MSA Weekly News - October 12, 2018

Well we have had a short week between the day off on Monday and conferences over yesterday and today. The 9-11th graders were doing testing this week as well. So that freed up the seniors to enjoy their Leadership event (you can read more about their team building experience below). Some of PreUpper visited an escape room and CommArts held a tailgating party.

The biggest thing that will take place this week is tomorrow, our annual Founder's Day Family Picnic. We always look forward to the fun of spending the morning with everyone, seeing some alumni, and enjoying lunch together. It seems we have finally entered fall and the weather is going to be perfect for this type of event. I hope to see you there!

Have a terrific weekend!

37th Annual Founder's Day - TOMORROW

Please mark your calendars and plan on attending our annual Founder's Day event on:

Saturday, October 13, 2018

11:30am - 1:00pm

For those families new to Mill Springs, our Founder's Day event is kind of like a fall, family picnic and is our way of honoring the school's founder, Tweetie L. Moore. The event is FREE OF CHARGE and includes:

Lunch provided by Chick-Fil-A
Rock Climbing Wall with Spider Jumps
Outdoor Laser Tag
Two Giant Hamster Balls
Bounce House

NOTE: The event will take place near our athletic fields on the MSA campus. When entering the campus that day, please follow all traffic signs down into the fields for event parking.

Parent Thank You

A HUGE thank you to all the MSA Volleyball parents! You have been so supportive during this difficult season without a gym. Thank you for traveling to all the away games and being understanding that we did not get to have a Senior Night for our two Seniors. Also all of the snacks and drinks provided by the volleyball parents for game days has been greatly appreciated. A personal THANK YOU to Mike Nemesh who has been our official line judge all season!! We really appreciate all you do for the team.

Coach Karen and Coach Lisa

Public Open House

Wednesday, October 17

9:00 - 11:00am

Student Activity Center

Many of you have attended an Open House on campus, and if you have, you know it is a great opportunity for someone to get a good feel for what Mill Springs is all about. If you haven't attended an Open House, it provides potential families 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. If you know someone that might benefit from attending MSA, PLEASE invite them to an Open House or better yet bring them! Word of mouth is by far the biggest way families find their way to Mill Springs. We know that you sometimes have the chance to be "Mill Springs on the Street" and we truly thank you for sharing MSA! www.millsprings.org/OpenHouse

Here's to the Written Word

This week in Creative Writing we focused our efforts on the concept of the business letter. Following a lesson on how to properly format a business letter, we discussed the concept of appropriate tone and its importance within a professional document. Students then chose businesses to write to with an approach of requesting something from that particular business. This idea of requesting something from a business led us into a lesson of how to effectively argue/persuade in one's writing. We completed our drafts of these letters on Wednesday and will be mailing them out to our respective businesses on Monday. Hopefully we will get some responses! All in all, it was a meaningful week of learning to write professionally in Creative Writing . . . Here's to the Written Word! Pictured are Seth Horwitz and Shaylee Gandhi.

--Michael "MG" Griffeth, PreUpper Instructor

Conferences are Coming!

Whatever days your school is holding conferences, there are no classes for your student. Please pay close attention to the schedule, here is what remains:

PreUpper Student Conferences

October 18 and 19

CommArts/Upper Student Conferences

October 19

Students should wear their uniform to the conference. If you have any questions, please contact your principal, they will be glad to answer them for you.

Furious Birds

On Wednesday October 10th, the Senior Class of 2019 embarked on a team-building event "Furious Birds" with Atlanta Challenge Team Building. Seniors spent the day in the MSA theater, happily bonding over many team tasks in an effort to earn parts to be able to build the perfect Catapult. After challenges were completed, (and catapults built), students got to go head-to-head in an epic battle to see which team could knock down the most pigs in "Furious Birds." Team Red (Eli Musgrave, Jacobi Garrett, Max Woods, Andrew Jones, and Maddie Hahn) and Team Yellow (Nolan Waits, Nick Tate, Alli Kogoy, Anna Soriano, and Miles Kirby) emerged in a victorious tie in knocking down the most items!

We, counselors, teachers, and administrators, watched as students focused, laughed, handled frustrations, communicated ideas, expressed excitement, and most importantly, spent quality time with other peers that they may not get to hang out with very often. We then all got to enjoy a meal together off-campus, and recover from the excitement of the day.

There will be tons of pictures provided soon from Atlanta Challenge Team Building, but until then, here are a few from the day. Great job, Class of 2019! You made us proud!

--Brandi Smallwood, Counselor

Turn in Free $$ Labels and Caps

Send them with your student, drop them in the office, or bring them on conference day!

Box Tops, Coke caps (PowerAde, Minute Maid, & Dasani), and Tyson A+ labels are due by Friday, October 19th to be eligible for the drawing. Place items in a Ziploc bag or envelope with your student's name & grade on the bag. Drop in the collection containers in each school or office. Fall drawing winners will be announced in November.

EACH School will have a winner who can choose a $10 Gift Card from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Dick's or Target.

Contact Lesly Huffman at leslyhuffman@yahoo.com with any questions.

How are You Doing?

This week Lower School is preparing for conferences. The Third and Fourth Graders wrote paragraphs telling their parents how they are doing in school.

Sam Hartman wrote: "So far school is awesome! I've done really well on math work. I've also been a great Level C. We play awesome games in P.E.! nI just don't want to leave school early on some days."

Third Grader, Wyatt Cadora, said: "So far school is going good for me. I am doing well with math. One thing I need to work on is staying in my seat area. In math I am learning about subtraction with regrouping. I had library on Tuesday instead of Thursday. I think we should have library every Tuesday!"

--Jodi Easter-Smith, Lower School Instructor

Utilizing the Calendar in MyMUSTANG

Did you know that when you use the calendar, either on the website or within MyMUSTANG you can pick and choose how you view it, and what you would like to see?

When the calendar opens, it is in the GRID VIEW. You can toggle to the LIST VIEW by clicking AGENDA (upper right) in MyMUSTANG, or the icon that looks like a bulleted list on the website calendar.

In MyMUSTANG you can customize what you are viewing by clicking on the different types of calendars in the menu to the left (see left picture), by checking or unchecking items on any of those calendars. You must be in LIST VIEW to do this on the website calendar. So if I only want to see the assignments for Civics/Political Science I can deselect everything else. Same with Athletics, want to see the Soccer schedule, deselect everything BUT soccer.

On the website calendar, you can click on the gray button that looks like a fan (far right) and you can get iCal feeds so you can add the school calendar to your phone/computer calendar.

The gold icon that looks like a bell (all the way to the right) on the website calendar allows you to manage your calendar preferences and receive email, or phone reminders for certain portions of the calendar or events.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email charwood@millsprings.org and I will be glad to help you.

Alumni Update

One day last week Alumni, Doug Marcotte, MSA 2013, visited campus. He is pictured here in the art room pointing at the ceiling tile he created.

He has earned his Associates from Chattahoochee Tech in Computer Science. He builds parts for 747s and other planes at Universal Alloy Corporation.

We had a great visit and are glad that you were able to take time from your busy schedule to come and visit us. Thanks for keeping us updated!

Join the Mill Springs Academy Mustangs Team

Saturday, October 20 at 8:30am

5K Run (timed or untimed) and 100-Yard Kids Dash

Register NOW for IDA-GA's annual Dyslexia Dash! It will be a fun morning for all, AND every registration means money going towards training teachers and educating parents and professionals about dyslexia.

"The impact IDA-GA funding has had on reaching public school readers through teacher training is not something I can properly put into words. After 5 years of partnership, I can only estimate that the number of readers directly impacted ... is well into the thousands." - Jennifer Rhett, Executive Director, Reading is Essential for All People (REAP)

Join the MSA Team by registering today.

Volunteer at Book Fair!

Our Scholastic Book Fair is coming in November, and Brittany needs help! Please email her at bemge@millsprings.org or call the library at 678-893-7784 if you are interested in any of the following opportunities:

Book Fair Set Up: TBA, most likely Wednesday Nov. 7th and Thursday Nov. 8th.
Grandparents' Day Support: Friday Nov. 16th from 10am-1pm (It's busy busy once Grandparents' Day ends and everyone drops by on their way out. Bagging, cashiers, and shopper support is greatly needed!)
Book Fair Break Down: Friday, Nov. 16th after Grandparents' Day (1pm-4pm)

Storytelling

Fall is here! In Middle School Reading Class, we visited Brittany in the Library for fall story time. No, fifth and sixth graders are not too old for storytelling.

In fact reading aloud to your child every day increases their comprehension and vocabulary. Brittany also helped us set up our Reading Counts accounts. Students can take quizzes on what they've read and earn tickets for prizes!!! They were so excited!

Picture 1: Zoe Caines, Sydney Johnson, and Charlotte Leber sharing books with one another. Picture 2: The class showing their library selections.

--Christy Chase, Middle School Instructor

Bullying Prevention Awareness Month

October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month.Here at MSA, our Community Structure is thoughtfully designed to combat bullying and promote positive social development; however, it might be helpful to know what to look for when determining if your student experiences an issue. Bullying behavior exists in any forms and crosses socioeconomic, gender, and ethic/cultural lines. We encourage our students to report it to a teacher, principal, or counselor if they see someone involved in bullying behavior.

We have some additional resources that might be helpful on our website if you would like more information.

--Angela Davis, Counselor

Fathers' Night with Robert

Thursday, October 25, 2018

7:00 - 9:00pm

Middle School Great Room

RSVP TODAY

What is LD? What is ADHD?

Come to explore these issues with your host and our Headmaster, Robert Moore. He will present the F.A.T. City Workshop video "How Difficult Can This Be?" by Richard D. Lavoie, a nationally known expert on learning disabilities.

In this video Richard Lavoie shows why the classroom can be an intimidating place for kids with learning disabilities. In the video he leads a group of parents, educators, psychologists, and children through a series of exercises that cause Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension … feelings all too familiar to children with learning disabilities. By dramatizing the classroom experience so vividly, Lavoie lets us see the world through the eyes of a child.

At the end of the video, a casual discussion will take place on strategies for working more effectively with our learning disabled children.

This is a Dad's only (grandfathers are welcome too) event! We will serve pizza and wings.

Please RSVP to help us plan for food.

Fresh on the Shelf - MILK.

This week, Milk., Upper School's award-winning newsmagazine, hit the newsstands all around campus! Featured articles include content on new students and new teachers, International Day, InfoWars, America in the Middle East, Detroit's Fall, Vaporwave, Competitive Cheer, the Trade Wars, MARTA, and much, much more.

This year's diverse, zany, and articulate group includes: Garrett "Alternative Milk" Cutchin, Peter "Pasteurized" Cook, Christopher "Lactose Intolerant" Walker, Daniel "Unpasteurized" Garguilo, Avery "Whole Milk" Terpstra, and Cameron "Calf Milk" Keskonis. If you see them around campus, please congratulate them on a job well done!"

Get your copy HERE!

Makeover for Millie

Millie began as a Senior Project by Paige Norris, MSA 2018. Paige is a very talented seamstress, having won awards for her costume creations from DragonCon. Paige decided that she would create a new mascot costume for Mill Springs to update our look. She put together a proposal with drawings and costs. Then she set out to make her life-sized mustang. By the time senior presentations came around, she had created the head. Most recently we received the finished product which is a beautiful soft, green and white outfit. That patch on the side of her leg is the school logo. Paige you are very talented and we are so proud of you. We know you will do well at SCAD in Savannah.

It's Time for the Annual MSA Can-a-thon!

Let's get together to feed those in need! Please join MSA and the Atlanta Community Food Bank to take a bite out of hunger in Metro Atlanta. We have big goals this year, so we hope you will participate (and maybe bug a neighbor or two). Many hands make light work and big differences!

Dates: October 9 – November 26, 2018

*Please do NOT bring glass items or perishables

WHAT TO BRING* – MOST NEEDED ITEMS – TAKE THIS LIST TO THE STORE:

Whole grain goods: whole wheat pasta, brown rice, whole grain cereal, whole wheat flour, whole grain crackers, plain oatmeal.
Shelf stable milk (cow, soy, rice, etc.)
Fruit, dried or canned in light syrup or juice
Low-sodium, no salt added vegetables
Low-sodium pasta sauce in plastic container
Foods high in protein: Natural peanut butter (no hydrogenated oil), dried beans, dried peas, dried lentils, canned tuna (canned in water, not oil), canned salmon (canned in water, not oil), canned chicken (canned in water, not oil), unsalted nuts
100% fruit and/or vegetable juice
Cooking oil (olive oil, canola oil)

Families and individuals who struggle to put food on the table also have a tough time with the household essentials many of us take for granted. In addition to food, these non-food items are greatly needed and appreciated: