, from 1-3 p.m. If you know of anyone who would like to learn more about FSAPS, please encourage them to attend this wonderful afternoon.
- Cash grants were awarded to a handful of students who submitted grant applications in support of their STEM projects. Applications were reviewed and recipients were announced at school today. We are so impressed with our students' project ideas and the progress they have made thus far!
On behalf of everyone here at Fulton Science Academy, I'd like to thank you for all you do to help our students believe and achieve. In the words of Les Brown, “When you help others achieve their dreams, you will achieve yours.”
Have a fantastic week!
Cheerfully,
Kenan Sener
Principal
Happy (Early!) National Pi Day from Your FSA Family!
Motivational Quote of the Week
Robotics Team Selected to Advance to FLL World Championships in the UK This Summer
To help support the girls' journey, we are asking all FSA supporters to please consider making a secure, online gift using the link below.
A total of $10K is needed to fund the trip (in addition to the school's $2,500 sponsorship). Contributions are needed from individuals, foundations, and companies. All donations are tax deductible. A total of $50 has been raised thus far and donations are welcomed and encouraged to help these students continue their incredible journey. Thank you!
https://donate.fultonscienceacademy.org/robotics
Tech FAIR wins AT STate Level
Our Technology Fair Mustangs competed along with 1000+ students at the State Level Technology Fair held at Middle Georgia State University, Macon, GA, and came away with the following awards:
Second Place:
- Multimedia Applications (7,8 grade) - Neha M.
- Tech Literacy Challenge (9,10 grade) - Austin S.
- Project Programming (5,6 grade) - Rohan M.
Third Place:
- 3D Modeling (5,6 grade) - Seth D. and Andrew C.
Middle School Student, Holden W., Shows Impressive Results at State High School Math Competition
Holden W., one of our phenomenal eighth graders who is a member of FSA's Math Team, placed 13th at Kennesaw State High School Math Tournament among 171 top high school students in GA. Only 171 high school students qualified to Round 2 of Kennesaw State's High School Math Tournament, of which Holden was one!
We are so proud of Holden’s spectacular accomplishment as a young eighth-grade student among high school students, including seniors! A luncheon reception and an awards ceremony will be held at Kennesaw State University on Saturday, April 22, 2017.
Way to go Holden!
Social Studies Wins Big Time at Regionals
The FSAPS Social Studies Department would like to congratulate several students on their strong showing at the West Metro Regional Social Studies Fair on Saturday, March 11. Students from neighboring counties converged on Lake Ridge Elementary School in Clayton County to compete in the fair. FSAPS sent a total of five projects representing various social science disciplines and students were well-rewarded for their hard work.
All of our students received a ribbon for their projects at the fair, with four of the five receiving first place and the chance to participate in the upcoming State Fair!
The following projects won FIRST PLACE:
- Neel B., Jake F., and Kevin Y. – 6th grade- Clarkston Georgia: A Study in Diversity
- Catherine A. – 7th grade -Texting While Driving in the USA: Should Georgia Re-Evaluate Its Texting Laws
- Giles S. – 8th grade- Future Transportation Technology Trends
- Shriya Gupta – 8th grade- How Is Brexit Projected to Impact the Long-Term Development of the U.K., E.U., and Global Economy Collectively
and THIRD PLACE
- Charles J.– 8th grade-The Effect of First Person Shooter Video Games On Human Behavior
The first place winners will continue on to represent FSAPS and the region in the State Social Studies Fair at Clayton State University on Saturday, April 22nd.
Thank you to all of the students and their teachers for making this year’s FSAPS Social Studies Fair a success! A lot of hard work went into these projects, and although only a few could progress to this level, we felt there were many deserving of the honor. We are very proud of all of our students that participated in the fair this year and are excited by this success at the regional level.
High School Model UN Team Competes at KSU
Members of the FSAPS High School Model United Nations Team participated in the 31st Kennesaw State University High School Model United Nations Conference on Friday, March 10, and Saturday, March 11.
Tenth grader, Chloe Richardson, and ninth grader, Sophie Richardson, represented the nation of Rwanda at the conference.
In the African Union, Chloe, along with delegates representing other African nations, focused on promoting sustainable ecosystems and climate resilient economies as well as developing strategies to protect infrastructures in times of conflict.
In the Economic and Social Council, Sophie worked with other UN member states to improve sanitation and access to clean water along with promoting sustainable peace by addressing the root causes of conflict.
Both students made a strong showing at the competition, but perhaps more importantly, had a great time and look forward to attending this conference next year!
Upcoming Events - Please Mark Your Calendars (New Events are Highlighted in Bold for Added Convenience)
March 14
- Pi day- see hat competition details below!
March 15
- Deadline to participate in the bus survey for the 2017-2018 school year- see details below
March 18
- Dr. Hawk with Alpharetta Symphony orchestra performance- see details below
March 19
- Open House 1:00-3:00 pm
March 28
- Atlanta Botanical Gardens Field Trip 2-3 grades
March 29
- Road to College Seminar 6:00 pm
- Atlanta Botanical Gardens Field Trip Pre-k-1st grade
April 3-7
- Spring Break - No School
April 7
- Deadline to order FSA 2016-2017 yearbook
Pi Day pizza Celebration
The MSO will be selling pizza slices from Big Pie In The Sky on Pi Day this year. Big Pie in the Sky pizza slices are cut from a 30" pizza and are bigger than any you have ever seen! The dough is made fresh daily using their original New York Style recipe and only the freshest ingredients.
One slice of cheese pizza and a bottle of water will be $2. Please send your child with cash if they want pizza tomorrow, Tuesday, 3/14/17.
PI DAY School-wide Contests
PI Digit Memorization Contest
All students in math classes from grades four through ten are invited to compete in the PI Digit Memorization Contest.
On PI DAY, Tuesday, March 14th, during their math class, students will be asked to write the digits of pi. Students who memorized the most decimal places of Pi will win the contest and the overall top three winners will be announced by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 15th.
The overall top three winners of Elementary, Middle, and High School grades will be awarded!
DID YOU KNOW? The most decimal places of Pi memorized is 70,000, and was achieved by Rajveer Meena (India) at the VIT University, Vellore, India, on 21 March 2015.
Rajveer wore a blindfold throughout the entire recall, which took nearly 10 hours.
PI-DAY Hat Design Contest
All students in 4th thru 10th-grade math classes were assigned the PI-DAY Hat Design Project in their math classes on Monday, March 6th. A jury of teachers will select the best design.
Winners of the PI DAY Hat Design Contest will also be announced by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 15th.
Student Spotlight - Meet the Detwilers!
Thank you to Anna's teacher, Ms. Ramsey, for spending her Saturday morning cheering on this fantastic FSA family. The talent of our students and the dedication of our teachers is such an inspiration. Great job! #fsacares
Reminder: Math Kangaroo is this Thursday, March 16th
Earlier, via email and school newsletters of October 1st through December 15th, FSA informed parents about the Math Kangaroo Competition that would take place on March 16, 2017 at various locations and times on Thursday.
Registration opened on October 1 and the deadline to register was December 15th. Each interested student was asked to register and participate independently. When registering, students were asked to choose a location and time. Please check your mailbox for a confirmation email if you registered.
If You Registered:
· You must have received a confirmation email from Math Kangaroo about the location and time you chose to register.
· Teachers have no way of knowing Math Kangaroo competition time and site for your child.
· Please consider traffic & plan to arrive half an hour early to the competition site & don’t forget to bring pencil & eraser.
· If you don’t remember that you registered or not, you can confirm that by checking your email inbox & searching keywords such as Math Kangaroo.
http://www.mathkangaroo.org/mk/default.html
How to Prepare:
1)Practice Questions:
Sample practice questions may be found at the link below.
http://www.mathkangaroo.org/mk/practice.html
2)Math Kangaroo Media Library
Plenty of learning material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the Math Kangaroo Media Library.
St Baldrick's Foundation Fundraiser For Childhood Cancer Update
Last week FSA raised over $500! Let's keep buying shirts and donating and remember
- If we raise $1,500, Mr. Parlak will shave his head.
- If we raise $3,000, Mr. Sener will shave his head.
The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-powered charity dedicated to raising money for lifesaving childhood cancer research and funds more in childhood cancer grants than any organization except for the U.S. government.
Buy a grey, green, or blue shirt for $5 and two shirts for $7. Shirts can be purchased each morning this week from 7:30- 7:50 a.m. in the front lobby from Student Council Representatives. These shirts can be worn as spirit wear with uniform pants every day in March and on every Friday remaining of the 2016-2017 school year.
We will be collecting monetary donations until March 24th.
You can donate at school or online here: https://www.stbaldricks.org/
Bus Survey for 2017-2018 school year
We recognize that some of our families could benefit from a bus service to transport their child to and from school each day.
We need to gather information from each of the interested families and pass it along to the bus companies that we are looking into. The bus companies will then determine the bus routes and bus stops.
- The cost is about $175/student per month with a $25 sibling discount.
- The bus will have the students at the school by 7:40 a.m. and there will be one afternoon transport, leaving the school at 4:30 p.m.
If you are interested, fill out the linked form below by March 15, 2017.
Once we have the information from all of the interested families, it will be shared with the bus companies. We will share the outcome as soon as we can. Thank you!
FSA MUSIC DEPARTMENT CHAIR, Dr.Hawk with Alpharetta Symphony Orchestra to benefit Homeless
Greetings FSA Families!
The Alpharetta Symphony Orchestra will present their inaugural ticketed event on Saturday, March 18th at 7 p.m. The concert will benefit homeless children and families. The Family Promise of Forsyth County, Inc., will use the evening's contributions to help make our community a better place.
Music selections for the evening include Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo, Vivaldi's Concerto for Three Guitars, Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 2, Debussy's Petite Suite, and a world premiere by local composer Brian Shon. The program, directed by Dr. Eric Hawk, features The Atlanta Guitar Trio and pianist Dawn Dalangin Hawk.
Tickets are $20, or $40 with VIP Pre-Concert Reception. The Pre-Concert Reception will be held from 5:45-6:45 p.m. and it will include heavy hors 'd oeuvres prepared by chef Mike Parks from The Manor Golf and Country Club. Come enjoy beautiful music and support a great cause! All donations are tax deductible.
Please view our event link below.
Just click on the blue button to order your tickets today!
Reminder to rising 7th grade parents
Attention parents:
Thank you!
Character Ed: March - Perseverance
What is perseverance?
1. Staying with the task and not giving up.
2. Showing commitment, pride and a positive attitude in completing tasks.
3. Trying again and again and again.
4. Being patient and willing to work hard.
Classroom Activities
Amazing City Design projects from Mrs. Kurt’s 6th grade class
Amazing City Design projects from Mrs. Kurt’s class are on display in the FSA cafeteria!
Students were challenged with three different tasks to show their proficiency level on angles formed by transversal as part of a cross-curricular project which involves math, language arts, art, and social studies.
Within the past three weeks, Mrs. Kurt’s students learned about angle pairs, complementary, supplementary, adjacent, vertical, and angles formed by parallel lines cut by transversals; alternate interior, alternate exterior, corresponding, same side interior (consecutive interior), and linear pairs.
1. Their first task involved designing their own city using parallel & perpendicular lines, transversals and special angles in the form of a 2D poster.
2. The second task was writing an expository essay describing a day in the life of a resident in their city. They must visit at least 5 places and describe the route they take to get from place to place.
3. The last task was group work to analyze and synthesize the messy problem.
Implementing Creative Problem Solving (CPS) strategy, students explored where the problem was in a given situation, created solutions by working with their partners cooperatively, then displayed, and presented their final products. By doing this, students showed a tremendous effort to provide solutions to a worldwide problem and demonstrated great citizenship skills and engineering skills.
THE MESSY PROBLEM:
The INRIX Traffic Scorecard analyzes and compares the state of traffic congestion in countries and 100 major metropolitan areas worldwide. The new report, which looks at 2016 data, reveals that the cities most affected by worsened traffic conditions are those that experienced the most economic improvement during the past year.
Cities that have experienced the most economic improvement during the past year are at highest risk for consequences related to worsened traffic conditions, including reduced productivity, higher emissions, and increased stress levels, INRIX adds.
The top 10 cities in the U.S. with the worst traffic rank in terms of average time wasted per commuter, according to INRIX, are: (Retrieved from Atlanta Business Chronicle, 2015)
- Los Angeles - 81 hours
- Washington, D.C. – 75 hours
- San Francisco - 75 hours
- Houston – 74 hours
- New York – 73 hours
- Seattle – 66 hours
- Boston – 64 hours
- Chicago – 60 hours
- Atlanta – 59 hours
- Honolulu – 49 hours
Along with the report, the typical Atlanta commuter spends a couple of hours each weekday tediously crawling the brittle asphalt gauntlet between home and livelihood, alone in his car.”
Here is your challenge: You have been placed on a committee to come up with traffic plan how will you avoid this problem. Although there are ongoing resolutions such as widened roads, added HOV lanes, synchronized traffic lights, even added bus transit options in the suburban counties, are there other things that your committee should be doing?
*As an optional task, students were asked to make 3D models using mine craft app or online tools.
Dissection in High School AP Biology
Club News
Kindergarten Art and Crafts Club
This week, the Kindergarten Art and Crafts Club joined forces with Pre-K for a fun-filled club time. The students worked independently on completing hidden picture work sheets which incorporated math with art. They had a choice of sheets to complete ranging from joining 30 numbers to the hardest ones which were joining over 100 numbers together to reveal their picture which they then colored in using pencils.
FSAPS SUMMER CAMPS
We are pleased to inform you that once again we have scheduled several wonderful summer camps at our school.
Fulton Science Academy summer camps provide fun, hands-on activities in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Camps develop new skills, expand creative thinking, and foster team building and new friendships.
With the exception of the FSA's Summer Leadership Camp (which is open to FSA students only), our camps are open to ALL Georgia students.
Please CLICK HERE to see a detailed list of camps that will be offered at our school this summer.
Open Enrollment Information
Other Reminders (Please note: all information below this title is being repeated from prior newsletters).
Would you like to coordinate a home visit? If so, please read on...
Simply email junal@fultonscienceacademy.org with some suggested dates/times, as well as your students' name(s) and homeroom assignments. Ms. Unal will be in touch to confirm final details.
Home visits are a casual way for your child to spend time with his/her teacher in the comfort of their home. Teachers enjoy having a chance to see children in this comfortable environment, doing whatever makes them most happy and spend time with children and their parents outside of a regular school day.
FSA Students Invited to Attend Summer Leadership Camp
2017-2018 School Calendar Dates Now Available On School Web Site
Order Your 2016-2017 Yearbook!
"Attention all FSA Families!
Please consider buying a YEARBOOK to help your student remember a great school year at FSA! This year, the yearbook team is covering ALL GRADES (PK - 10TH) ACTIVITIES, CLUBS, EVENTS, AND ACADEMICS! The book is 30 PAGES longer than previous years and we are featuring as many students as possible! The book also allows for personal customization to make it your own!
PURCHASE AND PERSONALIZE YOUR Fulton Science Academy Private School YEARBOOK BY CLICKING HERE:
http://www.treering.com/purchase?Passcode=1013541294622699
A few important facts:
* Your personalized yearbook only costs $30.00.
* You’ll need to purchase your copy and complete your free personal pages by April 3.
* Your 2 free custom pages are optional if you don’t customize you’ll receive a standard yearbook.
To begin, please click on this link:
http://www.treering.com/purchase?Passcode=1013541294622699
Any other questions can be sent to FSAPS' Yearbook Advisor, Rita Modrzynski, rmodrzynski@fultonscienceacademy.org. Thank you!"
Private Music Lessons Available At FSA
FSA's Private Music Program is now accepting new students! We offer private music lessons in many instruments and areas of study: Piano, Voice, Guitar, Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass Violin, Clarinet, Flute, Ukulele, Saxophone, Accordion, Percussion, Trumpet, Trombone, Banjo, Mandolin, Theory, Conducting, Composition, and more.
There is a $20 registration fee and the tuition is $480 for the second semester. You may obtain more information by visiting our page on the website at:
http://fultonscienceacademy.org/private-music-lessons-2/
please contact Melinda Hubbell at mhubbell@fultonscienceacademy.org or (770) 402-2907.
FSAConnect mobile App
We are happy to inform you that now you can check fsaconnect by mobile app.
Here is how you can access the app:
ITunes App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/radix-mobile/id1159005166?mt=8
Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.radix.radixmobile
The links can also be found at the bottom of your connect page by the other social media links.
A pop-up banner will appear on top of the screen when users access the school connect on their mobile devices.
Site link: https://fsaconnect.fultonscienceacademy.org
Username: fsaconnect username
Password: fsaconnect password
PLEASE SIGN UP FOR REMIND, OUR SCHOOL NOTIFICATION APPlication
JOIN FSAPS REMIND HERE: https://www.remind.com/join/fsaps
We have created a remind account to keep our community informed and up-to-date with what is happening at our school.
By joining "FSAPS remind," you will receive messages via push notifications, SMS, or e-mail. We recommend SMS option for our families and students.
We will use this tool as an addition to other communication portals we use at our school to keep our families apprised of what's happening at Fulton Science Academy. Thank you.
SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM
REPORTING ABSENCES
When your student will be absent from school for the entire day, please contact FSAPS each day in any of the following ways:
1. E-mail your child’s teacher
2. Send an email to attendance@fultonscienceacademy.org
OR
1. Send in a note to the front office when your child returns to school OR
2. Call the front office on the day your child is absent at (678) 366-2555 ext. 0
FSA SOCIAL MEDIA
Please connect with us online and grow our social media following!
FSA is proud to be building a strong social media presence and we encourage you to follow us using one or more of the following links:
1- FSA YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://www.youtube.com/user/FultonScienceAcademy
If you subscribe to our YouTube channel, you will receive notifications whenever we upload a new video.
2- FSA FACEBOOK PAGE
https://www.facebook.com/FultonScienceAcademyPrivateSchool/
Many of you already follow our Facebook page. If you are not yet connected, please “Like" our Facebook page.
3- FSA INSTAGRAM
https://www.instagram.com/fultonscienceacademy/
We post lots of pictures on our Instagram account. You will enjoy seeing new pictures every day.
4- FSA LINKEDIN
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fulton-science-academy-private-school
So many of you have LinkedIn accounts. To get news about our school on LinkedIn, simply follow our schools’s LinkedIn page.
5 –FSA TWITTER
https://twitter.com/fsaprivate
Twitter is a great way to get updated about school. Simply follow our school on Twitter to get recent tweets from our school.
6- FSA BLOG
http://fultonscienceacademyprivateschool.blogspot.com
If you click on Follow button on the right hand side, you will receive notifications when we post a new article.
GREEN SCHOOL TIPS BY FSA ROBOTICS TEAM STUDENTS
Fulton Science Academy Private School
Serving Advanced and Gifted Students
Pre-K through High School
Email: ksener@fultonscienceacademy.org
Website: www.fultonscienceacademy.org
Location: 3035 Fanfare Way, GA, United States
Phone: (678) 366-2555
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FultonScienceAcademyPrivateSchool
Twitter: @fsaprivate