Pre-K Students Enjoy Nature Explorers Club

For the past two weeks the Pre-K students in Nature Explorers after school club have been studying trees. We have learned about the different parts of a tree and talked about how trees benefit us everyday! It's an especially exciting time to discuss trees as fall begins to show its colors! Students were able to take magnifying classes to explore and examine trees around FSAPS. They recorded what they saw and made leaf rubbings in their nature journals. Students were very excited to see bugs, lichen, and sap on the trees! They also learned through exploration that sticks come from dead limbs and branches of trees.

Kindergarten Students Have Many Talents

Kindergarten students are currently learning about identifying problems and planning ways to solve them in Science!  Students are discovering that they can plan, create, and test their own designs.  Today students drew plans in their Interactive Science Journals depicting different configurations of Math in Focus connecting cubes.  They tested their designs by then using the cubes to build their depicted structure.  The Kindergartener’s were delighted to discover that their plans worked!  We’re looking forward to Friday which will be “Plan and Test Day!” Children will be split into Science small groups for a variety of experiments.  Marshmallow and toothpick team bridge building, 9-minute Marble Race individual construction and demonstration, and a modeling clay boat building “Sink or Float” workshop are just a few of the activities planned as a culmination to this unit of study.

Solar Astronomer Visited Fulton Science Academy

http://alpharetta.patch.com/groups/announcements/p/solar-astronomer-visited-fulton-science-academy

Students at Fulton Science Academy Private School were looking up on Thursday, September 19th.  Luckily they had just been handed a pair of free solar glasses so they could view the sun directly. Mr. Stephen Ramsden, founder of the Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project, visited bringing not only his solar telescopes and equipment but his vast knowledge of the sun. 

Students viewed the sun through 3 different eyepieces each giving a different perspective on the sun.  There were also additional telescopes hooked up to computers so that students could get a better view of the sun in real time.  

Luckily clear skies and an active sun provided awesome opportunities to view sunspots, solar prominences, and solar flares.  Many students were amazed to actually see things they had learned about in 6th grade Earth Science.  

Mr. Ramsden provided perspective on the distance from the sun to the Earth and nuclear fusion as well as discussing with students the importance of studying math and science. 

Thanks to Mr. Ramsden, many students left school that day with a lot more knowledge and respect for our closest star and its effects on Earth and the living things that inhabit it.

Please click here to view time lapse images and solar images taken that day.

A VISIT FROM "ROCK GUY"

On September 16, 2013, sixth grade Earth Science students enjoyed a visit from Mr. Waggener, President of the Georgia Mineral Society.  Mr. Waggener gave students an introduction to rocks and minerals which is our upcoming unit.  Sixth graders discussed different properties of minerals and how to identify minerals using various tests including color, streak, density, hardness using the Mohs Hardness Scale, crystal systems, cleavage, and fracture.  The different uses of minerals and rocks were highlighted as well as how some of the rocks formed and how to determine their age.  Students then took a hands on look at many different rocks and tried to identify them.  Mr. Waggener is so very knowledgeable and also seemed to pass on to the students his passion and excitement for rocks and minerals.  

Atlanta Mini Maker Faire

All FSA students are encouraged to attend.

 

Fulton Science Academy College Mentorship Program

We are pleased to inform our  community that the FSA College Mentorship Program started on September 4th, 2013. We are very excited about this program as we think it will benefit our students tremendously. 

We have three goals with CMP:

1- Academic Proficiency

2- Guidance & Counseling

3- College & Career Readiness

As part of CMP, we also will plan short seminars on important topics every other Wednesday. The first topic will be time management and organizational skills. The other topics we plan to cover are as follows:

• Understanding and Managing Conflict
• Personal Finance 
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Leadership
• Attention Improvement Techniques
• Stress Management
• Goal Setting
• Top Universities
• Public Speaking
• Critical Thinking Improvement
• Community Service
• Working Together Effectively
• Road to College

Please see some pictures from our first CMP classes here:

Fulton Science Academy Grandparents Day Was Wonderful!

We enjoyed hosting grandparents of our students at our school this past Friday. The program started with a brief school tour given by Principal Sener and followed by a delicious lunch. After the lunch, students gave beautiful roses to their parents and grandparents. Program ended with some wonderful stories from grandparents about schools and education during the years they went to school. We thank all grandparents for the important role they play in our students'  education life. We are a team altogether. Please see some pictures here:

Fulton Science Academy Solar Viewing Event

Fulton Science Academy Private School 

SOLAR VIEWING EVENT

Thursday, September 19, 2013

(Weather permitting)

Stephen W. Ramsden, Director of the nonprofit The Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project will be bringing his nationally renowned solar astronomy outreach program to our campus on September 19th (weather permitting) for viewing and imaging of the Sun in all its life giving ferocity.

Students will be able to use his collection of the finest, observatory quality solar telescopes on Earth to witness firsthand many solar features including solar flares, sunspots, prominences, filaments and magnetically active regions.