MSA Weekly News - September 9, 2016

September 9, 2016 | Vol 10, Iss 4, No 328

NEWSLETTER

Earlier this week I noticed that my silver maple tree has begun to lose its leaves. The season is about to change and it all happens without my say so. I love the warmer temps and sunshine, but some of that will begin to disappear into the brilliance of fall. Something that never ceases to amaze me. Keep your eyes peeled don't miss out on the chance to see that happen.

This has been an absolutely fabulous week! First of all it was a day short. Then there was a terrific College Coffee Talk on Wednesday, and yesterday we took Fall Sports Portraits. Throughout this week the students have been MAP testing, that will continue off and on through the month in little bite size pieces. Today we have MUSTANG MANIA! What a terrific end to a great school week. But don't stop there, tomorrow will be the Chastain Experience in our new Amphitheater, it's going to be a wonderful event. I hope you will come. Have a great weekend!

Art of the Week

This week's Art of the Week is a project by Communication Arts student Nolan Waits. he has created an original screen print design that he printed on fabric in his American Craft class. Awesome job Nolan!

Dear Generous Parent

Thank you for allowing me to use your green umbrella for afternoon carpool! I am willing to return it anytime! Thanks again for thinking of me.

Margaret Brito

Principal - Middle School

School Portraits are Ready

The school portrait photographs are now available. To access/purchase them, please click on your school link below:

The password is MSA202 (it is case sensitive)

If your child missed the first portrait session or if you would like to do a retake, we have a retake day scheduled for Thursday, September 15 starting at 9:30 am in the Upper School Great Room. Please email either Marios with MOCPhoto or Elke Silva before Wednesday, September 14, with your child' name and their school. We will then include them in the retake list. Retake photos will be posted to their respective galleries on Friday, September 16.

NOTE: Make sure to order your photos before Friday, September 30. There will be a 10% price increase beginning on October 1 on all galleries.

Musician of the Week
Congratulations to Communication Arts School student Kaitlin Bolander, one of the MSA Band's enthusiastic piano players! Because of her impressive focus, attention to detail, and her fantastic, positive attitude, she is our Musician of the Week!

MUSTANG MANIA! TODAY!

When: Friday, September 9 3:15-4:30 pm

What: Hot dogs, drinks, bounce house, Baseball Toss, High Striker game, Sno-Cones, MSA spirit wear, and more!

Where: Gym

Why: Support MSA Athletics!!

Who: Everybody!!

Admission: $5.00 (parents are free)

...And Office for All!

Do you have a personal laptop or desktop at home that is in need of a copy of Microsoft Office 2016 or would you like to update your ancient version? Why not utilize one of the five free downloads that comes with your child's Office 365 account?

As students of MSA, all are able to download up to five personal copies of Office 2016 onto any other workstation or device (this includes PCs, tablets, and Macs). This license is good for as long as your child is a student at Mill Springs. Follow the steps below to download yours today!

Go to https://login.microsoftonline.com
Log in with the following credentials:
- Username: <student's full email address>
- Password: <student's network login>
In the upper right-hand corner you'll see an "Install Office 2016" button-click and follow prompts.

Problems or questions? Email or swing by your friendly Tech Department.

This information and other additional helpful articles that get added through the year can be found on our Tech Bytes! blog at www.millsprings.org/techbytes .

A Night Out Under the Stars!

Bring your dinner, bring your centerpiece and bring your small table! PVA presents a Chastain Experience at MSA on September 10th at 7:00 pm in our new amphitheater! We have the privilege of having James Patrick Morgan as our first concert entertainment. he was our musician at the Polo Barn Bash two years ago. He is fantastic ... a real treat!

This event is sponsored by the MSA PVA. This is an ADULT ONLY event.

All you need is your picnic dinner. Get a group together and share a table or make it a romantic evening for two. You can be fancy with a centerpiece and dinnerware, or grab paper products and a bucket of KFC.

You may start setting up at 6:30 pm. The concert begins around 7:30ish.

This is a rain or shine event. There is a Plan B in case of rain.

How to Care for fire Belly Toads

Guest Journalist - Zach Weiss

This year in Ms. Katie Hadaway's 5th and 6th grade Science classes, we have several new class pets. One of our most interesting class pets are three Fire Belly Toads. Ms. Katie asked me to research how to care for our new class pets and this is what I found out. Fire belly Toads should be kept in a terrarium with 4 to 5 gallons of water with a ratio of 60% water and 40% land. The temperature should be in the mid-70s. Fire Belly Toads can be fed small crickets, meal worms, and other small insects. The food should be kept in the terrarium for at least 15 minutes and they should be fed every 24 hours. The Fire Belly Toad habitat should be cleaned every three and a half weeks. Fire Belly Toads, which are actually frogs come from Northeastern China and Korea. They are usually found in slow moving streams. Their life span is usually, ten to twelve years unless they are sick or injured. We are currently having a contest to name the 3 frogs. Stay tuned for the results.

Creativity Week

Fine Arts is spreading creativity and color throughout campus next week -- even more than usual! We will have many opportunities for students and staff to participate in new ways of seeing, hearing, and experiencing the world around them. Hang on tight ... with eyes open!

American History

This week in Communication Arts we are studying the founding of the United States with the 13 colonies. The students have gotten creative and have created their own modern colony. They designed a brochure for their colony with a location, type of people that would live there, what type of jobs people could do at the colony, as well as a list of why we should move to their new colony. They presented their colony to the class trying to convince each other that everyone should move to their colony. We have so many unique colonies to choose from. A colony for vampires, a colony in Vale (pictured and created by Ryland Hughes), and even a colony with no government. The students have worked really hard to research and present their ideas to the community!

--Bonnie Bergstresser

Is Art School in Your Future?

Studio Arts will be hosting a meeting for students interested in preparing for and attending ART SCHOOL after graduating from MSA. Join Art Teachers Janet/Brenda and College Counselor Brandi on Tuesday, September 13th at 12:15 in the art studio!

Learning Library Manners

Lower School students have always enjoyed going to the library. They like the great books we have and our wonderful librarian, Ms. Brittany. This year, students have another reason to look forward to going to the library and that's Kayso. The students love having a library dog. They get sweet cuddles while listening to Ms. Brittany read and get to play with Kayso after they check out their books. The students and Kayso have been learning about library manners. Thursday, Ms. Brittany read The Incredible Book Eating Boy. I hope Kayso was listening and learned not to eat the library books. Pictured is Kayso with Trey Stormont, Daniel Moses, Patrick Keane, Joshua Nanney, and John Keeley Davis.

--Branigan Hughes

Invite a Friend to our Public Open House

Wednesday, September 14

9:00 - 11:00am

Student Activity Center

If you know someone that might benefit from attending MSA, please invite them to an Open House or better yet bring them! In case you haven't attended an Open House, it provides prospective parents with an overview of the school, a wonderful Fine Arts presentation, at least one parent and one student perspective, a tour of the school and an opportunity to speak with the principal. It's a great opportunity for them to get a feel for what we are all about. Word of mouth is by far the biggest way families find their way to Mill Springs and we know that you sometimes have the chance to be "Mill Springs on the Street", we thank you for sharing MSA!

Decimal War

This week in math, we began a lesson on comparing and ordering decimals. We introduced the concept of comparing decimals with manipulatives on grid paper and using money. My classes practiced comparing decimals by playing a variation of a familiar card game, War, or in this case, Decimal War. Each pair of students had a deck of decimal cards. They flipped the top card from each of their hands and compared their decimals. The larger decimal wins, and the winner got to take both cards. Students got competitive, hoping to have greater decimals so they could win the most cards and the game!

Pictured top left and clockwise are Camryn Padgett, Smith Hill, Ryan Zant, and Logan Vladick.

--Kaylee Simmons

Mini Day at MSA for PU/CA/U

"Come to School with Your Student Day"
Friday, September 16, 8:30am - 1:30pm

This is a wonderful opportunity to visit your student's Community. To experience "MSA Mini Day", you and your child will follow his/her schedule and attend his/her classes. You will meet your student's teachers and see the classrooms, learn everything about each of his/her classes from curriculum to point sheets to grading, see artwork, and meet your student's friends. At the end of the "mini" school day, join your student for a complimentary lunch from Arby's served on the U/PU/CA Lawn.

MSA "Mini Day" Schedule

8:10am - Parents arrive; go to student's Advisory
8:30 - Levels
9:30 - 1st Period
9:55 - 2nd Period
10:20 - 3rd Period
10:45 - 4th Period
11:10 - 5th Period
11:35 - 6th Period
12:00pm - Arby's Lunch - students may leave with parents after

Students whose parents are unable to attend will participate in classes as usual. Buses will run the regular morning and afternoon (3:15pm dismissal) schedules.

Upcoming PVA Meeting

The Parent Volunteer Association will hold their monthly meeting on

September 22, 2016

7:00pm

at John & Liz Parks' home

If you have any question feel free to contact Susan Lake, your PVA President.

MSA Thespian Troupe 8170

Mill Springs Thespian Troupe 8170 is pleased to announce that we inducted two students into our ranks on Wednesday. After a short ceremony Jack Hurtsellers and Lindsey Lopp were sworn in as new members. If you see them walking the halls offer them congratulations on a job well done as they have both completed over one hundred hours of service in the theater. In attendance were Jamie Fambrough, Patrick Rose, Janet Ford, Morgan Newman (president), Cartwright Ayres, Alexis Herrington, and Morgan Graves.

Lower had a Great Week!

During last week's Friday Community Meeting in Lower School, I asked, "What was one good thing that happened to you this week at school?" The students had great answers to their great week! A few comments were:

I remembered to study for my Wordly Wise test! --Holly Stormont
Science class! --Katie McCullers
I have done well earning my points in class. --Max Young
I earned Fab Friday! --Duncan Bear
I helped John on the computer. --Trey Stormont
I think I did really well on my math test. --Luisa Gorgoll
I asked for feedback to hopefully become a Level L. --Jackson Kennedy

Great job, kids! We are off to a fantastic year in Lower School!

--Laurie Jones

Parent/Student Workshop

A parent/student workshop is being sponsored by the MSA Counseling Department on Intro to Financial Aid for College and the FAFSA. Join us on September 28 from 6:30 - 7:30pm in the Upper School Great Room to find out more.

An RSVP is requested - Please CLICK HERE to RSVP.

Something New in Middle School

Here is something new that Middle School students are very excited about! BreakoutEDU is a different way of learning. If you have ever been to an escape room, you are familiar with using clues and hints to escape. BreakoutEDU is like an escape room, but a box. Here is what Middle School has to say about their new Breakout Boxes:

The escape boxes are a fun activity where someone or a group of people have to find ways to open a box that inside have a number. While children play this game they learn how to use maps and tof find clues. --Edward Gorgoll
The escape boses are fun! I've learned how to earn the hints. I am enjoying the fun time because you get to find out what you get in the box. --Presley Hellreigel
The escape boxes are a fun activity with locks attached to the box locking it. We have to look for clues and find keys to unlock the box. It helps us solve problems and put clues together. There is always a treat inside like last week it was Turkish delight. I enjoy the fun of the escape box, because it brings the group together. --Adriano Hagedorn

Picture 3 above shows the students who have solved the puzzle to obtain the combinations to the locks on the box. Inside the box was the prize of Turkish Delight candy. The White Witch locked up their treat as revenge for losing the war with Aslan in the story The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

--Cindy Thorne

Soccer 101

Hopefully, a lesson earned is a lesson learned. Having stumbled in the fundamentals of communicating, trapping, passing, finishing plays, and defensive closeouts in the first two games, the Mustangs fell to Academe of the Oaks 4-0. "You get what you earn, nothing more nothing less; and bottom line, we did not do the things in the right order to get the results today. They did a great job and gave us an old fashion soccer lesson. They beat us in every facet of the game, and we were exposed. We finally had to pay the piper for our off and on the field malfeasance's, and what you do off the field is going to directly affect your performance on the field. The two are synonymous, and once we understand that, the quicker we will get the horse back on the track. READ MORE

Auction Item Sneak Peek

This gorgeous 4 bedroom/5 bathroom Big Canoe Home will be up for auction at the Barn Bash. It will be available for a long 3 night weekend.

CHECK IT OUT HERE

But in order to bid on this terrific opportunity, you will need to attend the 2016 Barn Bash! Don't miss your chance.

Buy your tickets today at http://www.msabarnbash.com/!!

Watch for additional Auction Item Sneak Peeks.

This Day in History

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress formally declares the name of the new nation to be the "United States" of America. This replaced the term "United Colonies," which had been in general use.

In the Congressional declaration dated September 9, 1776, the delegates wrote, "That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words 'United Colonies' have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the "United States."

A resolution by Richard Henry Lee, which had been presented to Congress on June 7 and approved on July 2, 1776, issued the resolve, "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States…." As a result, John Adams thought July 2 would be celebrated as "the most memorable epoch in the history of America." Instead, READ MORE

Are You Following Me?

Wanna know what's going on here on campus during the week? Join us on the Social Scene. We have a few Pinterest boards with helpful and/or interesting information for parents, students and teachers. You can also follow us on Twitter (@millspringsacad) or LIKE us on Facebook (Mill Springs Academy). Post pictures with Instagram (MillSpringsAcademy) or watch videos on YouTube. We'll post some things through the week that might be of interest to you. So PLEASE FOLLOW ME on the Social Scene!

Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow.

--Helen Keller

Community Cares & Concerns

The Jones Family

The Swift Family

If there is ever a care or concern you would like to share with the community, please just email me at any time, I will be glad to include either names or situations. For privacy, I will only list names and claim ignorance if anyone asks me for details. Cheri