MSA Weekly News - December 2, 2016

December 2, 2016 | Vol 10, Iss 15, No 339

NEWSLETTER

And November turns into December

This week there has been a parent workshop, the fabulous CommArts Greece Festival (more about that next week), a party for our Lower School that celebrates reading 400+ minutes, a meeting about our upcoming Winter Learning (7-12 grades), basketball and wrestling. We have gone from November to December, and I know preparations are being made for the Performing Arts Showcase this evening - in fact the empty chairs above are front row seating, just for YOU!

We are on the downhill side of 1st semester. We only have a handful of days left before 7th - 12th grades have exams. It always amazes me how fast this time of year goes. We have so many things going on that there seems to be no time to enjoy them. The holidays are some of our fondest memories and yet they rush by in a blur. Remember to savor all of the sights, sounds, and rituals that this time of year affords, as you make more memories with your friends and families.

Have a terrific weekend!

Art of the Week

Lower School artist Jake Brown created an awesome snowflake inspired block print design. He really enjoyed the process of carving the design and rolling the ink!

Feature Teacher

Meet Maria Gonzalez! Maria is a new Upper School teacher who teaches Spanish II-IV. She worked at another independent school for many years before coming to MSA, where she also taught high school Spanish. Her favorite thing about MSA is the way that everyone welcomed her, the faculty and staff. She also enjoys the caring and nurturing teacher-student relationship. She feels that her responsibility as a teacher "is to create a class environment in which my students feel safe, are motivated to learn and gain confidence in their own abilities." She also believes in a teaching approach that "recognizes the uniqueness of each student and his/her needs to develop the skills needed to learn a second language."

Outside of school she likes to knit, do calligraphy, read, and take care of her grandchildren. Speaking of reading she is currently reading, "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success." This is one of the books on Robert's Recommended Reading List. Her favorite foods include chicken, fruit, and Italian. Something I learned about Maria is that she has a small business outside of the school, "Calligraphy, Art & More" and she LOVES to paint, especially with oil paints.

Thank you for what you do every day Maria!

Class of 2017

Congratulations to the following students on their acceptances to the indicated schools:

Michael Antonucci - Savannah College of Art and Design
Jack Buck - Lynn University

Musician of the Week
Congratulations to Jack Hurtsellers for being MUSICIAN OF THE WEEK! Jack was unable to fit chorus into his schedule this semester, so he asked what he could do to still participate. Jack comes to extra rehearsals, gives us some break time, and works hard in his other classes so he is able to sing with the chorus. Jack sings in the mens quartet and along with the chorus and he always comes into the music studio with such enthusiasm and an amazing work ethic. Congrats, Jack! We're so glad you are proactive, flexible, and willing to do whatever to make things work. This will take you far in life!

2017-2018 Calendar Highlights

As we work to put together the school calendar for the upcoming school year (it's so weird to use 2018), we want to share with you what we know at this point. We realize that families like to plan their vacations as early as possible. So the picture is a list of those dates and they are all on the WEBSITE CALENDAR if you want a better view, just scroll through the calendar.

Book Fair Thanks YOU!

Our annual Fall Scholastic Book Fair was a HUGE success, and we want to thank our entire MSA community for supporting the fair. We sold over 1,100 books, which is higher than last year! Thank you to our staff, teachers, parents, grandparents, friends and family for taking time to support the fair during such a busy week! This is an absolutely wonderful fundraiser because of you all, and we couldn't be more thankful. The library will receive a very generous portion of the profits to support our growing collection of titles.

A huge thank you to Lori McCullers and Angela Nanney for helping set up the fair, Middle School student Zach Weiss for helping keep the fair organized during the week, and our awesome Grandparents' Day crew: PreUpper student Michael Fisher, Middle School students Isabelle King and Olivia Wallace, CommArts student Jose Olivieri, and Lower School student Katie McCullers were amazing rotating throughout the day. Thank you to Nell Sutlive and Jenn Cloy for helping manage the crowds, and Lori McCullers for coming back and staying all day. We are so grateful for you!

Pictured: Olivia Wallace, Katie McCullers, and Lori McCullers with one of the many piles of boxes we had to pack back up!

Oogling Google

Mr. Jerry, our new maintenance supervisor, brought our class a surprise this week. After the much needed rain on Tuesday, he found some kind of amphibian on the MSA sidewalk. Our class googled images on black and white salamanders and newts that live in Georgia. We learned that is it called the Marbled Salamander and that it generally lives in moist areas with lots of leaves. The only time it lives near water is when the female lays its eggs. October is mating season for this creature. We were surprised to learn that the eggs will generally survive during the winter and hatch in the spring. "Milly" was returned safely to the woods near our playground. We look forward to meeting her babies in the spring!

--Jodi Easter-Smith, Lower Teacher

Holiday Market Opens Monday!

Please make a note of the dates in your calendar:

Monday - Wednesday

December 5, 6, and 7

CommArts Great Room

The Holiday Market gives students a chance to buy small gifts for family members and friends. The items range in price from 25 cents to $15.00.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Please contact Kathy Espinosa or Susan Lake if you are available to volunteer!

Historical Debates

Students in U.S. History class participated in debates this past week. The core question concerned whether citizens who enter the U.S. illegally should be allowed to become legal citizens. Students used a variety of arguments to support their cause, including: tax dollars, being a nation of immigrants, and border patrol. Among the skills classroom debates can foster are critical thinking, public speaking, research, and teamwork/cooperation. Students researched for weeks preparing for the debates, most were nervous about speaking in public, but as the debates began these nerves settled and students became excited about the debates! The U.S. History class will debate again next semester, more information on the topic and dates will be available in the near future! Picture L - Seniors Sean Roberts and Connor Bollinger argue about immigration quotas. R - Junior Casey Purser and Sophomore Michael Healey debate about illegal immigration and the U.S. borders.

--Brad Smallwood, Upper Teacher

Fine Arts Giving Back

The week before break, our Middle through Upper Junior Theater Festival students did a drive to bring the fine arts to those who don't usually get to enjoy them, bringing instruments to Scottish Rite and buying tickets to "A Christmas Carol" and "The Nutcracker" for a children's home of girls that have been neglected and/or abused.

Today, our chorus went to sing and play piano for an assisted living home (just 5 minutes from MSA - we will have to make this a more regular tradition). The students represented Mill Springs so well and it happened to be the birthday of the gentleman in the front, so he was tickled to have them, as was his wife who was visiting. We are so proud of our Fine Arts Mustangs.

--Kate McElliott, FA Teacher

Food Drive Ends Monday!

Students and staff/faculty from across the campus have answered the call for cans, and we are making good progress toward our goal! This food drive is an annual tradition at MSA, and one of our favorite community projects. MSA consistently outperforms all other Metro-Atlanta private schools, despite the fact that we are smaller. We are so proud of the hard work our students are doing to help families in need this holiday season, and we are so grateful to have such robust parent support. Thank you for participating! One of our homerooms has already raised over 500 cans! If students wish to involve their extended families in the food drive over the holiday break, checks made out to Mill Springs Academy with "Canned Food Drive" in the subject line can be turned in to Chelsea Michelson, and we will use those funds to purchase cans before the end of the drive. We are able to purchase 2 cans with each dollar thanks to the generous folks over at Crabapple Kroger. Offering support to those in need is a great way to express thanksgiving and gratitude. Supportive aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. have helped us raise over 12,000 lbs. of food in the past through their contributions. THANK YOU in advance for making this event a success with us.

You can find the food drive article HERE to see the list of needed food items

Greek Mathematicians

This week Algebra I class followed in the footsteps of the ancient Greek mathematicians in honor of the CommArts Greek Festival. One of their innovations was deductive proofs based on known axioms. This allowed them to create a formal system of mathematics that has been built upon, and expanded into, the mathematics curriculum we teach today! Several of the founders of this mathematical tradition were played by CommArts students including Euclid and Pythagoras. The Algebra I class learned to construct deductive logic proofs for solving some algebraic equations and learned to use the process as a basis for constructing logical systems.

--Sam Adams, CommArts Teacher

Impact of Plants

On November 29th, the 7th grade PreUpper Life Science class took their plant series study to the gardens and conservatories of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on a field trip. They investigated various biomes which included the desert, mountain elevations, rain forests and bog gardens. The guides emphasized to students biogeography and plant adaptations from around the world. Students observed first-hand a variety of plants from Africa, the continent that World Cultures classes are currently studying. They also saw some of the unique plants that they had been studying in Life Science class like carnivorous pitcher plants. Students toured the Fuqua Conservatory where they saw important exotic plants such as chocolate, vanilla, rattan and aloe. Throughout their visit, the students discovered the incredible ways plants impact our everyday lives from food to medicine to shelter. Finally, the students and their chaperones enjoyed a picnic lunch at Piedmont Park.

--Bryan Sellers, PreUpper Teacher

Winter Band Concert

Tuesday, December 6

7:00pm - Theater

It's finally happening! Please join us at 7:00pm, THIS Tuesday, for MSA's Winter Band Concert! Featuring our talented musicians, we will entertain you with an array of songs ranging from Led Zeppelin to Nirvana! Plus, there will be food! You DON'T want to miss it!

400 Minute Reading Party

Each month in Lower School, students are encouraged to participate in the 400 Minute Reading Program. The students need to read at least 400 minutes, which breaks down to about 15 minutes of reading per night. At the end of each month, we sit together as a group and read the amount of minutes everyone has read. The students cheer and applaud each other for the amount of minutes they have read each month. We then celebrate with special treats sent in by the Lower School parents. Parents, thank you very much for making our monthly parties great! We are hoping that this will instill steady reading habits and encourage the love for reading. Some students go above and beyond the required 400 minutes. Pictured are 4 students who read more than 1,000 minutes in November! Pictured L to R: Jackson Kennedy, Eli Jutan, Cooper Casdia, and Matthew Allen. Lower School students combined read a total of 17,830 minutes in November. AWESOME!

Holiday Gift Collection

Just a reminder that the deadline for contributions to this year's Teacher and Staff Holiday Gift Collection is Friday, December 9th. Each year, MSA parents have generously thanked our teachers and staff with a group cash gift. No amount is too big or too small!! Remember, you get the added advantage of not having to go buy gifts for staff, teachers and your child's principal at those pesky crowded stores!!
You can mail a check for your entire donation payable to MSA PVA to the school, or feel free to personally deposit your envelope in the holiday basket located in the Administration Building. You can also make an online payment through the MSA PVA Store by CLICKING HERE, from the top of the page select "PVA Forms", choose "Teacher and Staff Gift Contribution", now scroll down to "Donations - Holiday Teacher and Staff Gifts". Then all you have to do is enter an amount and click "Donate".

Together we can make this a very special holiday season for the INCREDIBLE teachers and staff of Mill Springs Academy.

The great hope of society is individual character.

--William Ellery Channing

Community Cares & Concerns

The Carlson 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