CONGRATULATIONS SCIENCE OLYMPIAD TEAM!

Science Olympiad Team brings home 2nd Place from Chattahoochee Invitational

On Saturday, Fulton Science Academy Private School Science Olympiad Team competed in the Chattahoochee Invitational in Johns Creek. This was the first tournament of the season and included teams from throughout the metro Atlanta area, including rival Dodgen Middle School. The FSA team took first place and many FSAPS students earned medals in their events.


Head Coaches Pam Walsh and Gloria Stathos were pleased with the team’s performance. “This early in the season it’s difficult to be prepared for each of the 23 events. Many of the building events require much trial and error. Students were calibrating their devices all week and to have a working device for each event this early in the season is quite an accomplishment,” said Mrs. Walsh.


Individual awards were earned by the following students:

Air Trajectory – coached by Ms. Tang
1st Place – Sruthi Chatrathi and Saad Maan

Anatomy – coached by Ms. Doraiswami
3rd Place – Hasan Unal and Araneesh Pratap

Bio Process Lab – coached by Mrs. Uppaluri
4th Place – Brian Shoffeitt and Faith Lucas
5th Place – Sanjeev Uppaluri and Vihan Karnala

Bottle Rockets – coached by Mr. Seker
1st Place – Prajwal Vedula and Akash Bhatt
2nd Place – Andre Hamelberg and Sophie Richardson
3rd Place – Faris Unal and Karen Pederson

Bridges – coached by Mr. Seker
1st Place – Faith Lucas and Sophie Richardson
2nd Place – Akash Bhatt and Ananya Pottabhathini

Can’t Judge a Powder – coached by Ms. Lang
1st Place – Sarah Lucas and Hasan Unal
3rd Place – Soleil Moffitt and Christina Wang

Crime Busters – coached by Ms. Lang
2nd Place – Sarah Lucas and Hasan Unal

Disease Detectives – coached by Mrs. Bhatt and Ms. Chirumamilla
1st Place – Brian Shoffeitt and Araneesh Pratap
2nd Place – Akash Bhatt and Saad Maan

Dynamic Planet – coached by Mrs. Walsh
3rd Place – Mira Mutnick and Sophie Richardson
4th Place – Akash Bhatt and Christina Wang

Elastic Launch Glider – coached by Mrs. Walsh
3rd Place – Karuna Kumar and Avinash Pratap

Entomology – coached by Mrs. Butler
2nd Place – Soleil Moffitt and Will Mutsch
4th Place – Bella Sims and Maddie Dressel

Experimental Design – coached by Mrs. Stathos
3rd Place – Simon Wang, Mira Mutnick, and Ananya Terala
5th Place – Karen Pederson, Krishna Kumar, and Shreya Puvvula

Fossils – coached by Ms. Beres
2nd Place – Araneesh Pratap and Faith Lucas
5th Place – Karen Pederson and Ameya Rekapalli

Green Generation – coached by Ms. Larson
1st Place – Faith Lucas and Sarah Lucas
3rd Place – Soleil Moffitt and Christina Wang

Meteorology – coached by Mrs. Walsh
1st Place – Araneesh Pratap and Ananya Terala
5th Place – Saneev Uppaluri and Callie Webster

Picture This – coached by Ms. Fichter
4th Place – Sophie Richardson, Ananya Terala, and Avinash Pratap
5th Place – Katherine Li, Kayti Duchiene, Sanjeev Uppaluri

Robo-Cross – coached by Mr. Kaya
4th Place – Mira Mutnick and Hasan Unal

Simple Machines – coached by Ms. Duzyol
1st Place – Karuna Kumar and Araneesh Pratap
5th Place – Krishna Kumar and Destiny Abbey

Solar System – coached by Mrs. Walsh
4th Place –Brian Shoffeitt and Andre Hamelberg

Write It, Do It – coached by Mrs. Stathos
2nd Place – Katherine Li and Vihan Karnala
3rd Place – Sedat Akgun and Faris Unal

CONGRATULATIONS TO MODEL UN TEAM!

Congratulations to the FSA Model U.N. team! Last week, the team traveled to Statesboro, GA to compete in the 33rd Annual Georgia Southern Middle School Model United Nations competition. The team this year has a total of 27 students, many of whom have never competed or been involved in Model U.N. before. Mr. Stiffler and Ms. Pruett are so excited to announce that our team won Honorable Mention as a school delegation, and had 9 students win individual awards.


In a first for our school, an entire delegation, in this case representing Nigeria, was recognized for their individual accomplishments; a tremendous feat!


Honorable Mention was awarded to Sanjeev Uppaluri (France) in the Security Council, Addie Hobbs (Chad) and Sophie Richardson (Nigeria) in the African Union, Sophie Chan (France) in the Human Rights Council, and Neeha Marupudi (Nigeria) and Savannah Flowers (Nigeria) in the General Assembly.


Further, Chloe Richardson (Nigeria) in the Security Council, Kian Nijaf (Kenya) in the African Union and Jaeden Amiri-Owens (Nigeria) in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation were all named as Distinguished Delegates for their roles.


The team now has to quickly turnaround and prepare for their next competition on November 21st at Centennial High School.


Congratulations to these students, and to the entire team for such an outstanding performance! Mr. Stiffler and Ms. Pruett are so proud of them, and hope you will share in our excitement as you congratulate these students!

CONGRATULATIONS PUMPKIN BOOK REPORT CONTEST WINNERS

Edgar R. (5th grade), Austin G. (4th grade), Athiwat A. (3rd grade), Kai R. (2nd grade), and Krish Patel (1st grade)! Each of these students won a free book from the Scholastic Book Fair! The students went together to visit Sir Readalot's Castle and each chose their own book to take home. What a wonderful day to celebrate reading!

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD ENTOMOLOGY TEAM FIELD TRIP TO UGH

On Saturday, November 8th Science Olympiad Entomology students Katherine Li, Sarah Lucas, Soleil Moffit, and Isabella Sims along with coaches Mrs. Stathos, Mrs. Butler, and parent driver Malisa Sims visited the UGA entomology department. Entomology is the study of insects and we were out for an education!






Several UGA undergrad students were there to greet us and introduced us to some live insects. They then introduced us to Nancy Miorelli, a graduate student in entomology. We learned that Nancy had taught several classes including Entomology for Teachers, Forensic Entomology, as well as the Ecuador Term Abroad-Insect Natural History & Plant Biology. It was wonderful to have access to a scientist so knowledgeable and passionate about her subject!


She began our adventure by bringing out various bug collections and even allowing us to view the insects under special microscopes while she explained how to identify them and how they impact our lives. We got a short course in forensic entomology and how scientists use insects that inhabit decomposing remains to aid legal investigations. Very interesting! We then explored mouth parts, leg, antennae, and wing adaptations, adaptations to different environments, and how insects mimic both other insects and the environment.


We would like to give a big FSA thank you to Nancy Miorelli for sharing her knowledge and time with us and to parent Malisa Sims for driving.

ATTENTION PARENTS WHO WORK IN THE MEDICAL AND DENTAL

Our Middle School Science Olympiad Anatomy coaches would love to have any old anatomical models and charts or posters with information about diseases and preventive measures that are being replaced.


For this year they are looking for anything in Cardiovascular, Immune, Integumentary (including sense organs) and Endocrine systems but all other systems are gladly accepted.

If you have any that you can donate to FSAPS, we would be glad to have them. Please drop them off at the front desk with Pam Walsh or Gloria Stathos.

DISCOVERY EDUCATION ACCOUNTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

All FSAPS students are given their individual Discovery Education accounts today. Our students will be trained on this new addition to our school program in their classes. It is a very user friendly program and can be a great resource to check during thanksgiving holiday! If you need help with your account, please contact Mr. Turan at nturan@fultonscienceacademy.org

JAEDEN WON THE MIDDLE SCHOOL WATER ESSAY CONTEST!

Congratulations to 6th grader, Jaeden Amiri-Owens for winning the 2014 Middle School Water Essay Contest. Jaeden received the news in the bus when he was traveling to Savannah with other FSAPS students to compete in the State Model United Nations Tournament.

We congratulate Jaeden, his parents, and his teachers for this achievement!
 

 

 

ART BARN FIELD TRIP WAS FARM-TASTIC!

Fulton Science Academy elementary grade students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade visited Farmer Sue and her fabulous Art Barn on Friday, November 7. All the kids participated in a hayride, had a tutorial on the life cycle of the chicken (from egg to adult), learned all about beekeeping and pollination, had a picnic lunch, and created a painting of a sheep in the Art Barn! However, the BEST part about visiting the Art Barn was learning about and interacting with all of the rescued animals on the farm. From baby chicks to donkeys, this farm has friendly animals in all shapes and sizes! We thank Farmer Sue very much for the wonderful day. Please see some pictures below:

A BIG PRE-K THANK YOU TO DR. RABEEA JANJUA

A big Pre-K THANK YOU to Dr. Rabeea Janjua for coming to speak to our class about being an Ophthalmologist during our study on community helpers. The children used stethoscopes to listen to their heart and lungs and saw the different instruments that Dr. Janjua use for her practice.

PRE-K AND KINDERGARTEN HANDS-ON SCIENCE CLUB

This semester in Pre-K/K Hands-On Science has been so much fun! We have discussed and explored our five senses, talked about color and how to make new colors, learned all about pumpkins, and have been talking about turkeys! Students love to take part in the discoveries we've made together!

We used the three primary colors red, yellow, and blue to create all of these secondary and tertiary colors!

Students mixed colored vinegar with baking soda to make colorful fizzing dot art!

After learning about turkeys, we did a Thanksgiving-themed activity where we drew hand turkeys and wrote what we are thankful for.

1ST AND 2ND GRADE HANDS ON SCIENCE CLUB

In Hands on Science, students have been having a fun “hands on” time discovering facts about different science topics. So far this semester, some of the subjects the students have learned about are; the five senses, how planes fly and what happens when you add dish soap to milk containing food coloring.

The last two weeks the students have been learning about the reaction between baking soda and vinegar, so this week we started to build and design small bottle rockets. Once they are finished, we will take them outside, where I will add vinegar and soda and will launch them for the students so that we can see how high they will fly.
 

 

 

1ST GRADERS WRITING FRIENDLY LETTERS

Mrs. Whitlock's first grade class has spent the past few weeks learning how to write a friendly letter. We have also been discussing how to write our home addresses, which has provided a connection to our social studies unit on maps. Last week, students wrote and edited letters to their parents, addressed envelopes, and mailed them home. We even got to take a mini field trip to the school mail box and practiced raising the flag to tell the mailman there was mail to deliver! The students had a great time with our real-world letter experience!

1ST GRADERS ARE LEARNING ABOUT THANKSGIVING

Last week Mrs. Houston's first grade class started a unit all about Thanksgiving. The focus of the lessons are 1. Understanding the experiences and hardships encountered by the Pilgrims on their voyage to the New World and in establishing a new settlement. 2. Discovering how two very different groups of people in the New World lived. 3. Exploring the different aspects of Plimoth colony's first harvest feast.

Students have had the opportunity to take virtual field trips aboard the Mayflower, pack imaginary bags for their trip to America, read/watch interviews with Pilgrims and Wampanoag, write Thank You cards for the Wampanoag, and much more! Our unit will culminate on Friday, November 21 with our First Grade Friendsgiving with Mrs. Whitlock's class.

THANK YOU MR. JORGE!

5th Grade Music Class had Mr. Jorge as our special guest last Thursday! As we learn about different cultures and their traditional dances and music, Mr. Jorge was gracious enough to present Mexican music and teach the 5th Grade Music Class a Tradition Mexican Dance! The students had a great time and we are very lucky to have him here at FSA! THANK YOU MR. JORGE!

A BIG THANK YOU TO MRS. PORTER FROM CITY OF ALPHARETTA!

On October 29th, 2014 Earth Science students discussed the earthquakes, agents of earthquakes and different seismic waves that are occuring during earthquakes. Terry Porter, Environmental Educator, City of Alpharetta discussed what are kinds of waves and how we monitor them to predict earthquakes with hands on activities. A big thank you goes to Mrs. Porter for educating us on these important facts regarding earthquakes.

8TH GRADE SPANISH CLASS TRIP TO EL PORTON!

Last Friday 8th grade had their field trip to the "El Porton"restaurant. Students and parents had a great time. Students were able to practice their Spanish the waiters as they order their food. Here some pictures.

PRIVATE MUSIC LESSONS REGISTERING FOR 2ND SEMESTER

FSAPS Private Music Lesson Web Flyer
FSAPS Private Music Lesson Registration Form
FSAPS Private Music Lesson Policies & Procedures

FSAPS Private Music Lesson Teacher Bios
For more information, please visit: http://www.fultonscienceacademy.org/academics/private-music-lessons

NATIONAL JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY

NJHS is an organization that recognizes and encourages academic achievement among middle level students while also developing other characteristics essential to citizens in a democracy.
Gerald N. Tirozzi
Executive Director, NASSP


FSAPS NJHS will be inviting students, who show excellence in academics as well as character, to join our chapter.

At the end of the first semester a 5 teacher council will make student selections. After this process, invitations will be sent out to the selected students.

The following is a list of criteria that the council will use for selection:
· 95% overall GAP
· Service
· Leadership
· Character
· Citizenship

WONDERFUL RESULTS IN MATH COMPETITIONS!

What an amazing past two weeks for the Fulton Science Academy Private School Math Olympiad Team students! After winning 1st place as a team in six different Math competitions during last school year, the FSAPS Math Olympiad Team students had a great start to this year's Math competitions as well. FSAPS Math Team students did a spectacular job on Saturday, November 1st during the War Eagle Math Competition at South Forsyth High School in the Middle School and Accelerated Divisions. FSAPS participated with the maximum number of teams allowed with one team in the Accelerated Division and three teams in the 6th-8th grade Middle School Division. Three of the four teams placed in the top three teams!


FSAPS received 1st place in Accelerated Division! (Accelerated Team A: Charlie Furniss, Katherine Li, Karuna Kumar, and Ananya Terala)


FSAPS received 2nd place in Small Middle School Division! (Team A: Andre Hamelberg, Christina Wang, Vishal Ram, and Tyler Hecht)


FSAPS also received 3rd place in Small Middle School Division! (Team B: Shreya Rekapalli, Maryam Unal, Arul Selvakumar, and Mario Machado)


These victories came on the heel of their successes during the Rockdale Math Competition. Fulton Science Academy Private School also received first place as a team in the Small Middle Schools Category in 2014 Rockdale Math Competition on Saturday Oct 25th! Among all middle schools including the larger Middle Schools, FSA Private placed as third as a team.

Principal Kenan Sener congratulated all Fulton Science Academy Math Olympiad Team students, parents, and coaches for their success. Principal Sener said “This is the fruit of many countless hours these students have spent working as a team before school, after school, on weekends, and even at Math Cabin Camps organized by their teachers. Way to go!”

KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS ENJOYED FALL CENTERS CELEBRATION

On Friday, October 31st all the Kindergarten students enjoyed a Fall Centers Celebration between our two Kindergarten rooms, the PVO room, and the back breezeway. Students decorated cookies (one to eat and one to keep!) and enjoyed a cup of “Spooky Brew” at the “Cookie Decorating Station.” Our little artists painted beautiful wooden frames at the “Craft Station”. After adding a little glitter glue, a few 3-D stickers, and the commemorative picture of all their friends during our Berry Patch Farms field trip - this Fall keepsake brings smiles to everyone's face and the students can't wait to bring them home!

Students were finally able to put the last two weeks of daily morning estimation practice to good use during the “Estimation Station” activity. Our awesome parent volunteers helped students look at several containers filled with treats and prizes and had each member of the group come up with and write an estimate for the amount of items inside one jar they chose as a group. After counting every item in each jar, the child that guessed the closest to the actual number received two items from the jar to put in their goody bag. The other children in the group each received one. Students had tons of fun estimating like crazy and earning prizes until it was time to switch stations!

Students created a messy "Yarn Pumpkin" project using yarn and balloons after playing a fun game of "Pin The Nose on the Pumpkin". Students were able to get their hands very messy and covered in glue as they dipped pieces of yarn into the glue solution, wrapped their balloons with the yarn, added a stem, and are waiting for their "Yarn Pumpkins" to dry and harden so they can take them home for a fun Fall decoration!


In the PVO room the students were surprised with a giant tent also known as the "Storytelling Cave." Students helped select and then listened to some of their favorite Fall stories inside a cozy tent complete with fluffy pillows and a cozy pumpkin blanket. The best part? Students lit up their stories with the glow sticks and wands they earned for great behavior inside the tent!


Outside in the back breezeway, students added points earned during “Pumpkin Buckets” and used pumpkin sponges to transport water as fast as they could from a giant cauldron to plastic pumpkin buckets in the “Jack-O-Lantern Relay.”

A BIG thank you to everyone who helped make this event a big success. The students couldn’t stop talking about all the fun they had the rest of the day, and are still talking about all the fun they had this week :-) They said it was the “best day all year.” Oh, if only they knew how many fun events they have to look forward to yet in Kindergarten…

FIRST GRADE FALL CELEBRATION WAS LOTS OF FUN!

The First Grade celebrated Fall on October 31 with fun pumpkin themed centers. In the morning they measured pumpkins, played pumpkin Bingo, completed pumpkin glyphs, and made a pumpkin craft describing everything they are thankful for. In the afternoon, they had a lot of fun decorating pumpkin sugar cookies, pinning the nose on a pumpkin, winning prizes during a Cake Walk, bowling and tossing bean bags at a pumpkin, and finally - completing an experiment called Dissolving Pumpkins. Many parents donated prizes and their time to make our day special. All of the students had a wonderful time!

LEARNING MATH WITH PUMPKINS!

On Tuesday, October 28th from 8:15 am until 10:15 am Ms. Fichter’s Kindergarten had Pumpkin Math small groups in the cafeteria! The children split into three groups and measured their pumpkin, counted the ridges, scooped out the insides of the pumpkin, weighed the pumpkin, carved the pumpkin, counted and separated the seeds, etc. Afterwards, judges pumpkin carving design winners and recorded and deciphered our results by creating a graph of our pumpkin math measurement results. On Wednesday, we enjoyed snacking on all of those pumpkin seeds we scooped out of the pumpkins (roasted, of course). Yummy!

PRE-K & KINDERGARTEN ARTS & CRAFTS CLUB

Students are using their creativity and imagination in Mrs.Irshadullah's Arts and Crafts club. Students have created sky scrapers, tear paper apple, candy corn to name a few. Students have been working with scissors to gain control on their fine motor skills. We have been working with different materials like stamp pads, stencils, cotton balls, yarn, bingo dotters to make our own creation. In this club there is no right or wrong, so students feel free to explore and have a sense of accomplishment and pride working together.

HAPPY DIWALI FROM KINDERGARTEN!

The students in Kindergarten learned about Diwali this past week. Part of our Social Studies curriculum encourages us to learn about different cultures, and the way that different cultures live and celebrate. Many of our Kindergarten friends celebrated Diwali with their families, and they were so excited to share about Diwali with their Kindergarten friends! In Kindergarten, we talked about Diwali, watched an information video about the Diwali celebrations, and created some awesome fireworks artwork to represent the Diwali fireworks. We had a fantastic time learning about this holiday, and our students who celebrated Diwali with their families had an even better time sharing their customs with their classmates. A happy belated Diwali from Kindergarten at FSAPS to all of those who celebrated it!

FIRST GRADE STUDENTS ENJOYED VETERINARIAN VISIT

First grade had a terrific day on Friday! We started our day off with a special visitor. Stephanie Howell, Mrs. Whitlock's younger sister, is a graduate student in veterinary medicine at the University of Georgia. She brought her cat Gray and discussed with first grade students how veterinarians take care of animals and gave them a look at what a typical vet visit might look like. Students loved getting to see and pet Gray and had a lot of great questions for the future Dr. Howell to answer!

MODEL UN TEAM IS READY FOR THEIR COMPETITIONS!

Model UN is an academic team which gives students the opportunity to explore issues facing the world today. The Model UN team takes on the role of diplomats to engage in research, debate, and conflict resolution in an authentic simulation of the United Nations. By utilizing these skills, students will gain a better understanding of the many countries and cultures that make up the world, and how to use diplomacy to develop solutions to real-world problems.


Throughout the year, the Model UN team will attend several conferences, representing a country or countries in which they will work with other teams in a process mirroring those of the actual United Nations.


The FSAPS Model UN team has several competitions scheduled for this school year. This month we will be travelling to Georgia Southern University for a conference on the 13th and 14th, while Centennial High School is hosting a conference on November 21st. Other competitions we are scheduled to attend include trips to both Savannah and New York City in March.


Students represent a number of diverse countries and serve on different councils for each competition. In the upcoming GSU conference, for example, students will represent the nations of Chad, France, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Kuwait and debate issues such as the current Ebola outbreak, ISIS/ISIL, Ukraine, child soldiers, human rights protocols, and the environment, among others. While serving in either the General Assembly, African Union, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Human Rights Council, or the Security Council.


Upcoming Schedule of Competitions:
Georgia Southern – November 13-14
Centennial High School – November 21
Savannah – March 5-6
New York City – March 25-28
 

 

4TH AND 5TH GRADE CELEBRATED THEIR SUCCESS WITH PARTY

Thank you to all of the fourth and fifth grade parents for making our Red Pyramid and Redwall novel parties a huge success! The fourth and fifth graders all enjoyed snacks, drinks, board games, activities, and more on Friday as they celebrated the completion of two huge novel units. The fifth graders completed Rick Riordon's The Red Pyramid, a 516 page novel, and the fourth graders completed Brian Jacques's 308-page Redwall. The students all did a wonderful job with the units, scored very well on the final exams, and definitely deserved their end-of-unit celebrations! (pictures are attached)

PUMPKIN DECORATION CONTEST WINNERS

Congratulations to the winners of elementary grades pumpkin decoration contest. Please see the winners below.
1st grade – Mooseltoe – Krish Patel
2nd grade – Stick Dog Kai Robertson
3rd grade - Zombie Goldfish – Nick Athiwat
4th grade - Pig Pumpkin- Austin Gardner
5th grade - Tale of Despauraux – Edgar Robitaille
 

 

ELEMENTARY STUDENTS ENJOY SCIENCE OLYMPIAD EVENTS!

The students in ESO's event Straw Egg Drop are showing to be such magnificent constructors! Last week, the students worked independently to build what they believed was the best construction to secure an egg safely. At the end of club, we tested out the students' models, and there were 3 unbroken eggs!! How impressive! The students are quickly mastering the understanding of effective models, however now we need to quicken up their constructing process. In the upcoming weeks, we will focus on being 'speedy constructors' since our event is timed!

SPANISH CLASS ATTENDED DIA DA MUERTOS!

We had a great experience yesterday at the Atlanta History Center. We joined the annual family program Day of the Dead, or Dia de Muertos, and became immersed in this beautiful cultural celebration. Here some pictures of FSAPS students.